Archive for August, 2009
Lenders to Trick Tenants Out of Their Rights Next
It should come as no surprise that the industry who created and pushed complex and risky loan products to American homeowners have even less regard for tenants who are victims of foreclosure. As explained more here, Congress and President Obama enacted the “Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act” in May 2009 which entitles a tenant to continue leasing from the new owner of the property after a foreclosure sale until the lease expires on its own, or 90 days (whichever is longer). The only exception is if the new owner intends to occupy the property as his primary residence.
Add comment August 31, 2009
Austin Energy offers new utility aid
Worried that the heat wave and economic downturn are hitting some Austinites with utility bills they’ll have trouble paying, city officials announced a new assistance program Monday.
Austin Energy customers who are behind on their bills will have six months to pay them back — and up to 10 months if they can demonstrate extreme financial hardship — as long as they pay 25 percent of the unpaid bills up front. The window was extended from four months.
Add comment August 25, 2009
Are police liable for giving killer access to ex’s apartment?
Staci Bovill Evans’ haunting cries for help during a 911 call in 2004 filled U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel’s cavernous courtroom in Austin on Tuesday. Seated in the witness stand, Evans sobbed anew as she listened to an audio replay of her reaction the day her ex-fiancé waited in her apartment for her to return home, fatally shot her boyfriend and then killed himself.
“My ex-boyfriend just shot my boyfriend,” Evans said on the recording. “I don’t know how he got in.”
Shawn Barnard, Evans’ ex-boyfriend, got into her Northeast Austin apartment when an Austin police officer kicked in the door. Barnard had told police that he feared Evans had killed herself, according to testimony.
A federal jury will decide at the end of the civil trial whether the city and two officers — one of whom is now retired — bear any blame for the shooting because the officers allowed Barnard to go inside and then left him at the unlocked apartment. The trial is expected to be finished next week.
Add comment August 5, 2009
