A friend of mine was renting a home that unknown to her was in foreclosure. She did not receive any notices - they were apparently all delivered to the landlord, who was witholding the information. She had been making payments (to the landlord) on time.

She returned home one day to find a sherrif supervising the removal of her and her children's property and was told she could not enter. She attempted to claim her property but was told that the property was in the landlord's name and because she was not the landlord she could not claim it, even though it was obvious from photos and other items that it was her property and not the landlord's.

The landlord disappeared and she could not locate him and her and her children's property was auctioned off. What were her legal rights to claim her property? (I do not know if she had a written lease or not.)

Personally, I think she needs a good attorney immediately. I think she's just going to run into walls eveywhere she tries to go on her own.

She could try findng some sort of tenant's rights group or something.

There's no question there was some wrong-doing, but... WOW... I'm not even sure what to say about this one except to get an attorney right away.

Hello r:

I believe your friend has grounds for a lawsuit against the sheriff. I don't know that to be true, but I would certainly interview several lawyers to find out.

I say I don't know that, because landlord/tenant law doesn't apply in this instance. Frankly, I don't know what rights a tenant has in your friends situation, but I believe she got screwed by the sheriff.

excon

What was the time line here? Did she have a valid lease?

I agree she got screwed by the sheriff and may have a cause of action against him. I can understand the sheriff not letting her have her property at that point. But once she informed him that there was a question of ownership, he should not have auctioned the property off until that question was resolved.

She needed to prove she was a tenant in the house and that would have given her some rights. Also, in a foreclosure, a foreclosure notice is generally posted on the door to notifiy any occupants.

She needs to consult an attorney to see what rights she has and what she can do now. If the stuff has already been auctioned off, then she can't get it back, but I doubt if personal items like photos were auctioned. But she should be able to be reimbursed.