Wade County sheriff Warren Evans of Michigan is refusing to enforce lender foreclosure sales in his county and has unsuccessfully petitioned Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm to impose a six-month moratorium on foreclosure sales, the Associated Press reported (“Wayne Co. Sheriff to Stop Sale of Foreclosed Homes,” Feb. 3, 2009).

In a letter dated January 26, the sheriff urged the governor to suspend all foreclosures in his county, which puts 300 to 400 foreclosed homes on the auction block each week. Wade County — home to Detroit, one of the nation’s cities hardest hit by foreclosures — saw a 32 percent increase in foreclosure auctions between 2006 and 2007.

While the governor’s spokeswoman says the governor doesn’t have the legal authority to impose a moratorium on foreclosures, the sheriff claims that the TARP, the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program approved by Congress last fall, pre-empts Michigan’s foreclosure law and gives sheriff’s departments the authority to stop lender foreclosure sales.

“I cannot in clear conscience allow any more families to lose their homes through foreclosure sales until I’m satisfied they have been afforded every option they are entitled to under the law to avoid foreclosure,” Evans said.

Normally, the sheriff’s sale is what triggers a six-month redemption period under Michigan law that allows a homeowner to reclaim their home as long as the homeowner makes up all back payments owed to the lender. If the homeowner does nothing during that six-month period, the lender can then repossess the home.

Although Evan’s refusal to sell homes in foreclosure at sheriff’s sales won’t actually prevent lenders from foreclosing on homes, Evans says the process may give homeowners more time to work out solutions with their lenders, and may prevent such larges numbers of homes in Wade County from ultimately ending up in foreclosure.

Legal Authority Questioned

Although the move by Evans to suspend sheriff’s sales of foreclosed Wade County homes may be welcomed by homeowners, authorities question whether the sheriff possesses a binding legal right to stop the sales.

“The sheriff appears to have good intentions that would have mass appeal, especially with the struggles we are facing in this region,” said county executive Robert Ficano in a statement. “However, there is a legitimate question of whether or not he can legally sustain this in a court of law.”

For the time being, it appears that Evans is the only sheriff in the state who will be suspending all sheriff sales of foreclosed homes outright.

In response to a memorandum of law Evans sent to all Michigan sheriffs stating his opposition to foreclosure sales, sheriff Mark Hackel of Macomb County suggests it’s up to individual sheriffs to determine which foreclosed properties fall under the TARP requirements and can’t be sold, and which ones don’t.

“It’s a very technical, legal issue,” says Hackel, who has no plans to stop the auction of foreclosed properties. “We’re going to continue what we’re doing until given further direction from the attorney general at the state level or the federal level.”

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