Foreclosure on rental

[Anonymous]

Hi, All,

This is my first post--hope someone can help.

I rent, and earlier this week foreclosure papers were served on my house .  Given all that's happened, I'm leery of giving my landlord any more rent money unless I know it's going to the bank and not to...wherever else he's spending it.  

Two questions:

1) Do I have to keep paying him rent?

2) He claims he is pursuing a trial loan modification to halt the foreclosure proceedings.  I don't have much reason to trust his word right now.  Is there a way I can find out whether he's really doing this?   

Thanks,

e.d. 

[Anonymous]

you are still liable for rent and for fullfilling you end of your lease.

[Lel]

I do not believe that foreclosure proceedings nullify your lease agreement, and your landlord is under no obligation to inform you of how your rent payments are being used.  He may be spending it on emergency medical expenses, which is a well-described reason for financial hardship.  However, given that there is a distinct possibility that the new owner of the home may not honor your current lease, you might want to consider seeking another place to live, and to inform your current landlord of your concerns and intentions.

With regard of obtaining proof of his financial transactions, I don't think you have a specific right to that information.

Message Edited by Lel on 01-18-2010 09:09 PM

[Anonymous]

getting a loan mod is a hard fight

Getting one on an investment property is even harder.

That said, there is not much you can do about it besides try to talk to the owner and see if they are willing to give you some info about what is going on.  They may have just stopped making payments to try to get some leverage on the loan modification, and have the money put aside in case it does not work out, or they may be in dnager of loosing the home. 

In either case, I would make sure to have some $ put aside for moving/deposit stuff ASAP.  This is always good advice when renting anyways as you never know what is going to happen.

[Anonymous]

I had the same thing happen to me a month ago. I called the lender and in the loan docs it says that rents are to be paid to them, because it was an investment property they had that in the loan docs. We had been served a copy and yes, there it was.  Also we have a home owners association which has the right to approve or dissapprove all renters. Our landlord had not properly submitted our lease, so they said that they view us as squatters.  Also they have the agreement signed from the landlord that if they are in default, all rents should be paid to the association. And that upon renewal we should have been told to move out since they had been in default. So where do we pay the rent ?  And how long til we get moved out ? Well.. Luckily we only had two months left on our extension. So we paid one month. Since they have one month as deposit, which we would likely never see. We found a new place to move, cleaned the place as we would have done on moving, turned in the keys to the concierge, and sent the landlord a letter stating we were gone.  And never heard a peep.

Do what is best for you and your family. Call them, work it out however you can. But do not feel like you are trapped wondering when the other notices will appear. 

I hope the best for you.

[Anonymous]

I forgot to add, call the lawyer listed on the papers that were posted, or the banks representative and ask if there is anything in the loan docs that addresses this, or if you have an association, ask them for help.