Over the past week, Fannie Mae has announced numerous servicing policy changes through a series of Servicing Guide Announcements.

Based on progress to date, a Model Act on Appointment and Powers of Real Estate Receivers may be making its way to a state legislature near you within the next couple of years.  The Committee appointed by and representing the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws to prepare the model act met again in late September, 2013, to review the latest working draft of the

In In re Eastman Kodak Co., 495 B.R. 618 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. 2013) (No. 12-10202), the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York permitted a Chapter 11 debtor-in-possession (Kodak) to assign a previously assumed real estate lease despite the lease’s anti-assignment clause.

Commercial landlords hailed as a significant victory the enactment in 2005 of a 210-day “drop dead” period after which a lease of nonresidential real property with respect to which the debtor is the lessee is deemed rejected unless, prior to the expiration of the period, a chapter 11 debtor in possession (“DIP”) or bankruptcy trustee assumes or rejects the lease.

• Receiver: court’s inherent equitable power to appoint receiver over non-profit condominium association not limited to categories set forth in Florida Statutes – Granada Lakes Villas Condo. Ass’n, Inc. v Metro-Dade Invs. Co., No. SC11-2590 (Fla. Oct.

If all goes as planned, the Uniform Law Commission will finalize and promulgate a model act dealing with the appointment and powers of commercial real estate receivers at some point in 2015.  Last month, the Drafting Committee for this model act met in Minneapolis, MN to discuss and revise the latest draft.

On October 17, Fannie Mae issued Servicing Guide Announcement SVC-2013-21, which revises servicers’ responsibilities in finalizing standard deed-in-lieu of foreclosures (DILs).

Section 552(b)(2) of the Bankruptcy Code provides that if a creditor prior to bankruptcy obtained a security interest in rents paid to the debtor, that security interest extends to postpetition rents to the extent provided in the security agreement. Courts have disagreed, however, on the question of whether the debtor must provide adequate protection with respect to such postpetition rents. The resolution of this issue typically determines whether the debtor may use a portion of the postpetition rents that it receives to fund the administrative costs of its bankruptcy.

The Bottom Line

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit held on July 30, 2013, that a reorganized Chapter 11 debtor could reopen its closed case, enabling the debtor assignee to enforce a purchase option in a real property lease despite the lease’s “anti-assignment provisions.” In re Lazy Days’ RV Center Inc., 2013 WL 3886735, *5 (3d Cir. July 30, 2013).