The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) recently issued Mortgagee Letter 2013-42, which extends the annual recertification filing deadline for Title I and Title II lenders and mortgagees that have a fiscal year end of December 31, 2013. The temporary extension is necessary because the Lender Electronic Assessment Portal (LEAP) (which mortgagees must use going forward to submit the annual certification, financial reports, and recertification fees) will not be deployed until after March 31, 2014.

Accordingly, the filing deadline is extended until 30 days after deployment of the LEAP recertification functionality. While that deployment date is not yet clear, the mortgagee letter states that lenders and mortgagees subject to the extension should be prepared to complete the recertification process, including the submission of financial information and fees, no later than May 31, 2014.