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NEW HAMPSHIRE
New Hampshire State Senate Kills Foreclosure Notification Bill
New Hampshire House Bill 309, intended to give homeowners
more warning when facing foreclosure, was ended by voice vote in
the New Hampshire Senate, killing the bill, citing objections from
banks and credit unions.
Concord Monitor reported that the bill would have required a
sheriff to hand-deliver a notice of sale to a delinquent homeowner,
noting that under the present law, that notice must only be mailed
to the homeowner. Additionally, the bill would require that the
notice itself was explicit about the recourse a homeowner had to
fight the nonjudicial foreclosure procedure if he or she believed it
was illegally issued.
"e committee found that there was a large amount of op-
position to the bill from various stakeholders and the financial
community," Sen. Harold French said.
Opposition to the bill, including banks, credit unions, and mu-
nicipalities, argued that the bill would have slowed the foreclosure
process significantly and would tie up court decisions. Opponents
of the bill also argued that procedures developed by the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau have already created guidelines for
banks to follow during foreclosures, though advocates have said
they are poorly enforced.
Sen. Dan Feltes expressed his disappointment in the final deci-
sion.
"Establishing a process and going through it in some cases
will expedite the (legal) process, rather than putting the onus on
homeowners to go to court to stop a potentially unlawful foreclo-
sure, instead going through a process right away...is what most of
the states do," he said.
ose in support of the bill, including Feltes as well as New
Hampshire Legal Assistance, a provider of legal resources for low-
income homeowners, state that notices can be lost or ignored when
sent in the mail, and HB 309 offered a safer and more direct way
of communicating with homeowners facing foreclosure. Advocates
noted that many homeowners, though they know they may be
behind on payments, may not be aware of how behind they are.
