Sunday
Apr272008
Tenants in Foreclosure - Part 2
Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 09:29PM
Continued from Tenants in Foreclosure - Part 1:
Suddenly, we were essentially homeless squatters in a condo we had been paying rent on for almost two years...
Breathe.
Think happy thoughts.
How much time do we have?
Research: Tenants in Foreclosure
1) Everything depends on the foreclosure laws in the state where the property is located. There is generally not much mention of, and even less "protection" for, Tenants in Foreclosure. As I said, we were lucky we had two weeks heads up--
2) It seems fairly consistent that the lease, as a lien or encumbrance junior to the mortgage, automatically terminates upon foreclosure.
3) It is also fairly consistent that banks, lending institutions and, as we learned, government agencies (Fannie Mae) do not want to be landlords -- they like their foreclosed REO property vacant and ready to sell.
4) We were pretty sure we would have, by law, 30 days from official notice of the foreclosure; possibly 60 days, since we were on a long-term lease. (We were wrong.)
We ramped up our search for a new home, thinking we had until mid-April, at least, maybe thru May, which would be great, to get to the end of the school year. It was a challenge to find a rental, with three kids in school and a not-small dog. Early in March, people are thinking about Easter and Spring Break, not moving before school is out. Everything in the rental market (I checked MLS rentals and Craigslist.com, on the hour, every hour) was either less expensive and crappy (too small/bad area/primitive/"rustic") or way beyond our price range. We considered properties outside the school district, but we dreaded that kind of upheaval and change for our kids.
Our landlord, meanwhile, was still insisting everything was fine. The property manager started avoiding us by phone and stopped replying to email. On top of everything else, we started to worry about the several thousand dollars we had on deposit with the property manager (Security Deposit and Last Month's Rent), for good reason, as it turns out (as of April 27th), but we couldn't really worry about that yet, as our primary concern was finding a place to live.
Finally, on March 19th, we received our first "official notice," of a sort, addressed to the owners "and/or All Other Residents" (in bold on the envelope).
This turned out to be a DEMAND FOR PREMISES, dated March 17, 2008:
"Please be advised that I am attorney for Fannie Mae and as such, I am advising you that Fannie Mae, as the owner of the premises, desires that you immediately vacate the premises located at...
This property was the subject of foreclosure on March 4, 2008, by reason of which Fannie Mae became the owner thereof.
This is a formal demand for possession of the above-referenced premises. You are considered to be occupying the premises as a tenant at sufferance.
Should you fail and refuse to vacate the premises by March 18, 2008, Fannie Mae will file a dispossessory action against you."
Yes, I was freaking out: What happened to our 30 days from notice, much less 60 days?! According to this, we were supposed to be out of the condo as of the day before we received this first notice in the mail.
I called the Attorney for Fannie Mae. He wasn't a very nice guy. He said we needed to get out. I told him we were current on the rent and all obligations, that we were tenants here, with three children in school, that we had no place to go yet, and what about 30 days from this, our first official notice of the foreclosure? He said we would effectively have until April 13th to vacate -- not that they were giving us time, April 13th was simply the date before any further action could be taken, as a practical matter. He said there was no legal requirement of 30 days notice and that April 13th would actually be almost six weeks from the foreclosure sale -- yeah, the sale that our landlord assured us would never/didn't happen -- aaarrrggghhh!!!
My husband called and talked to the attorney later that day to see if we could rent back or negotiate additional time. No. Dispossessory action (i.e. EVICTION) would proceed--
Things were really getting interesting now...To Be Continued...
Tenants in Foreclosure - Part 3
Suddenly, we were essentially homeless squatters in a condo we had been paying rent on for almost two years...
Breathe.
Think happy thoughts.
How much time do we have?
Research: Tenants in Foreclosure
1) Everything depends on the foreclosure laws in the state where the property is located. There is generally not much mention of, and even less "protection" for, Tenants in Foreclosure. As I said, we were lucky we had two weeks heads up--
2) It seems fairly consistent that the lease, as a lien or encumbrance junior to the mortgage, automatically terminates upon foreclosure.
3) It is also fairly consistent that banks, lending institutions and, as we learned, government agencies (Fannie Mae) do not want to be landlords -- they like their foreclosed REO property vacant and ready to sell.
4) We were pretty sure we would have, by law, 30 days from official notice of the foreclosure; possibly 60 days, since we were on a long-term lease. (We were wrong.)
We ramped up our search for a new home, thinking we had until mid-April, at least, maybe thru May, which would be great, to get to the end of the school year. It was a challenge to find a rental, with three kids in school and a not-small dog. Early in March, people are thinking about Easter and Spring Break, not moving before school is out. Everything in the rental market (I checked MLS rentals and Craigslist.com, on the hour, every hour) was either less expensive and crappy (too small/bad area/primitive/"rustic") or way beyond our price range. We considered properties outside the school district, but we dreaded that kind of upheaval and change for our kids.
Our landlord, meanwhile, was still insisting everything was fine. The property manager started avoiding us by phone and stopped replying to email. On top of everything else, we started to worry about the several thousand dollars we had on deposit with the property manager (Security Deposit and Last Month's Rent), for good reason, as it turns out (as of April 27th), but we couldn't really worry about that yet, as our primary concern was finding a place to live.
Finally, on March 19th, we received our first "official notice," of a sort, addressed to the owners "and/or All Other Residents" (in bold on the envelope).
This turned out to be a DEMAND FOR PREMISES, dated March 17, 2008:
"Please be advised that I am attorney for Fannie Mae and as such, I am advising you that Fannie Mae, as the owner of the premises, desires that you immediately vacate the premises located at...
This property was the subject of foreclosure on March 4, 2008, by reason of which Fannie Mae became the owner thereof.
This is a formal demand for possession of the above-referenced premises. You are considered to be occupying the premises as a tenant at sufferance.
Should you fail and refuse to vacate the premises by March 18, 2008, Fannie Mae will file a dispossessory action against you."
Yes, I was freaking out: What happened to our 30 days from notice, much less 60 days?! According to this, we were supposed to be out of the condo as of the day before we received this first notice in the mail.
I called the Attorney for Fannie Mae. He wasn't a very nice guy. He said we needed to get out. I told him we were current on the rent and all obligations, that we were tenants here, with three children in school, that we had no place to go yet, and what about 30 days from this, our first official notice of the foreclosure? He said we would effectively have until April 13th to vacate -- not that they were giving us time, April 13th was simply the date before any further action could be taken, as a practical matter. He said there was no legal requirement of 30 days notice and that April 13th would actually be almost six weeks from the foreclosure sale -- yeah, the sale that our landlord assured us would never/didn't happen -- aaarrrggghhh!!!
My husband called and talked to the attorney later that day to see if we could rent back or negotiate additional time. No. Dispossessory action (i.e. EVICTION) would proceed--
Things were really getting interesting now...To Be Continued...
Tenants in Foreclosure - Part 3
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