[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1761 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1761

To permanently extend the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 
and establish a private right of action to enforce compliance with such 
                                  Act.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           November 21, 2013

Mr. Blumenthal (for himself, Mr. Brown, and Ms. Warren) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                  Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To permanently extend the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 
and establish a private right of action to enforce compliance with such 
                                  Act.

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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Permanently Protecting Tenants at 
Foreclosure Act of 2013''.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF SUNSET PROVISION.

    Section 704 of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 
(12 U.S.C. 5201 note; 12 U.S.C. 5220 note; 42 U.S.C. 1437f note) is 
hereby repealed.

SEC. 3. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.

    The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009, as amended by 
section 2 of this Act, is further amended by adding at the end the 
following new section:

``SEC. 704. PRIVATE RIGHT OF ACTION.

    ``(a) Right of Action.--Any person aggrieved by a violation 
referred to in subsection (b) may bring a civil action in a court of 
competent jurisdiction for damages resulting from such violation, and 
may obtain other appropriate relief, including equitable relief. If the 
plaintiff prevails in any such action, the court shall award the 
plaintiff any litigation costs reasonably incurred, together with 
reasonable attorneys' fees and reasonable expert witness fees, as 
determined by the court.
    ``(b) Violation.--A violation referred to in this subsection is a 
violation of--
            ``(1) section 702 of this title; or
            ``(2) the matter in subparagraph (C) or (F) of section 
        8(o)(7) of the United States Housing Act of 1937 (42 U.S.C. 
        1437f(o)(7)) that was added by the amendments made by section 
        703 of this title.''.
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