Two Canadian Tourists Find Themselves Illegally Locked Out Of Rented Home By Foreclosing Lender After Returning From Day At Beach

In Punta Gorda, Florida, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:

• Two Canadian tourists returning to their rental home from a day at the beach found evidence burglars had struck -- or so it seemed. Their laptop computer and MP3 player were missing, as were six bottles of wine. A half-empty beer opened by the intruders was still cold and sitting on the kitchen counter.

• But why, then, had the locks on the front door been changed? It turns out that a Sarasota company working for a lender trying to retake the property through foreclosure sent two men to the Punta Gorda home to break in and change the locks, even though the home was obviously occupied.

• It is illegal for any bank representative to enter a property if they have not yet retaken it at a foreclosure sale, especially if there is any sign the home is occupied, foreclosure experts say. The process of banks hiring people to break into homes, even when occupied, is just the latest oddity of the messy foreclosure crisis in Florida. Some property owners are reporting the break-ins to law enforcement as burglaries. Yet investigators consider the disputes a civil matter because the contractors do not display criminal intent. That essentially leaves the property owners without recourse.(1)

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• In North Port, one family returned home from a weekend vacation and called their attorney in a panic: The front door lock was changed, the alarm system dismantled and family gerbil gone.

• Landlord Brenda Perron of Sarasota has been in a three-year battle with Bank of America, which has sent people to change the locks on Perron's rented condo three times because the bank mistakenly believed her condo was in foreclosure.

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• Another man went to check on the North Port property his father owned to find his keys no longer worked, magazines moved from where they were in the home, cabinets opened and some tools missing.

For more, see Bank changes locks on occupied, foreclosed homes.

(1) Other than to file a civil lawsuit against the bank and the trash-out contractor. Other media reports reveal that at least one Massachusetts law firm is apparently going around the country taking on these illegal lockout cases on behalf of screwed-over homeowners. See:

• Bank admits mistake on Willcox home foreclosure (involving an Arizona homeowner) (for a copy of the resulting federal lawsuit, see Newman v. Bank of America, N.A. and go here for the attached Exhibits),

• Family's recently purchased home, gutted by property removal service (involving a Michigan homeowner) (for a copy of the resulting federal lawsuit and accompanying Exhibits , see Rought v Deutsche National Trust Company, Trustee, et al.).

For those homeowners who've been screwed over by wrongful lockouts by foreclosing lenders (and their confederates) and seek some possible guidance on how much their cases might be worth if they seek to sue, see:

• Nevada High Court OKs $1M+ Damage Award To Homeowner Due To Mortgage Company Misidentification Of Home In Foreclosure (for the court ruling, see Countrywide Home Loans v. Thitchener, 192 P.3d 243; 2008 Nev. LEXIS 79; 124 Nev. Adv. Rep. 64 (September 11, 2008)),

• Long Island Judge Hammers Wells w/ $155K Tab For Oppressive, Heavy Handed, Egregious Conduct For Pre-Sale Lockout Of Homeowner In Foreclosure (for the court ruling, see Wells Fargo v. Tyson, 2010 NY Slip Op 20079 (Sup. Ct., Suffolk County, March 5, 2010)).