New Real Estate Laws for 2013

California new real estate laws are coming up effective January 1, 2013, and here are a few:

For transactions in homeowner associations, documents are ordered in escrow to go to the buyer, for which there are typically fees charged for the preparation of these documents.  A homeowner association cannot collect a cancellation fee for sales disclosure documents (1) when a written cancellation by the party ordering documents is received by the HOA before work is performed; and (2) when a written cancellation by the party ordering documents and HOA was compensated for any work performed--the HOA must refund all fees collected if a request is cancelled in writing and work had not yet been performed on the order.

Hazard Disclosures: Sellers must now disclose the location of gas and hazardous liquid pipelines, from information in a database.  This information would most likely be coming through hazard disclosure companies hired by the seller in escrow to make these and other disclosures.

Property owners will continue to have anti-deficiency protection on refinanced loans on their property, except for a refinance where cash is taken out. 

Month-to-month tenants of properties in foreclosure must be given 90-day notice to vacate after foreclosure--in six languages (after March, 2013, and there are 4 exceptions to this).  Lease tenants may remain until end of lease term under all terms of the agreement.

Helping Distressed Homeowners Keep Their Homes -- No dual tracking, meaning no sale of property if an alternate foreclosure prevention method has been approved in writing by all parties (investors, lienholders and mortgage insurers).  See my previous post .

Vacant REO properties must be maintained (an existing law which has not been extended indefinitely).

Foreclosure notices must have a summary of information accompanying them, in six languages.

Property taxes -- the death of a co-tenant will not trigger a reassessment of the property, providing certain conditions are met.

Buyers of foreclosed properties have opportunity to correct substandard conditions of at least 60 days before an enforcement agency can take further action.

If you would like the specific legal descriptions of any of these laws, please contact me with your e-mail and name information, I will be happy to forward you additional information!

What does the California Homeowner Bill of Rights Mean for You?

Gov. Jerry Brown signed this Bill of Rights on July 11, 2012 and it will take effect on January 1, 2013.  This law will help homeowners avoid foreclosure by prohibiting lenders from engaging in "dual tracking", by requiring a single point of contact for the borrower, and by giving the borrower the right to sue the lender for violations of this law.  It applies to first trust deeds on owner-occupied properties that are 1-4 units. 

The single point of contact doesn't necessarily mean the borrower will deal with only one person throughout the process, but it means "one person at a time." 

What California borrowers wanted was protection from the foreclosure process when trying to obtain a loan modification--the foreclosure department in the bank was not talking to the loan modification department and the borrower who thought they were well on their way to keeping their home, suddenly lost it in foreclosure. 

There is much more information and guidelines in this law, so for more information, please contact me with your contact information and I can e-mail or fax the entire summary about this law to you.

Don't be one of the homeowners who loses a home without searching out your other options.  Foreclosure may affect you in many ways, including candidacy for future jobs, obtaining some insurance premiums, and much more, because credit histories are often reviewed by a wide variety of sources in your life, which will make determinations about you based on what they see there.  Do all you can to avoid the pitfall of foreclosure--find free information here.