PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Philadelphia judge ordered a special investigation into the Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday, after complaints about the slow delivery of deeds and payments following real estate sales that the office oversees.
Judge Paula Patrick issued the order after a hearing on a complaint from attorney Dan Bernheim, who represents a group of property owners who sued Bilal over the delays. Bernheim alleged that the office violated a 2003 court order that proclaimed deeds must be transferred to buyers within 40 days of a sheriff’s sale.
The order followed numerous complaints about the office taking months to transfer deeds to the new owners of foreclosed properties, as well as to pay off the debts the properties were sold to satisfy and to return any proceeds beyond the debts to the original property owners.
Patrick said she believed her order “is going to be good for the Sheriff’s Office, as well as the City of Philadelphia.”
Sheriff Rochelle Bilal said she already made changes to speed the process. “I have nothing to hide. We will be giving them information. They can take it back to the judge,” she said.
Indeed, the Sheriff’s Office filed nearly 300 deeds in 48 hours after Patrick scheduled the hearing, but Bilal said the changes were permanent.
“All the progress that was testified here today is what we’ve done and that wasn’t over no 48 hours,” she said. “That was over years of getting information and planning so we’re moving forward from there.”
Burnheim had asked for a special master to supervise the office but was pleased with the judge’s order, saying, “Everybody benefits by this.”
The judge said she would re-evaluate the office’s performance in six months.
“What they’re going to be reporting on is the continuation of the progress that’s already been made,” said Bilal. “In six months, we’ll come back and the judge will see the progress and we’ll move on.”
