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Owners rights after home being foreclosed on in VA
My best friend recently went through a divorce and moved out of her previous home. She signed a "quit claim" to the husband for the property. Her exhusband lived there, but the property was foreclosed on. The new owner gave them (she and her exhusband) 2 days to collect their property from the home, the husband used up most of the time, and my friend only got a few HOURS. She barely had time to even pack a few things. The owner also kept a great deal of the contents saying "I bought the house, so everything in it is mine." These were things like expensive furniture, tv's, her kid's toys, furniture, pictures, antiques, etc.
Her exhusband told the new owner she could "keep" some of the items, but not all. As well, many of the items in the home had been awarded to the wife in the settlement, but she has not been given the opportunity to collect them until the new owner bought it. The new owner said she doesnt even have to give my friend the opportunity to collect her belongings, and "was only doing so out of the kindness of her heart." My friend is a mess and doesnt know what rights she has. Can she retrieve her belongings? Does the new owner have the right to keep all the contents as she wishes? She just closed on the house on Thursday, June 14th, 2007.
What rights does my friend have, and can she sue the new owner for not allowing her to retrieve her personal belongings?
The new owner does NOT have the right to keep personal property in a foreclosed property. But they do have the right to keep abandoned property. Your friend needs to consult an attorney IMMEDIATELY to get a court order allowing her to remove her property. She will probably have to show up with a mover. But she has to do this immediately.
The new owner is lying and appears to be trying to take advantage of the situation. But all she bought was the property, NOT its contents. If she waits too long she might have to sue the new owner to recover the property.
I'm confused. You say that your friend moved out - but she still had quite a bit of personal property at the house? You also state a foreclosure - but you mention that they are in contact with the new owner. The foreclosure would have been a legal proceeding from the lender, they would in turn try to sell or auction the property. It sounds like the husband sold the property to a company that buys property quick to rehab and resell.
A real estate transaction does NOT include personal property. Scottgem has it right, get a court order and get the stuff out now.
I will say I doubt SHE has any righs at this point, she signed a quit claim deed to her husband, so she baiscly did not own any of the property. So at the time she moved out she needed to take any and all of her property.
so a house she used to own, where she left and deserted her property was foreclosed and she lost her property.
Also her ex is not telling her alot of things, first a home is just not "foreclosed" there had to be notices, date of sales and even the bank would have given the husband an eviction notice long before the actual sale of the property.
And at the day of the sale, everyhting was to be out of the house then, so there was plenty of time, at the foreclosure sale, yes, the tennants should have already been evicted, and the buyer is normally buying it "as is" and "where is" unless the sale said the furniture was not part of the sale, but normally funiture has to be removed by the end of the day of the sale.
next she had two days ??? why did she wait, she let husband do this or that, why , who cares, she could have had her own U haul back up at the other door as husband or exhusband was at one door.
She to me just seemed to not care untill it was gone, and now wants to try to sue someone.
Answering some questions...the foreclosure was called a "soft foreclosure" whatever that means, so the lenders got together and decided what they would take for the house, taxes, etc. The house was listed at 1.4 million, but sold for about 800K. As far as her "not caring about the stuff until it was gone..." is not true. The things in the house were awarded to her in the settlement, but the husband has not let her back on the property to pick them up, nor would he bring them to her. They have been back and forth to court on a number of items, one being unpaid child support, and also asking the judge to set a time and a date to pick up her things from the house. (The husband would not allow her on the property, and he would have her arrested for trespassing.) She has been simply waiting for a date and time to pick up her things, and in the mean time, found out the house was being foreclosed on. Her ex called her and said basically..."by the way" you have 2 hours this Saturday to pick up your stuff. She had no idea. She would have LOVED to have gone and picked up her things a year ago, and anytime in between, but could not get her husband to agree or a judge to order it. They were just at the point where a judge was about to rule on the issue, and BAM! She was hit with this. I personally would have probably gone out there too and picked up my things, but she was terrified she would be arrested or her ex would say she had stolen something. So, she followed the letter of the law and it bit her in the . Now, the new owner is acting like she bought it, she owns it.
She should go to the judge handling the divorce and ask for an injunction against the new owner taking possession of the home. This should be granted if the circumstances are as you state. Either that or he should issue an order allowing her to recover her property.
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