The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 (PTFA) was enacted on May 20, 2009. The major provision of the PTFA was to ensure protection from eviction for tenants living in foreclosed property. The PTFA was set to expire on December 31, 2012; however, the Dodd-Frank Act extended the protections through December 31, 2014. Congress did not act to extend the protections beyond 2014 and, as a result, the PTFA expired on December 31, 2014.
On March 13, 2015, Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) introduced bill H.R. 1354: Permanently Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2015 to the House where it was referred to the House Financial Services Committee. If the bill gets through the Committee it would need to be passed by the House and the Senate, then signed by the President for enactment.
If it is enacted, the Permanently Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2015 would ensure federal protections are renewed and made permanent for tenants living in foreclosed properties.
How does this affect financial institutions? Technically, the PTFA requirements don’t currently apply since they expired on December 31, 2014. However, with the introduction of this new bill, the PTFA protections and requirements could be renewed and made permanent. Before eliminating your existing policies and procedures and potentially having to reinstate them, you may want to consider waiting to see the outcome of the bill.
Robin Cooper
