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LegislationLEGISLATION | Detail


S. 486: Protecting Servicemembers from Mortgage Abuses Act of 2011

Sponsor: Whitehouse (D - RI)

Official Title: A bill to amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act to enhance protections for members of the uniformed services relating to mortgages, mortgage foreclosure, and eviction, and for other purposes.

Status:
3/3/2011: Introduced in Senate
3/3/2011: Referred to Senate Veterans Affairs Committee

Commentary:
This bill would amend the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (50 U.S.C. App. 501 et seq.) to increase the criminal penalties for landlords and mortgage lienholders who violate the mandates of the Act’s property-law protections for active military servicemembers. Currently, the SCRA makes it a criminal misdemeanor for a mortgage lienholder to “knowingly make[] or cause[]” the sale, foreclosure, or seizure of military servicemember property without a proper court order prior to the conclusion of a 90-day grace period following the end of active service (50 U.S.C. App. § 533). Violations of this provision are currently punishable by up to one year imprisonment, fines under Title 18 of the U.S. Code, or both. S. 486 would increase the maximum incarceration penalty for such a violation from a limit of up to one year imprisonment to a maximum of up to two years imprisonment. The SCRA also currently makes it a criminal misdemeanor for a landlord to “knowingly take[] part in an eviction or distress” associated with certain premises that are occupied or intended to be occupied as a residence by a servicemember or the dependents of a servicemember without a proper court order (50 U.S.C. App. § 531). Knowing “attempts to do so” without such a court order are also sanctionable as a criminal misdemeanor under the SCRA. Violations of these eviction or distress provisions are currently punishable by up to one year imprisonment, fines under Title 18 of the U.S. Code, or both. S. 486 would increase the maximum incarceration penalty for these violations from a limit of up to one year imprisonment to a maximum of up to two years imprisonment. The bill also fails to define with adequate clarity what knowledge an accused landlord or mortgage lienholder must have in order to be convicted of its criminal offenses.

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