Hello. Need some advice on our housing situation. Kind of a long story... sorry about that. Here it is-

My family lives in Arizona. We rent a single family home. We had a one year lease that ended May 28 this year. We mutaully decided to go on a month to month basis because we found out the landlord has not been paying the mortgage. We have been paying the landlord for the past year but he hasn't been paying the mortgage company. Now the house is the foreclosure process. The landlord tried to see if he can short sale the house but the mortgage company will not do it cause the property is not their primary location but an investment property.

We have asked the landlord who the mortgage company is so maybe we can look into buying the house. But the landlord will not release the name of the lender. Per the original deed and other paperwork the mortgage company was First Magnus in AZ. Unfortunately First Magnus went bankrupt. So now we do not know who carries the loan.

The latest info we have is the landlord is doing a friendly foreclosure to save their credit. We are just unsure when this will happen. I have been checking the state accessor's office to see the paperwork that has been filed showing who owns the loan.

IN addition, we received a 30 day notice to vacate the property from the landlord. He says he was obligated to give us this from the mortgage company. The last day is June 14.

So.. now I have read that the new housing law had an amendment protecting tenants in foreclosure properties. The amendment is called "The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act." I may have 90 days extra to buy this house or move out.

So what do we do. We are torn. We love this house and wanted to buy it a year ago. But the landlord wanted to be greedy and see where the housing market was in the future. He should have let us buy the house.

We are thinking we should stay. Save our money. I think the mortgage company will contact us and we will deal with them once they do. But does anyone have any other suggestions or advice? This is a very huge stress for us. We have 2 kids and it is very unnerving to be going through this when we have kids to take care of.

Thanks in advance.

I would go no further without an Attorney - I'm a big fan of do it yourself but I see many, many pitfalls here.

See:
New Hampshire Law Library: Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 (http://nhlawlibrary.blogspot.com/2009/05/protecting-tenants-at-foreclosure-act.html)

LOL I did find the Amendment that was added to Obama's Help housing law. In fact, I need to understand it better. Cause I am thinking once we receive official paperwork from the mortgage we may have 90 days to leave. I did another thread asking for deciphering of the amendment. Thanks

Well this is the issue, it has not foreclosed yet, and the owner still owns it, and you are on a month to month rental, so he can at anytime give you a 30 day notice to move out.

So this is valid.

If the house actually forecloses, when and if the bank actually takes it, then it appears they have to give you 90 days since it is from the foreclosure.

** thus the reason the mortgage company wanted the landlord who is still the owner to give you a eviction notice, since the new law does not effect him since it is not foreclosed yet.

He may ignore this and just let you stay, and the bank will be stuck with you, but then he can still evict you if you do't move.

My husband says the owner is doing a deed in lieu of foreclosure. How does this change things? Isn't that basically the same thing?

Thanks