How did the Hurricane Treat You?

An update on Regulatory Help; Unlawful Inducement; and Estoppel Examples

Dear Members,

I hope with all my heart that you are doing well in the aftermath of Irma. Many of you were hit, and hit hard. If there is anything we can do to help you get your office back up and running, please let me know. Send me an email and I will try to help.

Regulatory Help

I want to remind you that we have a new Member resource. I get a lot of inquiries for guidance on a wide variety of regulatory rules and statutes, so we decided to create a new position: Regulatory Compliance Counsel. Bob Rohan has taken that position and we are thrilled! Our intention is to provide a single point of contact for Fund Members and their Staff for professional research and consultation on regulatory matters. These matters include:

• Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act
• TILA-RESPA Integrated Disclosure Rule
• Loan Originator Compensation Rule
• Rules and regulations governing title insurance and title insurance agents
• Rules promulgated by The Florida Bar
• The guidelines offered in ALTA’s Best Practices - Other regulatory matters for which guidance is sought (within reason, of course!).

This position does not replace the need to call Fund Underwriting Counsel for questions related to policy issuance, including interpretation of The Fund’s Title Notes. Requests for assistance on regulatory matters should directed to Bob Rohan at [regulatorycompliance@thefund.com]

Unlawful Inducement

Update On Monday, September 25, I attended what might be the last hearing (for a good while) on amendments to the unlawful inducement rule. The industry, through FLTA, presented what I think were excellent amendments to the rule to clarify examples of illegal inducement and illegal rebates. We added some language directed at the egregious provisions of many loan closing instructions to give you some ammunition to negotiate changes. We are now waiting on the formal response of the Department of Financial Services. We hope that only minor changes will be made and the rule will be finalized soon. Changes will most certainly need to be made from time to time but this last round of changes has taken a long time to finish up.

Estoppel Examples

I am still very interested in your examples of how associations and management companies are implementing the new estoppel certificate statute so please continue to send those to me. It is really appreciated! Let me know how we can help you.

Best Regards,

Melissa Jay Murphy 
Senior Vice President and General Counsel