Claim Paperwork Problems Are Robbing people Of Due Process
Timothy McNulty, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Housing activists are calling on Pennsylvania banks and sheriffs to temporarily halt all home foreclosures, saying a paperwork error could save thousands of people their homes.
The state Superior Court on Jan. 30 ruled in favor of three women facing foreclosure who claimed they were not notified, as required by law, that they could have a face-to-face meeting with their mortgage holders to try to resolve outstanding payments.
The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency issued more than 100,000 such “Act 91″ forms from 1999 through 2008 that did not contain that notification, their lawyer Michael Malakoff said.
That means they, too, could get relief from courts. Another of his pro-bono clients, Kathy Todd of Lincoln Place, was due to go through a sheriff’s sale two weeks from now before it was halted due to the decision.
“It’s a huge relief for me to know I’m not going to lose my house,” she said at a Downtown news conference called by Action United, a nonprofit advocating for low-income residents.
The community group is trying to publicize the decision by a three-member Superior Court panel so that others going through the foreclosure process are made aware of the matter, as well as lenders and sheriffs around the state.
Pending the appeal of the decision to the full Superior Court — which was filed Feb. 13 by lenders Beneficial, HSBC and J.P. Morgan Chase — the housing group says officials should put a halt on all foreclosure actions.
“Since the Superior Court has now ruled that this Act 91 letter is wrong … the foreclosures that have happened in the past are a problem and for sure no more foreclosures should go forward if that deficient letter is in people’s files,” said Maryellen Deckard, Action United’s lead Western Pennsylvania organizer.
“I think it would be a win-win for the city, the sheriff’s office and the homeowners — as well as the banks — to stop the process until the law becomes settled,” Mr. Malakoff said.
In a separate interview, Allegheny County Sheriff William Mullen said his office has been following the legal wrangling but has no plans to halt foreclosure actions until court rulings are final.
If the courts continue to rule the Act 91 letters were deficient “there will be a lot of cleanup work to do. There are a lot of things to look at before we make the final call,” he said.
The sheriff launched a mortgage conciliation initiative
