HONOLULU -- A Kalama Valley homeowner who said he was the victim of a foreclosure rescue scam is the first to benefit from a new law protecting distressed homeowners.

Attorneys who represent homeowners complained that the Legislature is already watering down that law.

A lawsuit filed Thursday said the owner of a Kalama Valley home lost the title to a real estate representative who promised to pay his debt and save the home.

The real estate representative, identified as Renee Takahashi, sold the home to herself and then tried to evict the trusting homeowner, the lawsuit said.

Luckily for the homeowner, a new law have him a powerful defensive weapon.

"It's become an additional tool for consumers, for consumer advocates and for homeowners to protect themselves when they are in a very, very vulnerable position," Legal Aid Society attorney Ryker Wada said.

The homeowner was able to rescue his home from the foreclosure rescue scheme because his real estate broker did not provide all the required disclosures under the new law, according to the lawsuit. So, the homeowner's lawyer was able to cancel the transaction.

On Thursday, the same day the homeowner sued using the new law, lawmakers responded to complaints from real estate brokers that the new law was preventing them from helping distressed buyers. The Legislature exempted real estate brokers from the law's requirements.

"What these changes do is it makes it harder for the consumer to do that, and it gives them much fewer protections," Wada said.

Lawmakers and the state consumer protector said aggrieved homeowners have other legal recourse and licensing laws to use against real estate representatives, which they said are good enough.