A home owner's property was sold at a Trustee's sale, without notification of the Trustee's continued date for the sale. Home owner's counsel challenged sale at eviction proceedings filed by successful bidder. Sale was set aside and arrearages were addressed in loan-modification negotiations.
1
Review All Records
As soon as home owner receives notice of eviction filed by sucessiveful bidder, check all auditor records and trustee notices. Check trustee's web sits to determine property listed for sale, dates of sales and continued sale dates.
2
File Response And Join Parties.
While home owner seeks to challenge Plaintiff-bidder's deed in the eviction action, he should file a separate action against the trustee, beneficiary and other parties, then ask the judge to consolidate the actions. He can obtain discovery from the parties in the home owner's action. Usually, he can delay the eviction action by negotiating a fair rental value to the successful bidder (assuming the bidder is an investor, not the note holder) while the other issues are being litigated. Usually the successful bidder will agree to this remedy so as to save legal fees until the home owner's legal issues are resolved.
3
Initiate Discovery
Require Trustee to establish recordings and notifications. Require beneficiary to show legal authority. Require beneficiary and authorized loan servicing agent to produce all phone logs and correspondence with debtor. Analyze assignment documents and successive appointments of trustee. Review all trustee notifications for sale of properties. Inteview other trustees and bidders who appeared on the date the property was allegedly sold.
4
Initiate Negotiations With Counsel or Prepare for Trial
In many cases, especially during the era predatory loans, a careful evaluation of the documents will identify errors in the loan formation documents and/or the foreclosure proceedings. In one case, the trustee filed an affidavit alleging she had orally announced that the sale had been continued to the date it was actually sold (unknown to the home owner), however, the trustee's web page showed that she was still advertising the property for sale on a date subsequent to the date she had actually sold the property. The trustee had removed the property from the web site as soon as the home owner challenged the sale, however, the homeowner had already printed and authenticated the web site posting. The trustee's counsel negotiated a buy back of the property from the successful bidder and the home owner's counsel negotiated a modification of the home owner's loan
Comments - add comment