Gov. Paul LePage has signed legislation that supporters say is aimed at protecting seniors in municipal foreclosures for the non-payment of taxes. But LePage is critical of the bill, and he says he signed it only because it was better than nothing.
“I had no choice,” he says. “What they did is, if I vetoed the bill than they had nothing. At least gives some lawyers, at least a fighting chance. But it is a horrible, horrible bill.”
LePage proposed a complex pre-foreclosure process aimed at protecting seniors facing municipal foreclosure, but that language was opposed by municipalities as too onerous.
The legislature did agree to add protections into the process, such as requiring a town to contact three realtors to see if they can handle the sale of the property. It also requires any proceeds from a sale that are more than taxes owed be returned to the senior.
LePage says he's passionate about the issue because people are being thrown out on the street.
“They have worked their whole lives to own a little bit of a home,” he says. “They have no mortgage on it. Illness hits them, and then towns throw them out on the street. We don’t allow banks to do it, but we allow communities to do it.”
