By KIMBERLEY HAAS United Wholesale Mortgage turned heads in the industry last week when it was reported that health officials are investigating the company after receiving complaints about how they are handling COVID, which lead some people to ask why employees in lending are expected to be in their offices to begin with. Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration Director Bart Pickelman confirmed to The Mortgage Note Wednesday that his agency has received 50 complaints against UWM since November 1, 2021. “MIOSHA currently has one open investigation and other investigations that are currently progressing through the appeals process. MIOSHA cannot provide information on an open investigation,” Pickelman said. A former employee told Fox 2 in Detroit that people who work at…
By KIMBERLEY HAAS It may be a harsh reality to face, but the data is clear: There will be more houses on the market in 2022 because of the number of people who have died due to COVID-19 and its variants. This sobering fact was highlighted during the National Association of Real Estate Editors conference in Miami, Fla., last week. As of Monday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported 793,937 COVID deaths of Americans. More of those deaths have occurred since the first vaccines became available than before. Approximately 77% of people over the age of five have had at least one vaccination, according to their website. Community transmission is high in many parts of the country…
A federal court on Wednesday tossed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s ban on evicting tenants who do not pay their rent during the Covid-19 pandemic, saying the health agency lacks the authority to issue such a moratorium. The U.S. Department of Justice announced it would appeal the decision. In a suit filed by the Alabama and Georgia Associations of Realtors and others, the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia found that “the plain language of the Public Health Service Act … unambiguously forecloses the nationwide eviction moratorium.” “The Court recognizes that the COVID-19 pandemic is a serious public health crisis that has presented unprecedented challenges for public health officials and the nation as a whole,” Judge…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Monday moved to beef up the federal eviction moratorium by requiring debt collectors to provide written notice to renters of their rights – and bars debt collectors from misrepresenting tenants’ protection from eviction. The Centers for Disease Control issued the eviction moratorium in an effort to reduce the spread of Covid-19 during the pandemic. Debt collectors who evict tenants could be prosecuted and be exposed to lawsuits by those they evicted, the CFPB said. “With COVID-19 killing hundreds of Americans every day, kicking families out into the street during this pandemic may literally be a death sentence,” CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio said. “No one should be evicted from their home without understanding their…
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the Federal Trade Commission on Monday issued a warning to landlords to “stop illegal evictions” during the Covid-19 pandemic. The statement was issued as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention extended its eviction moratorium, banning landlords from kicking tenants out for being unable to make their rental payments. “Staff at both agencies will be monitoring and investigating eviction practices, particularly by major multistate landlords, eviction management services, and private equity firms, to ensure that they are complying with the law,” CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio and FTC Acting Chairwoman Rebecca Slaughter said. “Evicting tenants in violation of the CDC, state, or local moratoria, or evicting or threatening to evict them without apprising them of…
The National Association of Home Builders has filed suit in federal court challenging the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s order that bans residential evictions through the end of the year to prevent the spread of Covid-19. The CDC order, issued in September under the Public Health Service Act, covers renters of apartments or residential properties – but does not include a ban on foreclosures on home mortgages. It requires renters to certify to landlords that they would become homeless or forced to live with others “in close quarters” if they were to be evicted. NAHB objects to the order because it provides “no relief for landlords who must continue to pay bills, maintain the units and pay their employees…
