News

Dear John,

If you are contemplating a career move while between your various holiday over-indulgences, attached are some job vacancy announcements that may be of interest to you!

Warm Holiday Wishes,

DCLTA

ROD-Examiner Position.pdf

ROD-Lead Examiner Position.pdf

DCLTA MEMBER INPUT NEEDED FOR DISB MARKET CONDUCT EXAMINATION OF TITLE INSURANCE RATES

              As many of you are aware the District of Columbia’s Department of Insurance, Security and Banking (DISB) is conducting a market conduct examination of the DC’s title insurance rates. The stated goal of this examination is to “evaluat[e] DC title insurance rates and examining issues related to the operating environment in DC for title insurers and title agents…to identify all title insurance and settlement service activities to ensure that expenses associated with each set of activities are segregated or assigned to just those activities. … to examine all title insurance and settlement expenses to perform any evaluation of the reasonableness of the agent commission.”

            Specifically, it is currently not clear to the DISB “why DC title insurers are paying 80 to 85% of the risk rate title   premium in commissions to title agents.  District of Columbia Title Rate Examination: Revised Follow Up Questions, November 6, 2014.  DISB is seeking to identify the specific roles and activities of settlement   agents in a settlement of DC property so that they can assess the cost to the consumer of products and services to consumers.

              To assist in this process and to make sure that all of our membership has a voice in the process, I am inviting any interested settlement company member, or any member in any aspect of our industry, to volunteer to communicate with DISB’s representatives to educate them on the realities of their respective roles in our industry.  It is my goal that the governmental unit that regulates our industry is acutely aware of the work, professional judgment, training and experience that goes into bringing a high quality experience and insurance product to the citizens of the District of Columbia.

              Participation in this process will require only a modest time commitment from settlement agents and should be concluded in the next several weeks.  If you are able to participate in this important process affecting our industry please contact me at your next convenience at Russo@CouncilBaradel.com.

Thank you and have a great holiday season.

Mike Russo

President, DC Land Title Association.

ROD has posted on its website general recording requirements for commercial refinances and modifications/amendments.  The requirements are in line with OTR’s Notice of May 2014, and hopefully answer the questions of commercial filers in terms of required supporting documentations.

 

The purpose of this document is to mainly enforce a uniform, standard way of the information presented on the statement to the FP7.   A standardized statement to the FP-7 will assist filers to submit relevant information and to present them in an order that facilitates an effective and accurate review by ROD examiners.  

 

Below is the link to the newly posted document.  Please feel free to contact the ROD management staff if there are any questions.  Please share this email with your colleagues.  Thank you!

 

 

http://otr.cfo.dc.gov/service/otr-recorder-deeds

EMAIL FROM IDA WILLIAMS, Esq., DC RECORDER OF DEED -- Final Draft of Part J of FP-7

Attached is the final draft of Part J of FP-7 which reflects some of the suggestions from the DCLTA membership.  Thank you everyone for your comments!

The revised FP7 form is targeted to be on ROD’s website in a couple of weeks.  It will be the only FP7 form that ROD will accept as of January 1, 2015, so please keep it in mind when conducting settlements close to the end of this calendar year.   

As usual, myself and ROD Deputy Amy Conn will be more than happy to answer your questions on this matter.

 

Ida Williams, Esq.

Recorder of Deeds

Office of the Recorder of Deeds

Real Property Tax Administration

Office of Tax and Revenue

1101 4th St SW-5W

Washington D.C. 20024

Direct phone: (202) 442-8610

ida.williams@dc.gov

MESSAGE FROM IDA WILLIAMS, DC RECORDER OF DEEDS:

I would like to get the attention of DCLTA members about a new OTR notice on purchase money deeds of trust.  The notice is very simple and straightforward in requiring full compliance with DC Code 42-1103(b-1)(2).  Below is the link to the notice.  This notice is the precursor to the upcoming notice and changes in the FP-7.  Please feel free to contact me if there are any questions.

 http://otr.cfo.dc.gov/page/otr-notices

The Recorder of Deeds has reached out to DCLTA to get our members input on the proposed revisions to the FP7 Form.

 The main revision will focus on Part J of the FP7 which deals with consideration and its financing.  The current form does not provide for information on what portion of the loan is purchase money.  So, the intent is to have the filers separately show the purchase money amount or other exempt amounts vs. the non-exempt amounts.

 Please see the email below from Ida Williams, Recorder of Deeds, and provide your input by email. Thank you.

The proposed revision aims at revamping Part J of the FP-7.  Currently part J provides fields for Cash, First Mortgage, Second Mortgage; Assumed.  There is Line 1 “Construction loan”; line 2 “Total Consideration”; line 3 “Assessed value if no consideration or nominal”. 

 

DC Code section 42-1103 (b-1)(2) provides for recording requirements of a purchase money deed of trust.  One of the provisions is that a purchase money DOT should recite on its face the amount of purchase money being secured by the instrument.  The industry and ROD practice so far has been to overlook this requirement.  Very rarely do purchase money DOT-s, commercial and residential, conform with this legal requirement.  The current FP7 doesn’t provide for separate fields for the purchase money to be inserted.   

 

 (2) A purchase money mortgage or purchase money deed of trust submitted to the Mayor for recordation shall:
 
         (A) Be executed by the purchaser of the real property as part of a series of transactions conveying title to real property to the purchaser;
 
         (B) Reference the deed conveying title to the purchaser of the real property by date and instrument number;
 
         (C) Recite on the face of the document that it is a purchase money mortgage or purchase money deed of trust; and
 
         (D) Recite on the face of the document the amount of purchase money that it secures.

 

 

The effort at this point is to have part J of the FP-7 contain fields for the purchase money amount and other exempt amounts in cases of refinances, modifications or other partially exempt transactions.  Below is an idea in its very infant stages as to what Part J of FP7 should contain.  Suggestions and ideas are being sought to have a comprehensive and easy to follow part J of FP-7.

 

Part J-Consideration and Financing

 

• (a)    Acquisition

 

Cash

First Mortgage                 Purchase Money Amount _______                        Non-Exempt Amount ______

Second Mortgage            Purchase Money Amount _______                        Non-Exempt Amount ______

Assumed                             Purchase Money Amount _______                        Non-Exempt Amount ______

Other

 

Total of All Non-Exempt DOT-s                                                                                                                                  _______________

 

• (b)   Financing NOT Related to Transfer of Title

 

First Deed of Trust                           Exempt Amount ­­­­­­­­­­­ _______________                     Non-Exempt Amount _______

Second Deed of Trust                    Exempt Amount ­­­­­­­­­­­ _______________                     Non-Exempt Amount _______

Other                                                    Exempt Amount ­­­­­­­­­­­ _______________                     Non-Exempt Amount _______

 

Total of all Non-Exempt DOTs                                                                                                                                     ____________________               

 

Line 1.   Total Acquisition Consideration

Line 2.   If no consideration use Assessed Value

Line 3.  Total of all Non-Exempt DOTs (a and b)

 

 Ida Williams, Esq.

Recorder of Deeds

Office of the Recorder of Deeds

Real Property Tax Administration

Office of Tax and Revenue

1101 4th St SW-5W

Washington D.C. 20024

Direct phone: (202) 442-8610

ida.williams@dc.gov

In a stunning reversal of the holding of the D.C. Superior Court, the D.C. Court of Appeals held that the foreclosure of a condominium lien can extinguish the lien of a deed of trust.  The case, which was decided August 28, 2014, is Chase Plaza Condominium Association, Inc. and Darcy, LLC,  v. JP Morgan Chase Bank, N.A.,  

The primary issue in the case was whether the special 6 month priority given to condominium association dues under D.C. Code § 42-1903.13 (a)(2) resulted in a lien that if foreclosed, would extinguish all inferior liens, including deeds of trusts and mortgages.  The Superior Court had ruled that the liens were not extinguished but the Court of Appeals reversed this ruling and held that all subordinate liens were extinguished by the foreclosure.  If this holding is not further challenged by JP Morgan, the result will be that the lien of all deeds of trust which are secured by condominium units are subject to being extinguished when the unit holder fails to pay any condominium dues.

A copy of the opinion can be found at this link http://www.dccourts.gov/sites/default/files/pdf-opinions/13-CV-623plus.pdf

Sorry for the confusion.  The classes for users are cancelled and will be re-set in the future.  We will let you know when we have more information. DCLTA

The regulations relating to the implementation of the recently passed amendments to the foreclosure mediation statute were finally issued by the Department of Insurance, Securities and Banking.  They were issued effective as of March 4, 2014 and were published in the March 14, 2014 District of Columbia Register.  The regulations were issued as both emergency regulations and proposed final regulations.  The emergency regulations take effect immediately but expire on July 2, 2014.  There is a 30 day comment period for the proposed regulations but barring a big surprise, it is anticipated that the proposed regulations will be issued in final form shortly after the comment period.  Here is a link to the page in the DC Register where the regulations can be found.  http://www.dcregs.dc.gov/Notice/NoticeListForPublic.aspx?type=Issue&CategoryName=EmergencyandProposedRulemaking&IssueID=442

All,

Below are the time frame responses we received from the vendor.  ROD will continue to work closely with both the title industry and the vendor to achieve all the necessary improvements to the website. 

 COMPLETED/NEAR COMPLETION -  Completed already or in the coming week

• ·         Allowing users to sort by Roll/Frame – scheduled for the end of this month..
• ·         Ability to search for multiple, non-consecutive, lots at one time - scheduled for the end of this month.
• ·         Remove excess names from the search result page – Completed
• ·         Improving readability of Print results and of the document itself.  The text of copies is small and hard to read. – scheduled for the end of this month
• ·         Make Square and Lot the default search criteria instead of Name – Completed, for the external site
• ·         Increase speed of search and printing.  The system is very slow in generating results and printing - Seems to have been completed. Propertyinfo is continuing to work on optimizing the results, but is not noticing any significant delays at this time. Keep in mind, that if there is a significant amount of users using the website at one time, that load will cause the search to work slower.
• ·         Easy way for the user to get an email of receipt at the time of recording email themselves the receipt – Completed. All users (other than Guest users) have the ability to email the document to themselves instead of printing or downloading. If they choose this option, they will get a receipt emailed to them at this time as well
• ·         Ability to email a purchased document without saving it first page – Completed

 

SLATED FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT – Each of these items should be completed within the next two release cycles (End of March or Summer)

• ·         Allowing users to sort by Book Type  – Should be added by Summer Release
• ·         Adding comment to payment area to denote client number/billing to show on receipt –Looking to get added by Summer release.

 

ON FEATURE REQUEST LIST – NOT CURRENTLY SLATED FOR DEVELOPMENT

• ·         Allowing users to sort Square/Lot – It is added to request list for possible release in the summer.
• ·         Advanced sort functionality allowing sorting up to 3 variables at a time – It is added to request list for possible release in the summer.
• ·         Add ability to go directly to Print History for printing documents previously purchased on CountyFusion – It is added to request list for possible release in the summer.

 

Ida Williams, Esq.
Recorder of Deeds
Office of the Recorder of Deeds
Real Property Tax Administration
Office of Tax and Revenue
1101 4th St SW-5W
Washington D.C. 20024
Direct phone: (202) 442-8610

ida.williams@dc.gov