Fracking, Mortgages and Insurance

Homeowners who sign gas leases to permit hydraulic fracturing for shale gas in Maryland, New York, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and other states may be defaulting on their mortgages, risking loss of title insurance and homeowners' insurance coverage, and preventing future buyers from obtaining title insurance or mortgage loans on affected property.  These are the consequences described by attorney Elizabeth Radow in an article in the New York State Bar Journal available here.  The  story has also been covered in the New York Times stories here and here.  Several members of Congress have asked mortgage regulators including FHA and FHFA, the overseer of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to determine how many families may unwittingly have breached their mortgage terms, and presumably what can be done to balance the risks to lenders with the potentially harsh consequences for families.  While homeowners may be caught in the middle, the potential dispute may bring large financial institutions and the energy industry face to face in a battle over the genuine risks of fracking, on the one hand, and the validity of somewhat obscure mortgage contract terms, on the other.

Comments

[Jay Beigh]

Title due-diligence by Lessee (oil and gas Company) should have uncovered the Mortgage. Mortgage should have been subordinated, of record, to the lease, prior to drilling, if not prior to payment for lease.
The Lawyers win if this wasn't done...

[Don H.]

Anyone with a mortgage in place should with common sense know that it comes with a restriction on the property rights. The Bank or Mortgage Company has a vested interest in the lands and buildings. You can not subdivide the land or sell off other rights without mortgage consent so why would anyone think they could just sign off gas rights? HOWEVER, it now becomes the burden of the Bank/Mortgage Company to try to recover "losses" if it feels they have been damaged. In most smaller parcels of single family land it will just not be worth the trouble for a bank to do that. In the event of forclosure, the bank will more than likely try to secure the lease in an attempt to obtain the cash income to make them whole? Shame on gas company for not securing the mortgage release prior to makeing the payments. This would be the same as buying a home and not making sure the mortgage was satisfied before you took title....? I think the gas company may have an issue.

[Jim Thomson]

Really Good Post!!

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[Devyajoti]

Hello,
Home owners insurance coverage is a package insurance plan. This means that it addresses both damage to you and your home and liability concerns for injuries and property damage you or individuals in your household relatives bring about to visitors. Destruction brought on by most natural disasters maybe covered but there are exceptions.

[burberry outlet]

and raises for assess the buy opening the exact defendants default.