My daugther and nephew signed an agreement to rent a three bedroom apartment three years ago.

No one knows who really owns the house. About 18 months ago the landlord disappeared and he stopped showing up at court.

At the present they are still in the house and not paying rent.

What rights do they have if the city or someone else buys the house.

They will have the rights of any tenant on a month to month lease.

They should NOT stop paying rent. They should be paying rent to a savings account. This way, when and if someone comes to collect, they will have the money. I'm assuming that they stopped paying rent because no one continued to collect it or because they had not place to send it.

In any case, they should set up a savings account at their bank and continue and deposit their rent payments to that account. Bring the account up to date so they have the full amount of back rent ready if they are asked for it.

The next thing they should do is check with the county to see who is on the deed and who is paying taxes for the property. Eighteen months is a long time for the lienholder to not have foreclosed.

The thing they shouldn't do is stick their heads in the sand and hope no one comes around to collect. What about other people in the building? How many units are in the building?

But, if a new owner appears, they can be giving one months notice to vacate and they could be sued for back rent. My advice would be to try and buy the property.

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Originally Posted by Parrow58

What rights do they have if the city or someone else buys the house.

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Hello P:

None. They'll be evicted.

excon

If someone else takes over ownership of the property then the only thing your daughter and nephew will be entitled to is a 30 day notice to vacate the property. If they fail to vacate within that time then the owner must file a lawsuit to evict them.

There is no such thing as squatters' rights anymore. It was replaced by the law of adverse possession, which gives ownership of the property to a person who fulfills all of the law's requirements. Based on what you've said here your daughter and nephew don't even come close to fulfilling those requirements.

Tell your daughter to start saving her money in case she has to find a new place to live in a hurry.