HUD Planning RESPA Compliance Aid

HUD General Counsel Keith Gottfried is working on a compliance assistance process that would allow lenders and settlement service providers to seek legal guidance on Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act issues."We want the industry to be innovative, and they can't be innovative if they have to worry about an enforcement action," Mr. Gottfried said in an interview. The general counsel is drafting a proposed rule that will allow the Department of Housing and Urban Development to issue no-action letters -- signaling that the department will not take enforcement actions against a company that is trying to make the homebuying process more transparent and less burdensome. "I have already drafted about 24 pages of this regulation," he said, and it is being circulated within the department. HUD has to start acting more like a regulatory agency, he said, by putting out guidance, staff bulletins, and interpretations on a timely basis. Besides RESPA, compliance assistance would be provided on fair housing, public housing, and other issues under HUD's jurisdiction.