So I have been renting my condo for 9 months. It turns out the guy I was renting from isn't the real owner. I had the police come to my condo; the bank came by my house, heard my dog barking and called the owner, who thought the property was vacant, the owner called the police and they came by. I spoke with them, explained that I have been renting the place, gave the officer all of the "landlords" information. I have paid every month ontime. My situation is this; the real owner is now telling me he needs me out of the property is next week. My standpoint is I entered into this all in good faith. Regardless of whether it was to the wrong person, he should have to at least evict me. He claims that he has no obligation to me and if I am in the property past next week I will be considered trespassing. Am I wrong in assuming that he should have to evict me? Or can he just lock me out or call the cops and say I am trespassing? Somebody please advise, I am hearing different opinions.

Interesting situation. I believe if you can show the police some kind of proof that you are a resident of the property, such as a utility bill with your name on it, then you are considered a resident and not a trespasser. In that case they would not be able to remove you and the owner would have to terminate your tenancy and file a lawsuit for eviction. If the owner does file a lawsuit for eviction then you will lose. So you'd better start looking for a new place. But you should have more than a week in which to do it.

yes, he can evict you in court and sue you for the value of all of the rental for the last 9 months, Since he was not being paid, you still owe him all the rent,

You in return could sue the person you were paying.

In fact he can claim you are tresspassing and on his properly illegally.

Sort of like receiving stolen property even if you don't know it is stolen, you get it taken away and sometimes charged.

So I would hope you have a written rental agreement and enough info to prove there was someone you rented from.

Silly question, was this person you rented from just a person you emailed to

As Chuck said, you are a receiver of stolen property. As such, that property can be repossessed by the rightful owner. Unless you have some proof that you entered into an agreement and were paying a rental, then the rightful owner will probably be able to force an immediate repossession of his property.

I don't believe you have any tenant's rights here. But what you might have is victim's rights. Since you were the victim of a fraud, you can claim rights that way. Also as a victim (assuming you can prove it), you shouldn't be liable to damages to the owner (unless they were damages to the property you caused.

I would start looking for new digs immediately. I would also get all your paperwork together to forestall legal action by the owner. I don't believe the owner will be able allowed to just kick you out, but you aren't going to be given much time to vacate.

Thank you guys, It gave me much food for thought. It is not worth the risk of finding out and angering the real owner. I guess I need to suck it up and chalk it all to getting scammed. I'd rather not risk getting approved to buy a house, to try and stay an extra month. Any further imput would be greatly appreciated. I'm waiting on the response of my real estate attorney and agent to make the final decision. Please continue to voice opinions. Thank you so very much!

I have no signed lease for the property. I have about 60% of the canceled checks, plus two witness who were there when we discussed the terms of the lease. I have saved text messages where he claims he owned the property and we discussed terms of buying the place. But I'm just not 100% sure it would hold up in court. I can't tell whether its enough of a case.

You don't have any case to maintain a continued tenancy. If the owner terminates your tenancy and files for eviction you will definitely lose. The only issue right now is whether the police can force you to leave immediately or whether the owner will have to go through the legal eviction process. As I said, if you can prove residency, such as with a utility bill, then I think the owner will have to go through the legal eviction process. So you are going to have to leave. The only question is how quickly you will have to leave.