Bulletin: CA2017001

Dear Associates:

The California legislature appears to have legislated more “real estate/title insurance” issues than last year’s session. Below are some of the matters that were reviewed by the CLTA Legislative Committee and forwarded to the CLTA Forms and Practices Committee.

AB 2217. Chapter 133. Notary Public: service fees.

Notary fees are fixed by statute, and this bill amended the Government Code to increase charges.

AB2296. Chapter 144. Digital signatures.

The Government Code authorizes the use of a digital signature in any written communication with a public entity. This bill expresses the intent of the Legislature to clarify that a digital signature authorized pursuant to this code satisfies the requirements of an electronic signature under the Uniform Electronic Transactions Act.

SB940. Chapter 169. High-Speed Rail Authority: eminent domain: right of first refusal.

Under existing law, if the High-Speed Rail Authority determines that real property acquired under eminent domain is no longer necessary for the purpose acquired, the Authority is authorized to sell or exchange the property. The bill requires the Authority to send notification by certified mail to the last known owner of the property advising that the real property will be offered for sale. The Authority is required to wait at least 30 days after the notification has been sent before proceeding. This bill should be treated along the lines of a right of first refusal.

AB2143. Chapter 380. County recorder; electronic recording.

The bill will allow County Recorders to enter into contracts with authorized submitters for the delivery for recording of a digital or digitized electronic record that is an instrument to be recorded. The authorized submitter can be an entity other than a title insurer, underwritten title company, institutional lender or entity of local, state, or federal government. The provisions of the Electronic Recording Delivery Act of 2004 must be met and complied with.  

AB1974. Chapter 406. County recorder: recordation of documents.

Documents that need to be re-recorded must be executed and acknowledged or verified as new documents, unless presented solely to correct a recording sequence or solely to make a minor correction and accompanied by a corrective affidavit certified under penalty of perjury and a cover sheet stating the reason for re-recording.

SB997. Chapter 491. Notaries public.

This bill adds an Identification card issued by a federally recognized tribal government to the list of documents acceptable for identification purposes.

AB2881. Chapter 703. Civil law: omnibus

Part of this bill deals with publications of notice in judicial districts. Certain provisions regarding the preservation of judicial districts are repealed. Judicial districts are replaced by public notice districts. They are not the same, and as such, may require changes that are reported in Trustee Sale Guarantees. A more detailed bulletin will be prepared and sent on this matter in the near future. 

SB1150. Chapter 838. Mortgages and deeds of trust: mortgage servicers: successors in interest

This bill prohibits a mortgage servicer, upon notification that a borrower has died, from recording a notice of default until the mortgage servicer does certain things, including requesting reasonable documentation of the death of the borrower from a claimant, who is someone claiming to be a successor in interest, who is not a party to the loan or promissory note and providing a reasonable period of time for the claimant to present the requested documentation. A claimant would be deemed a successor in interest upon the receipt by a mortgage servicer of the reasonable documentation regarding the status of the claimant as a successor in interest and the claimant’s ownership interest in the real property. The bill requires a mortgage servicer to provide the successor in interest with information about the loan within 10 days of the claimant being deemed a successor in interest. The bill also requires a mortgage servicer to allow a successor in interest to assume the deceased borrower’s loan or to apply for foreclosure prevention alternatives on an assumable loan.

Specific chaptered bills should be read in their entirety for a complete understanding of all their details. Several are being further studied and will most likely be the subjects of bulletins in the near future.

If you have any questions relating to this or other bulletins, please contact a Stewart Title Guaranty Company underwriter.

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