A bill that would set uniform rules for foreclosure registries stalled Wednesday after local governments complained that the rules would preempt some of their established property registries.
A substitute to the legislation, HB 110 that was carried over from last year, was passed out of the Senate Banking and Finance Committee on Monday. It was sent back to the committee on Tuesday.
The bill would cap property registration fees at $175, with penalties for failure to register capped at $500 per month and $2,000 total. The bill would override existing local foreclosure registries and rules, except those requiring registration of foreclosed properties with repeated violations that are not corrected for at least 60 days.
Areas like Gwinnett, which has an existing vacant property registry, were concerned that the bill would kill those type registries,” said Sen. Don Balfour, R-Snellville. “If the homeowners associations knew about it they would be up in arms because they want the property next to them mowed and the house painted.”
Sen. Jack Murphy, who chairs the Senate committee that passed the proposal this week, had said the legislation was needed to keep local governments from using the vacant property and foreclosure fees as another source of revenue.
“Ours was not meant to be a revenue producer, which has been the charge of some people about these types of registries, said Gwinnett Commissioner Mike Beaudreau. “It’s a mechanism meant to handle a real problem here in Gwinnett.”
The Association of County Commissioners of Georgia is proposing adding amendments to the bill that would expand the foreclosure registry rules to include vacant properties, and include stricter rules for property owners to update registration information with municipalities.
DeKalb County is one of the few local jurisdictions that operates a foreclosure registry. A year after the registry began in October 2010, the fee had generated about $557,000.
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