In what is becoming a holiday tradition, evictions on foreclosed properties are being suspended by the Federal National Mortgage Association and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.
One year ago, Freddie Mac announced the suspension of evictions on occupied foreclosed properties during the holiday season.
A year earlier, both Freddie and Fannie Mae ordered their attorneys to suspend all evictions on foreclosed residential properties that were occupied.
In separate announcements issued Thursday, both government-sponsored enterprises said that all evictions on occupied single-family and two- to four-unit properites that they own would be suspended from Dec. 19 through Jan. 2, 2012.
McLean, Va.-based Freddie noted that the suspension will apply only to eviction lockouts tied to its real-estate-owned properties but won’t affect other pre- or post-foreclosure processes.
“If the property is occupied, our foreclosure attorneys will suspend the eviction to provide families a greater measure of certainty during the holidays,” Tracy Mooney, senior vice president of servicing and REO at Freddie, said in the statement.
Washington, D.C.-based Fannie said that legal and administrative proceedings for evictions may continue during the moratorium, but borrowers and tenants will be permitted to remain in the properties.
“No family should have to give up their home during this holiday season,” Terry Edwards, Fannie’s executive vice president of credit portfolio management, said in the secondary lender’s news release.
As of Oct. 31, Freddie’s total mortgage portfolio stood at $2.1 trillion, while Fannie reported a $3.2 trillion book of business.
