Foreclosure Clean-Up Bill Moving Through Legislature
Sponsored by House Assistant Majority Leader Representative Michael Garcia and Senator Jennifer Veiga, House Bill 07-1157 – “Concerning Real Estate Foreclosures” – is a clean-up of last year’s sweeping foreclosure reform bill. The intent of last year’s bill, discussed in detail here, was to modernize and simplify Colorado’s foreclosure process and to grant owners a higher likelihood of retaining their property.
HB 07-1157, which is now in the Senate, passed in the Senate Business, Labor, & Technology Committee yesterday afternoon and will return to the Senate for a second reading. (The members of the Senate Business, Labor, & Technology Committee are Senators Veiga (D), Chair; Tochtrop (D), Vice Chair; Kester (R), Schwartz (D), Takis (D), Taylor (R), and Wiens (R).) Representative Garcia has worked hard to contain the contents of this bill to “clean-up” items on which stakeholders have reached consensus. This limitation to include only consensus items means that any outstanding issues arising from last year’s bill that need to be addressed will have to be done by another avenue (such as a late bill). Among the amendments proposed by HB 1157:
- Making an allowance for courts in an action for unlawful detention of real property following a foreclosure sale to dispense with appearances by the plaintiff and a hearing under certain circumstances,
- Entitling a public trustee to fees for processing a rescission of a foreclosure sale and for rescheduling a sale after a rescission, and
- Allowing a successful bidder at a foreclosure sale to rescind the sale without a court order if the rescission is made within 8 business days after the sale.