Apologies and Updates: 2019 Legislation, CFPB, Affiliate Assemblies

Melissa Jay Murphy delivers the latest on recent changes that are impacting the Real Estate Industry in Florida.

Dear Members,

I will not tell a lie. I am a bit embarrassed. It has been too long since I posted an email to you. Somehow I have let other stuff get in the way of sharing information with you and I am going to try very hard not to let that happen again!

2019 LEGISLATION. So let's start with the recent end of the 2019 Legislative Session. Bills are slowly being sent to Governor DeSantis for his action so there is not too much to report in the way of final laws right now. However, I do have two new laws to bring to your attention today.

Real Property Legal Descriptions: Chapter 2019-12, Laws of Florida, expands the type of information that certain government employees (e.g., law enforcement officers) can redact from the public records. The legal description, home address and any other identifying information are now subject to redaction. Be on the lookout for changes in how this protection is utilized. RPPTL and FLTA did manage to get a provision into the bill allowing the redacted information to be released to a third party (for example a title agent or attorney) upon written consent of the protected individual.

Inter-Spousal Transfers and other things: Chapter 2019-42, Laws of Florida, is the session’s annual tax package. Among its provisions, the legislation eliminates the 1-year limitation on the exemption of inter-spousal transfers of homestead property from doc stamp charges; it reduces the sales tax on commercial leases to 5.5 percent; it authorizes “sales tax holidays” for back-to-school supplies and disaster preparedness; and it provides for the refund of sales tax paid for fencing replacements damaged by Hurricane Michael.

Affiliate Assemblies coming up! Register for one of our Affiliate Assemblies. Your options are Tampa in August and Ft. Lauderdale in September. This truly is a great opportunity for paralegals and closers to get up to date information from our speakers in a more intimate (smaller at least) setting than Fund Assembly! Here is a link to the registration, https://www.thefund.com/affiliateassembly.aspx.

CFPB FAQs on Construction Loans. In keeping with their new policy of providing more guidance, CFPB recently issued some new FAQs on TRID and construction loans. I have read them. Fairly obtuse and probably geared more toward the lender than the settlement agent. But I have to give kudos to CFPB for issuing some more guidance. Here is a link to those FAQs.  https://www.consumerfinance.gov/policy-compliance/guidance/tila-respa-disclosure-rule/tila-respa-integrated-disclosure-faqs/

More CFPB stuff. If you are into CFPB, here is a good report/summary by the Mortgage Bankers Association of the reforms that CFPB should undertake. It really is interesting reading and is well done. Focus on the Executive Summary at the beginning of the report and then read on if you want more detail.  MBA_CFPB_Roadmap_2-0_Paper_WB.pdf

That's all for this week. Wait...what? ???? Nothing about Remote Online Notarization? Has Murphy lost her mind? Nope. I don't think about much else…….but until the bill becomes law, I think we have said enough about it. But once it is official, we will be sending out information in fire-hose fashion! Stay tuned……………

Let me know how we can help you.
 

Melissa Jay Murphy
Executive Vice President, Chief Legal Officer,
General Counsel and Secretary

06/05/2019