Opinion: Philly Do Not Solicit list aims to prevent home sale scams

This week, the town launched one more piece of the regulation: a universal Do Not Solicit record.

Home owners can now conveniently sign-up their names on a list if they do not want to obtain letters, postcards, cellular phone calls, text messages, doorway hangers, or any other solicitation trying to get to acquire their dwelling. Families and neighbors can help older property owners join the listing to cut down the danger that their loved kinds will be pressured into promoting their households. And the penalties for violating the Do Not Solicit list can be steep: up to $2,000 fines per solicitation.

In the past two several years, genuine estate traders have stepped up their initiatives to acquire houses as house charges in Philadelphia have skyrocketed by around 20%. If we are to keep on being a metropolis that values inexpensive homeownership, it is additional crucial than at any time to enable longtime property owners make knowledgeable selections and assistance them when they convey a want to stay in their residences.

Community Lawful Expert services generally recommends that shoppers on the lookout to provide their properties speak with a accredited serious estate agent to make sure they acquire a fair cost. Of class, if a home-owner desires to offer, by all indicates, they must be capable to money out. But this new legislation, growing on the anti-blockbusting guidelines of the 1950s, will rein in the worst abuses in this market.

Property owners can be a part of the Do Not Solicit checklist on the internet or simply call the Do Not Solicit hotline at 215-686-4500 and check with to be additional to the listing.

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Kate Dugan and Michael Froehlich are attorneys in the Homeownership and Shopper Rights Device at Group Authorized Services of Philadelphia.

The Homeownership and Client Legal rights Device represents owners experiencing house loan and tax foreclosures, and pursues economic justice on behalf of shoppers dealing with fraudulent client practices, abusive debt assortment, and a wide variety of client frauds impacting very low-money households.