CAI-NJ Sept. 2019update

after the foreclosure judgment has been entered on vacant and abandoned properties. This law now requires more expedient sheriff’s sales in order to con- clude the foreclosure process. The new law addresses the recurring problem where, for example, a final judgment is entered by the Court but a sale is delayed, adjourned or resched- uled, sometimes for several months at a time. All the while, as each month of delay accrues the paying unit owners are still paying higher maintenance fees to make up for the always recurring sort fall. This completely unfair and continuing delay was having the effect of essentially stopping the foreclosure process. The new law now shortens that time period and sets out certain mandates for the timing of the sheriff’s sale in order

to advance the process and bring real foreclosure relief to reduce the burdens on the paying unit owners. Certainly, there were “well healed” interests in vehement opposition to these common sense reforms. For sev- eral years there was substantial oppo- sition to our efforts at achieving real- istic and legitimate reform. Members of the Legislative Action Committee devoted very substantial portions of their professional and personal time and expended resources to make realistic foreclosure reform a reality for our membership. Most of the other states have already addressed the “mortgage meltdown” head-on and passed laws years ago to expedite the foreclosure process. As a result, most of the other states already reduced their foreclosures

to pre-meltdown levels within only a few years. On the other hand, poor legislation and short-signed court rul- ings have needlessly extended New Jersey’s mortgage crisis. In New Jersey, it has been more than a decade since the mortgage crisis began in 2006. With these two real world legisla- tive solutions, New Jersey has finally taken a big step forward in conclud- ing the mortgage crisis. As members of the Community Associations Institute, we all need to remain continually vigilant in order to protect and preserve our rights and the rights of our communities. After all, for many of us, the unit (and depending on your association) the land and common elements are our biggest investment and it needs to be protected. n

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