CFPB and FTC To Crack Down On Unfair Eviction Practices

 The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and Federal Trade Commission will crack down on eviction practices they think violate laws like the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act, according to a joint statement by the two entities in the wake of the most recent extension of the federal eviction moratorium.  

Of particular interest: deceptive and unfair practices the agencies say could result from landlords failing to apprise residents of their rights.

“Staff at both agencies will be monitoring and investigating eviction practices, particularly by major multistate landlords, eviction management services, and private equity firms, to ensure that they are complying with the law,” their statement read. “Evicting tenants in violation of the CDC, state, or local moratoria, or evicting or threatening to evict them without apprising them of their legal rights under such moratoria, may violate prohibitions against deceptive and unfair practices, including under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act.”

The CFPB has become increasingly active in housing practices as the COVID-19 crisis unfolds, with CFPB Director Dave Ueijo noting in a recent blog post that he’s instructed his teams to “consider all of the CFPB’s available tools to preserve people’s homes and protect them from unnecessary foreclosure.” He also said the CFPB is working closely with federal agencies like the US Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Federal Housing Finance Agency, to that end.

“The CFPB was created in the aftermath of the 2007-08 housing crisis, and Congress uniquely equipped us to address the current looming housing crisis,” Ueijo said. “Where we can use our authority to keep people in their homes, we will.”

The bureau also said it will allocate research capabilities to track delinquencies, foreclosures, and evictions and to analyze complaint data from other sources, like mortgage servicers, to better understand the current housing picture.

https://www.globest.com/2021/04/05/cfpb-and-ftc-to-crack-down-on-unfair-eviction-practices/