I 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1498 

To require the lender or servicer of a home mortgage, upon a request by 

the homeowner for a short sale, to make a prompt decision whether 

to allow the sale. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 12, 2011 

Mr. ROONEY (for himself and Mr. ANDREWS) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Financial Services 

A BILL 

To require the lender or servicer of a home mortgage, upon 

a request by the homeowner for a short sale, to make 

a prompt decision whether to allow the sale. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Prompt Decision for 

5 Qualification of Short Sale Act of 2011’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PROMPT DECISION REGARDING SHORT SALE. 

7 (a) IN GENERAL.—Chapter 2 of the Truth in Lend8 ing Act (15 U.S.C. 1631 et seq.) is amended by inserting 


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1 before section 130 (15 U.S.C. 1640) the following new sec2 tion: 

3 ‘‘SEC. 129I. PROMPT DECISION REGARDING SHORT SALE. 

4 ‘‘(a) REQUIREMENT.—Except as provided in sub5 section (b) and notwithstanding any other provision of law 

6 or of any contract, including a contract between a servicer 

7 of a residential mortgage loan and a securitization vehicle 

8 or other investment vehicle, if the mortgagor under a resi9 dential mortgage loan submits to the servicer of the mort10 gage loan a written request for a short sale of the dwelling 

11 or residential real property that is subject to the mortgage, 

12 deed or trust, or other security interest that secures the 

13 mortgage loan, and all information required by the 

14 servicer in connection with such a request (including a 

15 copy of an executed contract between the owner of the 

16 dwelling or property and the prospective buyer that is sub17 ject to approval by the servicer), and the mortgagor does 

18 not receive from the servicer, before the expiration of the 

19 45-day period beginning upon receipt by the servicer of 

20 such request and information, a written notification of 

21 whether such request has been approved, that such re22 quest has been approved subject to specified changes, or 

23 that additional information is required for such a deter24 mination, such request shall be considered to have been 

25 approved by the servicer. 


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1 ‘‘(b) INAPPLICABILITY TO CERTAIN EXISTING MORT2 GAGES.—Subsection (a) shall not apply with respect to 

3 any residential mortgage with respect to which the mort4 gagor and the mortgagee or servicer have entered into a 

5 written agreement before the date of the enactment of the 

6 Prompt Decision for Qualification of Short Sale Act of 

7 2011 explicitly providing a procedure or terms for ap8 proval of a short sale. 

9 ‘‘(c) TREATMENT OF OTHER TIME LIMITS.—This 

10 section may not be construed to preempt, annul, or other11 wise affect any other provision of law or of any contract 

12 or program that provides a shorter period than is provided 

13 under subsection (a) for a decision by the servicer of a 

14 residential mortgage loan regarding a short sale of the 

15 dwelling or residential real property that is subject to the 

16 mortgage, deed or trust, or other security interest that se17 cures the mortgage loan. 

18 ‘‘(d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section, the 

19 following definitions shall apply: 

20 ‘‘(1) RESIDENTIAL MORTGAGE LOAN.—The 

21 term ‘residential mortgage loan’ means any con22 sumer credit transaction that is secured by a mort23 gage, deed of trust, or other equivalent consensual 

24 security interest on a dwelling or on residential real 

25 property that includes a dwelling, other than a conVerDate Mar 15 2010 03:38 Apr 14, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1498.IH H1498

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1 sumer credit transaction under an open end credit 

2 plan or an extension of credit relating to a plan de3 scribed in section 101(53D) of title 11, United 

4 States Code. 

5 ‘‘(2) SECURITIZATION VEHICLE.—The term 

6 ‘securitization vehicle’ means a trust, special purpose 

7 entity, or other legal structure that is used to facili8 tate the issuing of securities, participation certifi9 cates, or similar instruments backed by or referring 

10 to a pool of assets that includes residential mortgage 

11 loans (or instruments that are related to residential 

12 mortgage loans, such as credit-linked notes). 

13 ‘‘(3) SERVICER.—The term ‘servicer’ has the 

14 meaning provided in section 129A, except that such 

15 term includes a person who makes or holds a resi16 dential mortgage loan (including a pool of residential 

17 mortgage loans) if such person also services the 

18 loan. 

19 ‘‘(4) SHORT SALE.—The term ‘short sale’ 

20 means the sale of the dwelling or residential real 

21 property that is subject to the mortgage, deed or 

22 trust, or other security interest that secures a resi23 dential mortgage loan that— 


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1 ‘‘(A) will result in proceeds in an amount 

2 that is less than the remaining amount due 

3 under the mortgage loan; and 

4 ‘‘(B) requires authorization by the 

5 securitization vehicle or other investment vehicle 

6 or holder of the mortgage loan, or the servicer 

7 acting on behalf of such a vehicle or holder.’’. 

8 (b) APPLICABILITY.—The amendment made by sub9 section (a) of this section shall apply to any written re10 quest for a short sale made after the date of the enactment 

11 of this Act. 

Æ 


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