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29 » VISIT US ONLINE @ DSNEWS.COM A VICTORY FOR SERVICERS IN SUPER- PRIORITY LIEN FIGHT Nevada has been a hotbed of controversy on the issue of super-priority liens since the State Supreme Court ruled in September 2014 that homeowners' associations (HOAs) had the authority to non-judicially foreclose on a property that is delinquent on its HOA dues. Servicers have fought to protect their properties from super-priority liens because those liens allow HOAs to extinguish the servicers' mortgage and sell homes for huge discounts, sometimes for pennies on the dollar. e FHFA has been close to the issue, having repeatedly issued warnings to HOAs that super-priority liens would allow them to foreclose on mortgage loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Recently, Judge Elizabeth Gonzales in the Nevada Eighth Judicial District gave servicers a victory in that battle, nullifying an HOA foreclosure sale that occurred in 2014 on a mortgage held by Bank of America. e bank presented evidence in the case of Nevada New Builds, LLC v. Bank of America that it paid the delinquent HOA dues which amounted to $1,305 (nine months worth of delinquent dues)—and that the HOA accepted the payment without communicating to the bank whether or not the payment was sufficient enough to protect the bank's lien on the property and remove the super-priority lien. e HOA foreclosed on the property, claiming the amount was not enough, but Gonales ruled that the HOA had not sufficiently proven that additional charges beyond nine months of HOA dues were not enough to give the HOA's lien priority over Bank of America's mortgage. e judge also ruled that the HOA engaged in "unfair" behavior by refusing to provide the bank with sufficient instruction as how much should be paid. Attorney G. Benjamin Milam of Bradley Arant Bould Cummings said that the ruling by Gonzales will buoy lenders who try to overturn HOA foreclosures in cases where the HOA did not comply with the servicer's good faith effort to protect its mortgage. Last year, an amendment passed in the Nevada State Senate that amended the rules regarding super-priority liens. HOAs are now required to give servicers sufficient notice that if they pay the delinquent HOA dues, the servicers' lien will be preserved. WWW.ZVNPROPERTIES.COM (330)854.5890 | INFO@ZVNPROPERTIES.COM MBE MINORITY BUSINESS ENTERPRISE EXPERIENCE THE ZVN DIFFERENCE! Leading with integrity, every ZVN employee and contractor is committed to providing exceptional results for our customers and communities we serve. ZVN delivers unparalleled Pre and Post sale services on your default properties. Offering a full suite of property preservation, property inspection, restoration and hazard claim services, ZVN is your one stop shop to protecting your assets. Contact us today and.... THINKING OUTSIDE THE BOX The total number of bankruptcy filings in the country through the first four months of 2016, down by about 17,500 from the total from the first four months of 2015 (283,587). Source: Source: AACER Bankruptcy Data reported by Epiq Systems. STAT INSIGHT 266,050