California Mortgage Relief Act.

Removed exclusion (D) from the definition of 'Borrower' that had disqualified individuals against whom an unrescinded notice of default was recorded within 90 days of a disaster declaration. These borrowers are now eligible for disaster-related forbearance.

Credit reporting requirement in Section 3273.34(i) was strengthened. Previously, if a borrower was already delinquent before the disaster-related forbearance plan, the servicer could maintain the delinquent status during the forbearance period. Now the servicer must report the credit obligation or account as current regardless of prior delinquency.

Section 3273.34(h)(2) changed the pre-expiration notice requirement from disclosing 'a description of the deadlines and timelines associated with considering the borrower for an additional period of forbearance' to disclosing 'action required to request an additional period of forbearance.'

Multiple drafting cleanups throughout: removed redundant or contradictory language in Sections 3273.34(a), (c), (d), and (e); removed the word 'curable' from defect-identification requirements; reorganized the digest to reflect final credit reporting language.

The act's title is changed from 'California Disaster-related Mortgage Relief Act' to 'California Mortgage Relief Act,' removing the explicit disaster qualifier from the name.

A new definition of 'uninhabitable' is added (Section 3273.32(g)): property that is inaccessible or unsuitable for living. For multiunit properties, if any single unit is uninhabitable, the entire property qualifies. Uninhabitability may be established solely by borrower affirmation.

A new provision states that no documentation beyond the borrower's verbal or written affirmation shall be required to substantiate that a residential unit is or remains uninhabitable as a direct result of an emergency.

A formal forbearance extension process is created: borrowers must submit extension requests before the initial forbearance period ends, and must provide a new affirmation that the unit remains uninhabitable.

The cure period provision is broadened to cover not just curable defects in the application but also failures to timely request and cases involving a disqualified borrower, emergency, mortgage servicer, or residential mortgage loan.

The eligibility language is broadened from 'a residential unit' to 'at least one residential unit,' and the borrower exclusion for pre-disaster delinquency is narrowed from any 'credit obligation or account' to specifically a 'residential mortgage loan credit obligation or account.'

The denial provision is expanded to include denials made because compliance with the 180-day initial forbearance requirement would conflict with Section 3273.38 (the federal guidelines conflict exemption).

The servicer's written notice must now state whether the request was 'approved, denied pursuant to subdivision (d), or is deficient,' adding a third outcome category beyond approval or denial.

The 30-day advance notice requirement before a forbearance period ends is extended from applying only to the initial period to also apply to extension periods, and now must include disclosure of actions required to request an additional period.

The cure period trigger is changed from 'mailing date' to 'electronic or postal mailing date,' and the response to a revised request must now explicitly state whether it has been approved or remains deficient.

The definition of 'disaster' was narrowed from covering both a Governor's state of emergency proclamation AND a federal disaster declaration to only a federal disaster declaration. This means the bill no longer activates when California declares a state of emergency on its own; it now requires a federal-level disaster declaration.

Section 3273.39 was deleted in its entirety. It had required mortgage servicers to submit monthly aggregate reports to the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation during a declared emergency and for 90 days after, including total requests received, approved, denied, and standardized denial reasons.

The provision prohibiting a residential mortgage loan from being sold, assigned, or transferred to another owner or servicer without the borrower's written consent (former Section 3273.35(j)) was removed.

The prohibition on cascading payment processing for collecting forborne payments unless explicitly authorized by the borrower (former Section 3273.35(d)) was removed.

The requirement that a mortgage servicer offer, at the borrower's election, the option to defer repayment of forborne amounts to the end of the loan term (former Section 3273.35(e)) was removed.

The bill title was changed from 'California Emergency Disaster-related Mortgage Relief Act' to 'California Disaster-related Mortgage Relief Act,' and all references to 'emergency' or 'state of emergency' throughout the text were replaced with 'disaster' to align with the narrowed federal-only trigger.

The definition of the triggering event was changed from 'Emergency' (a state of emergency declared by the Governor or the federal government) to 'Disaster' (a disaster declared by the federal government only). This narrows the bill's applicability by removing the Governor's ability to trigger mortgage relief protections on their own.

The enforcement mechanism was changed from allowing individual borrowers to bring a civil action against a mortgage servicer for violations, to allowing only the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a county counsel to bring such actions. Borrowers lose their private right of action.

A new provision (Section 3273.35(c)) requires that at the end of a borrower's forbearance period, the mortgage servicer must offer at least one postforbearance home retention option that does not require lump-sum repayment of arrearages and does not increase the preforbearance monthly principal and interest payment (except for ARM index adjustments).

A new provision (Section 3273.35(d)) requires a mortgage servicer to apply any payment received from the borrower after the forbearance period ends in compliance with the terms of the loan and any postforbearance agreement between the borrower and the servicer.

The term 'emergency-related' was replaced with 'disaster-related' throughout the bill in references to forbearance relief, credit reporting obligations, and other provisions, aligning terminology with the narrowed federal-disaster-only trigger.

Section 3273.40 was changed from allowing a borrower to bring a civil action against a mortgage servicer for violations to restricting enforcement to the Attorney General, a district attorney, or a county counsel. This removes the private right of action entirely.

Section 3273.34(f) was expanded so that the forbearance period includes any prior emergency-related forbearance provided before the effective date of the title OR before the date upon which a declaration of a state of emergency was issued by the Governor or the federal government, giving borrowers more credit for relief they already received.

The definition of 'residential mortgage loan' was narrowed from properties improved by 10 or fewer residential units to only 4 or fewer residential units, excluding larger multi-family properties (5-10 units) from the bill's protections.

A new requirement was added in Section 3273.34(c) that when a mortgage servicer approves a forbearance request, it must provide the borrower with information about all potential repayment plans that may be used.

A brand-new subdivision (j) was added to Section 3273.34 prohibiting a residential mortgage loan from being sold, assigned, transferred to another owner, or managed by another mortgage servicer without the borrower's written consent during forbearance.