Mortgage Contracting Services (MCS) created a 24-hour call center service to handle around-the-clock emergency response for tenant-occupied properties, the Tampa-based property preservation and inspection services provider said. The US-based call center has inbound and outbound call capabilities and provides MCS clients a service that enables them to meet required repair time frames and perform emergency work orders and service requests around the clock. “With passage of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act last spring, servicers are now facing the added responsibility of 24-hour maintenance availability,” said MCS CEO Caroline Reaves. “Extending our proven services to provide them with around-the-clock emergency coverage for tenant occupied properties enables them to fulfill that role, all without bearing the cost of hiring and training additional vendors. The MCS approach looks to better filter real emergency situations early in the process, therefore improving clients’ efficiencies and lowering expenses.” The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act was signed into law in May 2009 and requires lenders who repossess properties to maintain a tenant’s lease until its expiration and affords tenants of foreclosed homes without leases 90 days to vacate a property. The law has led to a number of new products and services to help mortgagors maintain compliance. The issue, sources have told HousingWire, is that the law essentially makes lenders, investors and servicers alike landlords to the property, and all the responsibilities therein, something they may not be readily equipped to handle. In addition to the call center service, MCS established a network of vendors to handle emergency situations that can provide all the services that the company offers during regular business hours and options can be customized and scaled to meet a client’s needs, the company said. Write to Austin Kilgore.