The Florida legislature recently enacted law which raised various court filing fees in the state. Most notable is the fee for filing a foreclosure action in circuit court. The fee is now $1900.00 for a foreclosure of more than $250,000. It also costs an additional $1900.00 to file a cross claim or counter claim on a similar foreclosure.
Here is an example of fees from the Palm Beach County website, but most counties are similar. Lenders may be slower to act on foreclosure filings when faced with this expense, especially when the prospects for profitable results are not likely.
Floridians are already concerned about the additional dangers created by vacant foreclosure properties, especially if a severe hurricane hits. Mike Manikchand of Lehigh Acres sees a half-dozen empty, foreclosed-upon homes, sitting on weed-strewn yards and he wonders what will happen if a hurricane slams into southwest Florida this year. “A lot of these places will get destroyed.” he says.
Unoccupied, these homes would be defenseless in a storm; there will be no one to put up shutters, batten down garage doors and otherwise secure homes. But that’s not all. Nearby homes and their residents would also be at risk from wind-propelled debris.
No one really knows who will secure all the foreclosed homes if a storm does approach. A property management company hired by the bank could do the work, or else it could be a real estate agent, a homeowners’ association or even resourceful neighbors who clear debris from yards and board windows. Yet no state laws mandate who prepares buildings before a hurricane; even officials from the Florida Division of Emergency Management say that securing foreclosures isn’t a concern. The issue of who cares for vacant homes during a time of crisis seems simple: The legal owner is responsible for securing the property. But communities are already struggling to get banks to mow lawns, much less put up hurricane shutters — if they weren’t swiped from the foreclosed home, along with appliances, copper wiring and air conditioners. If the bank hasn’t yet taken the title of a home, the property is in a kind of limbo, and local officials or homeowners associations may have no legal right to trespass and secure it. And many hard-hit counties don’t have the money or manpower to do it.
A $2000 bill for a bank to foreclose might have the additional affect of putting them one step closer to being the legal owner, which adds the exposure of liability for injury and damages. I suspect that many banks will secure their position with a lis pendens, and take their time with the actual foreclosure. At least until after hurricane season.
