FHFA Seeks to Clarify Relief from City of Chicago Vacant Property Ordinance

Freddie Mac Fannie Mae FHFA

On September 20, the FHFA filed a motion requesting that the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois amend an order it issued after holding on August 23 that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are exempt from a 2011 City of Chicago ordinance that established new requirements for mortgagees and their agents regarding the maintenance of vacant property. The FHFA, as conservator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, sued the city in December 2011 over the ordinance, which requires mortgagees to register vacant properties and pay a $500 registration fee per property. The FHFA asked the court “to specify the contents and persons” bound by its August 23 order. The motion was accompanied by a proposed order for declaratory and monetary relief, which would restate Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s immunity from the City’s ordinance and also would require the City to refund any payments that those the two enterprises, or any entities acting on their behalf, made pursuant to the ordinance.