Alan Secures Purchase of Property for Client
In a case that resulted in a nearly unprecedented result, Alan recently secured the repurchase of property for a client who had been foreclosed upon by her lender.
Alan was contacted by the client, who had been foreclosed upon four years earlier and subsequent to the foreclosure was the subject of an eviction lawsuit by her mortgage lender. The lender prevailed in the eviction lawsuit, and the client appealed. The appeal, which was handled by a prior attorney, dragged on for several years, during which the client was permitted to live in the property. However, in June 2016, the appellate court upheld the district court’s judgment of eviction against her, and the lender took steps toward the actual eviction of the client. That’s when the client contacted Alan.
Alan immediately moved to have the eviction “stayed” under a law that allows tenants to stay up to six months after a final judgment when the eviction occurs through no fault of the tenant. Alan argued that a post-foreclosure eviction is a “no-fault” eviction, and that given that the client had young children and could not easily move prior to the start of the school year, the client deserved a stay of execution until at least the end of the summer. Acknowledging that the state of the law on this issue was unclear, the judge allowed Alan’s motion and the client received an “interim” stay of execution until the end of August (the judge said she would revisit the issue in late August).
Meanwhile, the client and the lender resumed discussions about a possible repurchase by her of the property. These negotiations lasted nearly three months. The lender, Fannie Mae, had only once before in its history agreed to a repurchase of property by the same borrower it had foreclosed upon, but after extensive discussions, Fannie Mae finally agreed to sell the property to the client. The client now once again owns her own home, and she and her family can remain in the neighborhood they dearly love.
The case is important for people who have been foreclosed upon but who wish to have time to decide where and when to move.