What are the owners rights to collect rent while in the foreclosure process?

Welcome to AMHD. A landlord has a right to collect rent unless there is some defect in the enjoyment of the property. On a related topic: "Most renters will lose their leases upon foreclosure. The rule in most states is that if the mortgage was recorded before the lease was signed, a foreclosure will wipe out the lease (this rule is known as “first in time, first in right”). Because most leases last no longer than a year, it's all too common for the mortgage to predate the lease and destroy it upon foreclosure." See: Renters in Foreclosure: What Are Their Rights? (http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectId/B8CE60DC-0D00-4E6B-8DC71AF1165C89EA/catID/7E846209-6969-42D1-8B1617C517D8E62E/213/317/ART/)

Foreclosure has no bearing on the collection of rent, with the exceptions as noted above by
G1950.

Even in foreclosure, the landlord can still evict you for non payment of the rent.

My landlord is in foreclosure with the HOA of the condo unit we have been renting for the past two years. From what I understand from the rental agent, the landlord is supposedly current on her first and second mortgages with Citibank, but has not paid HOA fees for close to two years. We do not have a written lease, just a verbal month-to-month agreement. I pay the rent via check and have never been late. The desperate landlord now wants a rent increase. She has not told us or notified us in writing, but has advised her friend the "rental agent" to collect an increase back to January 1, 2013 which we know she can't do. The first HOA Santa Clara County, CA auction was in Sept 2012, but no one cleared the lien for HOA fees due (close to 20K) The next auction is 2/20/2013. Can she legally raise the rent?

Additionally, landlord was bonafide "hoarder" who skipped to Hawaii as social services was about to take custody of her child as the child hadn't attended school for 7 months. The condo was a mess and we helped the rental agent clean it. The landlord refused to pay for any repairs, not did she clean the carpet before we moved in. Additionally, she demanded that she be able to leave many of her belongings which restricted our use of closets and how much furniture and/or personal belongings we could bring. We pay for two storage units.

Condo is 30+ years old, walls are in dire need of painting as they have lead paint. The first winter, the landlord refused to turn on the furnace and we were forced to use electric heaters. The utilities bill was in her name and of course she demanded payment for utilities. Finally, we demanded the PGE bill be placed in our name so we could have heat. This woman has mental/psychiatric challenges and is extremely difficult to deal with, What are our rights.

We were hoping the HOA would take a rent garnishment from us and extend our tenure in the property, they have to check with their attorney.