patrick.net

Well, you can choose not to give him/her the rent check, but then they can kick you out. If the house is in foreclosure that check is supposed to go into an excrow.

First thing, stop paying rent to your landlord! They aren't paying the mortgage, so are just pocketing the rent. Find out who the trustee is and whether they have an escrow account, or ask the bank, and make sure to write your rent checks "in trust". You probably won't get your security deposit back is my guess. To buy the property at a fair price you will most likely have to buy at auction (again the trustee should be able to give info on this). Quite honestly, I wouldn't buy it unless you get a fair price. Moving is a pain but paying an inflated prices is more so. Who knows... the bank may not be able to sell it and may be happy to continue renting to you once the foreclosure is completed.

Stop paying. the landlord can evict you within 60 days but he has to go to court to do that.

I like that idea. I am sick of these scumbag landlords who stopped paying the mortgage and are just collecting free rent. That needs to end.

Stop paying the rent. Show up on the courthouse steps with check in hand and bid for the place, or plan on moving.

It is a good idea to stop paying now. A lot of times the new owner (usually the bank) starts looking for the cash it is owed from the rent, and the old landlord declares he/she never received the checks "UH, THAT'S WHY I COULDN'T PAY THE MORTGAGE!"

I expect that after the strict foreclosure judgment is entered on Monday, we will receive an eviction notice. I would like advice on how to

1. extend the time that we have to leave. In Connecticut it is 90 days, but longer if you have a lease. Our lease is month to month with right of first refusal to purchase if landlord gets an offer from someone else.

2. make an offer to the bank to purchase (or rent) while we are still in the house. Will we have to move before it is placed on the market for sale?

Why do you want to buy it? Do you know the value of the home? I'm guessing if you're interested in staying its not just a money thing, but you like it or you're kids are in school. Give us the low-down.

Buying:
There are certain things at the moment that are out of your control. Is there more than one lien, and is this the second or first (or third) holder who is taking the house? The best time would have been to act during the pre-forclosure time, before the bank/mortgagor started those proceedings. Now its going to cost them money, and a short-sale from the previous owner is not an option. However, if you know the bank just start making phone calls. I'd get with a lender if you already have not to get your finances in line. It would stink if you signed and were tossed out anyway because the lender couldn't close the deal.

Renting:
Relax. The new immediate owner (the bank) is going to want to keep you, at least give you the option of staying while they get their act together. The last thing they want is cash not coming in whether they put it directly on the market or not. That rent check in your hand is gold. Do you know the financing on the house? Upside down? More than one They also don't want the house vacant. If you can prove (check stubs) you've paid on time and have not trashed the place they'll be gratefull to have you there during the foreclosure proceedings. VERY VERY GRATEFULL.

Thanks, knewbetter, for your reply. Here are some additional facts:

I have a question about your section "Renting" -- are you speaking from knowledge and experience, or are you just assuming the bank will be rational and should behave that way (i.e. in their interest to let us stay). For all I know, the bank could be very irrational and automatically evict us.

no idea why one would want to have landlord financials determine behavior.
Choose next rental more wisely and save energy for better stuff. Pay rent and avoid flakey situations which are undoubtedly contagious. In a word, seek integrity - require it and bring it.

lol .... you agreed to rent the house for $X per month for a certian number of months. Your agreement has no basis on the status of the landlords mortgage, or if there even is any mortgage. Your obligation is to pay the person that granted you occupancy $X per month. Their obligation is to have you maintain occupancy. You keep paying rent unless the agreed upon method of quitting the agreement is used (30 day notice or whatever) by either party.

For a tenant to "feel" they have a right to withhold rent payment due to unpaid mortgage is absurd. The health of the loan is not your business. Your only business is to meet your obligation that you made with whomever handed you the keys and garage door opener.

On the other hand - morals and such would tend to make one think that the owner should "share the wealth" of the free living time between the last payment made and the day of eviction. That is about 2 years out here in Ca. So, it is not unimaginable to think an owner that stopped paying would just come by and tell you, "hey, we stopped paying the note and you are welcome to stay until the marshals make you leave." That would be a looooong time. Their same greed that put them in this situation will probably keep them from doing something as proper as this.

When the REO bank assigns the home to a REturd, the REturd will contact you. At that time you are in a pretty good spot to make the first deal. If the REturd has some sucker on the line already, you will not get a good price option. But, if your intrest is the only intrest in the home, the REturd may slam the deal and you never have to vacate.

What I did in Fla.
Two weeks after we moved into the rental we were served notice that the landlord was in default. I requested that the landlord let me out of my lease. She said no. I paid my rent to my attny. She sent me eviction papers, we took her to court, and won. She lied to us about her financial situation, and the judge ruled in our favor. Basically we were entitled to quiet enjoyment as stated in the lease. Not knowing when the sheriff is going to show and tell us to leave is not quiet enjoyment. Cost me 10k but I stayed several months without paying rent

What Bap33 said.

Your rent has nothing to do with landlord's underwater/foreclosure situation as long as he still is the landlord. Your rent ends when breaking condition happens. That is, refusal of payment, violations that breache rent agreement by either party, or termination notice served by either party. Till then, the rent agreement is still there. When you refuse to pay rent for whatever reason, you're not a renter any more and can get evicted, unless your local law protects you in certain ways.

You may pay your rent as long as you live there to the landlord. When landlord changes, you pay to new landlord. This time will be a good time for lease negotiation if new owner is bank or landlord, If new owner wants to live in it instead of rent it to you, you stop paying rent, enjoy 90 days of free rent then get out. New owner can not change lock or force you leave in that period. If he does, visit lawyer because that's a good chance for you to get free rent at the end of lease term.

You may ask your landlord swap your rent w/ security deposit for a month or two at the end of your lease. Some LL takes it, some won't. Sleazy ass landlord do not transfer security deposit to new one, putting it in their pocket lying here and there.

nthebank's case is feasible because the landlord could not keep her part of rental agreement. Lying part is not a problem. Can not providing the kind of environment as stated in the lease is.

But, What the Hell?

Your lease term is month to month basis. You're a goner after a month. Forget about those stuffs above. You don't have months of lease period left to argue about,

I mean, what's up with the house you're renting now? Why you want to invest 150K on that house? It seems you like the house and hope you can get it some day.

Then, don't mess up with landlord. Just look for another rental or go court step to bid on it.

The rental income goes with the property, the same as copper plumbing or a garage space. A previous owner has no right to receive rent for any length of time after forclosure proceedings have begun.

tenant in foreclosed house:

1.)What is the rental history of the house? Are you a long-term tennant, and has the house predominately been rented or is this an owner-occupied and the previous owner got stuck trying to flip and then tried to rent for a short-term solution?

2.)Does your rent money cover the cost of the mortgage, or is it really just a stop-gap?

3.)You say you like the house, but then state how it is in need of 50k in repairs, plus an additional 150k in "capital improvements" to make it what you want. The bank is going to expect 500k for the house, so do you really think this house will be worth 700k after you're done. Maybe you could look at another home in the same district without the drama......?

Answers to Newbetter's post:

Does anyone think that we will be evicted or do you think we will have an opportunity to purchase the house before eviction?

You will likely be evicted before you get the lienholder to come to the table.

If it takes 90 days to evict, I'd stop paying the rent. You owe it to the LL, not the bank. Even if the house is in foreclosure, as long as the owner of record is the LL that's who you owe. Bap is correct in that you owe the $ - and that a "fair" LL would share the non-wealth by not making you pay. On the other hand, it's money for nothing and they've obviously not been paying for a while, so I wouldn't expect miracles.

Contact the bank and make an offer, it depends upon what they're doing with foreclosures as to what will happen next. They might accept a short sale from you, might not. You can attempt to buy it at the auction too - which will cut out the realtor altogether and be much less than the short sale price.

For some reason banks refuse short sales but accept the auction amount.

I think the bank is going to want 500k because it has an appraisal in hand that states the home is worth 500k, and by golly that's what its worth because an appraiser said so. Rational thinking aside, that's what they want.

You mentioned it needs 50k of repairs. Is that a professional opinion or a guesstimate because the bank will counter with paint-n-paper @ $3500.

I'm still pretty sure that a landlord in forclosure does not have the right to collect rent from a tennant. I have had people try to withold rent for a partially-clogged shower head and wobbly ceiling fans. I would not pay at this point. There's no point placating the previous owner. His kung fu is not strong.

tenant in foreclosed house:

Thanks for the background info. I'd say you're paying TOO MUCH in rent if your rent is covering the mortgage on a house that's 200k under water not even considering the bloated appraisal.

I take it there's not a lot of rentals/properties for sale in your neighborhood if you are considering buying this one?

Prices in my town have come down nicely over the past few years (during which time we have rented).

I believe there's a double-dip in housing and prices will come down further (nationally), and thus, would like to continue to rent as long as possible and purchase as rates go up, but we'd rather buy than have to move into another rental -- you are correct, there's not much for rent here.

Thanks, E-man. I have one question: Why do you assume that I will receive an eviction notice and not an offer to rent or purchase? Wouldn't the bank want a good tenant like me who pays the utilities and landscaping, or is that calculation too complicated for them?

Also, we have been told that a short sale, in this case, was never in the cards and is out of the question because (i) this not owner-occupied and (ii) is $200k underwater. Do you agree?

I also wonder if my Lease is binding on the Bank after the foreclosure process. My lease states that I have a 30-day right of first refusal on any offers to purchase the house and it says that the Lease is binding on Landlord's successors and assigns.

Thank you!

Bake cookies, put away the samurai swords hanging on the wall.
Mothball your shrunken head collection. Don't leave porn in the bathroom.
Take the couch back inside off the front lawn even though it's Summer.

A large bank/mortgage company that's using a 3rd party contractor to close this deal may not care if you're doing the nice things, but I for one would rather have someone living in the house instead of wondering if someone is gutting the house for copper.

tenant in foreclosed house says

2. Rent is about the same as a new mortgage + property taxes, etc. if we could convince the bank that the appraisal is way too high (appraiser never came into house).