Recession Still Seen in Florida Foreclosure, Eviction Processes
The stock market has hit record highs, home prices are rising and unemployment rates are declining. Still, lenders and landlords are finding it necessary to take possession of property when buyers or tenants can’t pay the bill.
Florida foreclosure rates led the nation in 2012, with more than a 50% jump from the year before. In 2012, one out of every 32 houses in Florida was undergoing foreclosure. So far, the 2013 numbers are keeping pace.
The Florida Foreclosure Process
Foreclosures must go through the court system as a type of lawsuit, since Florida is a “lien theory” state, where property is used as the collateral for a mortgage. That means that, in the Jacksonville area, lenders must file a notice of foreclosure – known as a lis pendens – with the Duval County Clerk of Courts. They are then required to notify the homeowner of the action by service of process.
To avoid unnecessary delays, since many foreclosures in Florida can take up to two years or more, lenders have turned to professional process servers, such as Accurate Serve of Jacksonville, an Accredited Florida Process Server.
Once served, the property owner has 20 days under state law to respond to the notice by challenging the action or filing bankruptcy. Some may get permission to “short sell,” or sell the property for less than they owe.
If the notice goes unchallenged, the procedure is simplified. The courts can take 180 to 200 days to complete the process by issuing a default judgment in favor of the lien holder.
