Foreclosure Properties: Filing Fees in Florida to Increase
The fees to turn delinquent assets into Florida foreclosure properties will be increased under a measure expected to be approved by state legislators.
The increase in foreclosure fees is part of the state’s efforts to fund the new state budget of $66.5 billion.
With Florida fourth in foreclosure filings among states in the first quarter of 2009, the foreclosure fee increase is expected to raise about $220 million to support the state courts.
Under the proposal, the original $295 foreclosure fee will be increased according to values of the properties being foreclosed. For foreclosure properties worth below $50,000, the fee will be $395. For properties valued from $50,000 to $250,000, the fee will be $900. Properties worth more than $250,000 will require $1,900 to file.
Lee Haworth, chief judge in Sarasota, said the proposed increases are the largest increases he has seen in many years.
Senator Victor Crist, head of the Senate Budget Committee, said the foreclosure fee increases were based on recommended estimates from courts across the state who are increasingly burdened by the flood of foreclosure properties. He reiterated the increases, which will include increases in other court filings, are just proper because there had been no fee increases in several years.
Foreclosed houses had been a significant factor in the backlog of court cases. As of the last quarter of 2008, Florida courts have a backlog of about 338,000 civil filings, with much of the volume consisting of foreclosure filings.
For the first three months of this year alone, Florida had 119,220 foreclosure filings, including 15,888 units already turned into REO foreclosure properties.
In 2008, Polk County had 9,467 foreclosures, rising by almost 85 percent from the total in 2007. Last month, the county received 884 filings, an increase from the 754 filings in April 2008.
Crist said the graduated fees were developed so that the fees would correctly reflect the levels of complexities solved in different foreclosure filings.
Also, Crist contended that the fee increases could ultimately help homeowners whose homes are at risk of ending up as foreclosure properties. Lenders would now have another reason to work out loan modifications or other affordable payment schemes.
