A Fairhaven real estate company and a real estate broker have been fined for sending threatening notices to tenants living in foreclosed properties.
Last spring, housing advocates provided the attorney general’s office with a copy of a notice sent by RE/MAX Classic to individuals living in a foreclosed property in New Bedford.
The notice threatened to illegally change the locks on the property if the occupants did not call the broker within 24 hours. RE/MAX Classic allegedly served similar notices to individuals in multiple properties.
A similar notice was sent by Simone Schettino to tenants living in a foreclosed property in Roxbury and was provided to the attorney general’s office by an affordable housing and tenants’ rights organization in Jamaica Plain.
The notice threatened to remove all property of the occupant if the real estate agent was not contacted.
Under federal and state law, tenants with a valid lease are permitted to continue living in a foreclosed property for the term of the lease and both landlords and their brokers are prohibited from altering the lease terms.
RE/MAX Classic must pay a penalty of $10,000, with $7,500 suspended, including $1,000 to South Coastal Counties Legal Services and $1,500 to the Local Consumer Aid Fund. Schettino must pay $500 to the Local Consumer Aid Fund. RE/MAX is also required to provide six free seminars that are open to the public and will provide information to homeowners and tenants in buildings facing foreclosure about their rights.
"We are facing critical housing needs in the Commonwealth and the strain of foreclosures has shown its affects on everyone. State and Federal law protects a tenant’s right to live in the property for the remainder of the lease period even after a property has been foreclosed and sold to a new owner," said Attorney General Martha Coakley. "Their tenancies, and therefore their right to remain in their homes, simply do not dissolve because of a foreclosure or resale of the property. Tenants of foreclosed properties cannot be forced out of their homes and the use of deceptive notices threatening illegal acts by realtors, brokers and landlords will not be tolerated in Massachusetts."
