D.C. Attorney General Peter Nickles issued an enforcement statement Wednesday describing how foreclosure notices in the District may have misled homeowners and violated the city’s consumer protection law.
Two weeks ago, the District officially joined the national probe into deceiving foreclosure practices that may have illegally kicked people out of their homes.
In his statement, Nickles said a homeowner cannot be foreclosed on unless the primary lien holder, or security interest noteholder, has been accurately recorded in the public land records maintained by the District’s Recorder of Deeds.
The District’s non-judicial foreclosure process begins with a Notice of Foreclosure on a form issued by the Recorder of Deeds. The form requires identification of a “Holder of the Note” and a “Security Instrument” recorded in the land records.
“When a foreclosure sale notice misrepresents to a homeowner that the foreclosing noteholder has a recorded security interest, the homeowner may fail to seek legal help in determining whether there may be a good basis for challenging the foreclosure in court,” Nickles said. “Misrepresentations of material facts, when made to homeowners or other consumers, violate the District’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act.”
Those who feel their consumer rights have been violated in this process are encouraged to call the attorney general’s consumer hotline at (202) 442-9828.
