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Reacting to Foreclosure - Maryland Offers Homeowners Legal Defenses to Delay Or Halt Foreclosure



With the rising tide of mortgage foreclosure actions, Maryland has implemented new legal protections for homeowners.

The newest legal protections went into effect in April, 2008. Among other protections, the brand new laws: (a) mandate that lenders give you the homeowner using a written notice of intent to foreclose at least 45 days prior to filing a foreclosure action in court; (b) require that lenders wait until 90 days after a default in payment before commencing a foreclosure case; (c) demand that the foreclosure court papers be personally served upon the borrower; (d) require lenders to publish a notice of sale in a newspaper at least three times before the foreclosure sale may take place; and (e) give homeowners the ability to cover late payments up until one day prior to the scheduled auction.

Maryland foreclosure expert - The aim will be to make sure that homeowners are given increased time to explore alternatives. Homeowners should ascertain whether their lender complied with all the brand new procedural requirements in responding to foreclosure grievances. Where the mandatory notices are not properly served, a homeowner should expressly raise the lender's noncompliance together with the law as an affirmative defense in their response to the foreclosure criticism. By claiming the just available affirmative defenses, homeowners might be able to delay foreclosure and motivate lenders to supply non-foreclosure alternatives, including short sales and loan modification.

Previously, in 2005, the Maryland legislature passed legislation requiring lenders to supply special notice to homeowners regarding their rights in foreclosure actions. This law took effect on May 26, 2005 and, among other things, requires that foreclosure notices contain information and special warnings.

[ http://youtu.be/0Ql5nh6gsE8 how to short sale Maryland] - As with other states, Maryland experienced record quantities of foreclosures. Prince George's County and Baltimore County have experienced the highest variety of foreclosures total. On the other hand, every section of the state has influenced. Foreclosure filings in August, 2009 were up by more than 70% as compared to August, 2008. These grim statistics represent the upsurge in unemployment, large variety of high-interest mortgages, and property values that are crumbling. Even the most distressed homeowners should file answers when served with foreclosure complaints. Homeowners who answer foreclosure charges are often able to impede the foreclosure procedure. In many cases, homeowners who have filed responses to foreclosure complaints have discovered that their lenders are far more willing to take into account various options, including short sales and loan modifications, that were unavailable previously.

what is short sale vs foreclosure - Foreclosure reply forms therefore are relatively easy to complete and file with the court, and can be found for download. A foreclosure reply do not need to be complicated or lengthy. The principal function is to set forth any affirmative defenses which may be related, and to concisely deny those allegations in the charge which are fictitious. In foreclosure cases, answers commonly contain these affirmative defenses: (a) the mortgage was entered into fraudulently or in violation of the Truth in Lending Act; (b) the lender failed to comply with applicable notice periods; and (c) the lender failed to personally serve the foreclosure summons and complaint. All these are just a few of the affirmative defenses to foreclosure a homeowner should think about claiming within their response form.