Action Alert: Oppose Senate Bill 1987!

Please take action today to protect the rights of homeowners to fight illegal foreclosures! This bill has already passed in the Senate by a unanimous vote. If it is passed in the House and signed by Governor Patrick, Senate Bill 1987 will make it easier for investors to buy up large numbers of foreclosed homes in our state, regardless of whether those foreclosures were illegal! This bill threatens the ability of homeowners to get their houses back if they were foreclosed upon illegally by reducing the amount of time they have to take legal action. Please call your MA Representative today, and ask them to oppose Senate 1987!

Why Should You Oppose this Bill?
Instead of giving homeowners a full twenty years to reverse the wrongs of the banks’ illegal foreclosures, this bill limits Massachusetts residents to only three years. In addition, it limits to one year the rights of those who already were foreclosed on to sue to regain their home. Considering the fact that the Supreme Judicial Court has declared thousands of Mass. foreclosures to be illegal and void, this bill has the potential to deny these homeowners their legal rights by sharply limiting their ability to sue lenders in court.

If this bill passes the House and is signed into law, a new purchaser of a foreclosed home would claim clear title to that property three years after the original foreclosure. It would allow that purchaser to sell the property out from under the original homeowner even if that person has proved in court that their foreclosure was illegal.

Supporters of this Bill argue that it clears the way for new homeowners to purchase and occupy these foreclosed properties. However, studies show that the majority of purchasers of foreclosed homes are not homeowners who will occupy the property but large investors who are overwhelmingly buying up our neighborhoods, taking advantage of foreclosure-discounted prices while many average Massachusetts residents cannot access a mortgage in this lending market.

For more information about this bill, read MAAPL’s press release (PDF)

Please join us today in speaking out against Senate Bill 1987, and urge your MA Representative to oppose it when it comes up for a vote!

Not sure who to call? Call the State House switchboard and ask for your Senator’s or Representative’s office: 617-722-2350, or look their name up at www.malegislature.gov to find their office phone number.

If you don’t know who your state Senator or Representative is, go to www.WhereDoIVoteMA.com and type in your address to find out their name.

You can read the full text of Senate Bill 1987 on the MA Legislature Web site.

Thank you for taking action! Together we can fight this bill and win!