Florida Statutes 697.07 – Assignment of rents
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(1) For purposes of this section, the term:
(a) “Mortgagee” means a person entitled to enforce an obligation secured by a mortgage.
Terms Used In Florida Statutes 697.07
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
- Foreclosure: A legal process in which property that is collateral or security for a loan may be sold to help repay the loan when the loan is in default. Source: OCC
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Lien: A claim against real or personal property in satisfaction of a debt.
- Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
- Mortgagee: The person to whom property is mortgaged and who has loaned the money.
- Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- person: includes individuals, children, firms, associations, joint adventures, partnerships, estates, trusts, business trusts, syndicates, fiduciaries, corporations, and all other groups or combinations. See Florida Statutes 1.01
- Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
- Statute: A law passed by a legislature.
- writing: includes handwriting, printing, typewriting, and all other methods and means of forming letters and characters upon paper, stone, wood, or other materials. See Florida Statutes 1.01
(b) “Mortgagor” means a person who grants a mortgage or a successor in ownership of the real property described in the mortgage.
(2) A mortgage or separate instrument may provide for an assignment of rents of real property or any interest therein as security for repayment of an indebtedness.
(3) If such an assignment is made, the mortgagee shall hold a lien on the rents, and the lien created by the assignment shall be perfected and effective against the mortgagor and third parties upon recordation of the mortgage or separate instrument in the public records of the county in which the real property is located, according to law.
(4) Unless otherwise agreed to in writing by the mortgagee and mortgagor, the lien created by the assignment of rents is enforceable upon the mortgagor’s default and written demand for the rents made by the mortgagee to the mortgagor, whereupon the mortgagor shall turn over all rents in the possession or control of the mortgagor at the time of the written demand or collected thereafter (the “collected rents”) to the mortgagee less payment of any expenses authorized by the mortgagee in writing.
(5) Upon application by the mortgagee or mortgagor, in a foreclosure action, and notwithstanding any asserted defenses or counterclaims of the mortgagor, a court of competent jurisdiction, pending final adjudication of any action, may require the mortgagor to deposit the collected rents into the registry of the court, or in such other depository as the court may designate. However, the court may authorize the use of the collected rents, before deposit into the registry of the court or other depository, to:
(a) Pay the reasonable expenses solely to protect, preserve, and operate the real property, including, without limitation, real estate taxes, insurance, and assessments that become due after the entry of the court’s order to a homeowners’ association or an association, as those terms are defined in s. 720.301, or a corporation regulated under chapter 718 or chapter 719;
(b) Escrow sums required by the mortgagee or separate assignment of rents instrument; and
(c) Make payments to the mortgagee.
The court shall require the mortgagor to account to the court and the mortgagee for the receipt and use of the collected rents and may also impose other conditions on the mortgagor’s use of the collected rents.
(6) Nothing herein shall preclude the court from granting any other appropriate relief regarding the collected rents pending final adjudication of the action. The undisbursed collected rents remaining in the possession of the mortgagor or in the registry of the court, or in such other depository as ordered by the court, shall be disbursed at the conclusion of the action in accordance with the court’s final judgment or decree.
(7) The court shall expedite the hearing on the application by the mortgagee or mortgagor to enforce the assignment of rents. The procedures authorized by this statute are in addition to any other rights or remedies of the mortgagee or mortgagor under the mortgage, separate assignment of rents instrument, promissory note, at law, or in equity.
(8) Nothing herein shall alter the lien priorities, rights, or interests among mortgagees or other lienholders or alter the rights of the mortgagee under the mortgage, separate assignment of rents instrument, at law or in equity, concerning rents collected before the written demand by the mortgagee. A mortgagee’s enforcement of its assignment of rents under this statute shall not operate to transfer title to any rents not received by the mortgagee.
(9) Any moneys received by the mortgagee pursuant to this statute shall be applied by the mortgagee in accordance with the mortgage, separate assignment of rents instrument, or promissory note, and the mortgagee shall account to the mortgagor for such application.
(10) This section does not apply to a corporation that is a homeowners’ association or an association, as those terms are defined in s. 720.301, or a corporation regulated under chapter 718 or chapter 719, that:
(a) Acquires title to a parcel or unit through the foreclosure of its claim of lien, or a deed in lieu of foreclosure, provided that title remains vested in the association or corporation and any rents collected are applied to assessments that are then due; or