2005 Connecticut Code - Sec. 8-265cc. Definitions.

      Sec. 8-265cc. Definitions. As used in sections 8-265cc to 8-265kk, inclusive:

      (1) "Aggregate family income" means the total income of persons residing in the same household as the mortgagor and any other resident of the household declared by the mortgagor as a dependent for federal tax purposes, from whatever source derived, including, but not limited to, pensions, annuities, retirement benefits and Social Security benefits, provided the authority may exclude from income (A) reasonable allowances for dependents, (B) reasonable allowances for medical expenses, (C) all or any part of the earnings of gainfully employed minors or family members other than the chief wage earner, (D) income not regularly received and (E) such other expenses as the authority may allow;

      (2) "Authority" means the Connecticut Housing Finance Authority as created under section 8-244;

      (3) "Mortgage" means a mortgage deed or other instrument which constitutes a first or second consensual lien on one or two-family owner-occupied residential real property, including single-family units in a common interest community, located in this state;

      (4) "Mortgagee" means the original lender under a mortgage, or its successors, who agrees to participate in the program established pursuant to sections 8-265cc to 8-265kk, inclusive, or an assignee of a mortgage who agrees to participate in the program;

      (5) "Mortgagor" means the owner-occupant of one or two-family residential real property located in this state who is also the borrower under a mortgage encumbering such real property;

      (6) "Housing expense" means the sum of the mortgagor's monthly maintenance expense in a common interest community, utility expense, heating expense, hazard insurance payment, taxes and required mortgage payment, including escrows;

      (7) "Financial hardship due to circumstances beyond the mortgagor's control" means a significant curtailment of at least twenty-five per cent of aggregate family household income which cannot be or could not have been alleviated by the liquidation of assets by the mortgagor and is related to one or more of the following: (A) Unemployment or underemployment of one or more of the mortgagors; (B) a loss, reduction or delay in receipt of such federal, state or municipal benefits as Social Security, supplemental security income, public assistance and government pensions; (C) a loss, reduction or delay in receipt of such private benefits as pension, annuity or retirement benefits; (D) divorce or a loss of support payments; (E) disability, illness or death of a mortgagor; (F) uninsured damage to the mortgaged property which affects liveability and necessitates costly repairs; or (G) expenses related to the disability, illness or death of a member of the mortgagor's family, but is not related to accumulation of installment debt incurred for recreational or nonessential items prior to the occurrence of the alleged circumstances beyond the mortgagor's control in an amount that would have caused the mortgagor's total debt service to exceed sixty per cent of aggregate family income at that time;

      (8) "Consumer credit counseling agency" means a nonprofit corporation or governmental agency located in this state which has been designated by the authority to provide homeowners' emergency mortgage assistance program counseling. A qualified consumer credit counseling agency must either be certified as a housing counseling agency by the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development or otherwise determined accepted by the authority.

      (P.A. 93-414, S. 1, 10; P.A. 94-185, S. 1, 10.)

      History: P.A. 93-414 effective July 1, 1993; P.A. 94-185 redefined "mortgagee" to clarify the requirement that an assignee must agree to participate in the program, effective June 2, 1994.