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Deeneedshelp · Sep 27, 2009, 11:34 PM

The house I rent was foreclosed and back in May 09 the landlord send a letter to us stating to stop paying the rent due to the foreclosure. There was mail being sent to the house from banks so we wanted to find out so we could move out. So when he responded we thought "great will give us time to save and find another place after it sells." We finally got a letter from someone that went to the house handed the paper to us and took a picture. It said the house would be sold at a public auction on Sept and well the day got there and it was sold. Our lovely neighbor who had been so kindly guiding us through the process ended up buying the house. Two weeks ago showed a paper to my brother saying he was the new property owner, my brother asked "so how long do we have to vacate?" He said you have 2 weeks and so we have to be out by Oct 1st. Is this right? What can I do? I need more time to come up with the money for a new place. Can he just tell us we have till Oct 1st to vacate?

Cedarln2265 · Sep 29, 2009, 04:53 AM

Since your neighbor bought the house, is he intending to rent the house. You should ask him.. if he is perhaps he can become your landlord. This would be a first step.
As to whether the owner of a foreclosure can "just tell you to leave" different states have processes and in aid of the answer we would have to know your state location good luck

JudyKayTee · Sep 29, 2009, 05:40 AM

Without knowing the State/Country it is impossible to know. However, if you have not been paying rent, yes, you can be evicted BUT you should be served with actual, legal eviction papers.

ScottGem · Sep 29, 2009, 05:54 AM

Actually, there was federal legislation signed in May (and detailed in a Sticky note at the top of this forum), that requires the new owner in a foreclosure give a renter until the end of the lease or at 90 days to vacate, whichever comes later. Find the sticky note and you will find a reference to that law to show the new owner.

There is an exception if the new owner plans to occupy the house. If so, you still get 90 days.

A side issue here is I hope you got the previous owner's advice to stop paying in writing. Otherwise you have no right to stop paying and could be sued for back rent. The property was not foreclosed in May. A foreclosure is finalized only when the property title is changed. Which was apparently at the auction. Up until that time, the previous owner still owned the property and was entitled to receive the rent specified by the lease.

JudyKayTee · Sep 29, 2009, 07:25 AM

Scott, maybe you can clarify this for me. I thought that the new law only applied to tenants who were up to date on the rent (and that includes holding the rent in a special escrow or similar account). It is/was my understanding that if the rent is overdue the standard eviction procedure applies.

I can see both sides of this - the "new" landlord is not owed rent. It's owed to the "old" landlord so maybe the "new" doesn't have standing.

Thoughts? Thanks.

ScottGem · Sep 29, 2009, 01:52 PM

Originally Posted by JudyKayTee

Scott, maybe you can clarify this for me. I thought that the new law only applied to tenants who were up to date on the rent (and that includes holding the rent in a special escrow or similar account). It is/was my understanding that if the rent is overdue the standard eviction procedure applies.

I can see both sides of this - the "new" landlord is not owed rent. It's owed to the "old" landlord so maybe the "new" doesn't have standing.

Thoughts? Thanks.

Yes, that is correct. If the tenant is not keeping the rent up to date, then standard eviction laws supercede here. That's why I mentioned the side issue. If the OP can't prove that they were given permission to stop paying rent, they could be evicted for non payment of rent unless they can pay the arrears in full.