Lawsky Touts Foreclosure Reforms to Ease Burden on Courts, Servicers
Calling his state's foreclosure process "badly broken and in need of change," New York banking regulator Benjamin Lawsky wants new policies enacted to fast-track vacant property foreclosures and reform the state's mandatory foreclosure mediation requirements.
Foreclosures in the Empire State take an average of 900 days to complete, creating a backlog in court dockets, a financial burden on municipalities that must maintain vacant properties, and a critical impediment to the recovery of the state's housing market, the superintendent of the New York Department of Financial Services said Tuesday during a speech at the Mortgage Bankers Association's Secondary Market Conference in Manhattan.
"This is a problem long in the making, and I doubt it is one that we will definitively solve this legislative session," Lawsky said.