My Landlord is telling me to move out! (Fairfax: sale, apartment)

[Margery]

Originally Posted by hope2010

I live in Fairfax. My landlord's agent and other agents are bringing buyers to my house. I asked her for at least 24hr notice and she's saying she can't control those people who want to come and see the house. It's actually really annoying now. Anyhow, thank you for your information! It really helps alot! I will call them tomorrow to see what they say about my situation. Again, thank you!

If the lockbox is one of the electronic ones, the lockbox can be set to only work during certain times. The agent can also specify the times the place can be shown in the listing remarks, but this relies on cooperation which is not always forthcoming. A notice of 24 hours is unrealistic, many people looking at homes are only in town for a day or so and want to see as many homes as possible.

[HereinVA]

Originally Posted by roninsedge

I see what you are saying. It still confuses me that the owners are paying the mortgage for the rental property and then paying rent or another mortgage on the place that they live. This just screams of fiscal irresponsibility and Hope is the innocent person paying the consequences for their irresponsibility.

Oh, I totally agree that a lot of people (homeowners) are irresponsible!

I know in our situation, when we bought 4 years ago (just starting to decline from the "peak", but of course we didn't know that at the time!), we thought we were being fiscally responsible. We put down a downpayment of about 40%. We intentionally bought less than banks were willing to finance, because we wanted to make sure we could easily afford our mortage + private school for our children.

Now, 4 years later, our house's value has declined dramatically. We haven't had an official appraisal, but going by what some neighboring homes have recently sold for, I'd guess we would be able to get about $50,000 LESS than what we owe on it (and no, we havent' taken out any 2nd mortages, refinancing to take out equity, HELOCs, etc).

If we were forced to move, due to a job transfer, we would have to rent out our home. I think, even with our relatively low mortage (compared to what banks were WILLING to finance us at that time), we might be able to rent it out for approx. mortgage payments (plus Home owners insurance and property tax). Still, there would HOA dues, repairs/upkeep, months where maybe the home was not renter occupied, etc.
So I can see where some people, who were trying to be responsible, could still find themselves in a bad position...not that Hope, or others in her position, should have to bear the consequences for it!

[treebw]

I didnt read all the posts, and mostly I know CA real estate law- but your landlord must, by law, give you 24 hour notice to come in to your home.
You can not be evicted just becuase she is selling, and it is up to the new owner to deal with getting you if they want to.
Read your lease a few times and see if she can just evict you since laws are different in all states- and dont be surprised if you refuse to leave so she starts to make up false complaints or doesnt cash checks so that she can say you are not paying. ...stranger things have happened.
For the time being I would consider trying to send your rent checks w/ mandatory receipt or something like that in case she says you stopped paying.
And tell her that unless you have 24 hour notice you can not guarantee that the house will be clean or smell fresh when people come in to view the place:-)

[Yankeesfan]

It seems to me that it might be in Hope's interest to cooperate with showing the house to potential buyers because a short-sale buyer would have to honor her lease but if the bank forecloses they wouldn't have to; does that sound right?

[Carlingtonian]

Originally Posted by Yankeesfan

It seems to me that it might be in Hope's interest to cooperate with showing the house to potential buyers because a short-sale buyer would have to honor her lease but if the bank forecloses they wouldn't have to; does that sound right?

I'm not a lawyer, but I believe that in either case, her presence complicates the sale--which means she's holding a major card.

What should really happen is for the landlord to come to her, hat in hand, and offer her something in exchange for agreeing to move. Or the bank should.

Without that basic courtesy, why should she accommodate last-minute invasions of her privacy--just so they can have an easier time of selling the place out from under her? What's in it for her?

[robbobobbo]

How is it that the lender agreed to a short sale when presumably the mortgage payments could be made by the tenant's rent (if not 100% of the monthly mortgage payment, at least a significant portion)?

I thought short sales were worked out between home owner and lender when foreclosure was imminent - meaning being in default. It's when the lender decides that selling at less than what is owed is preferable to going through the foreclosure process. Which goes back to the question of how is the owner in default for several months if the tenants are paying rent? I guess landlord is using rent monies for other living expenses. Surprising that the landlord didn't know about the potential need to sell 3 months ago when they committed to a lease with the tenant.

If this were a foreclosure, then the lease would be nullified. But a short sale might be considered discretionary; that is, a sale at the discretion of the owner, and then the lease might still be in effect.

Look for a Subordination section in the lease - this is the statement that the tenant's rights under the lease are subordinate to the bank's rights under the mortgage. But in this case, the bank is not foreclosing, so I would think (could be wrong) that the owner would be held to the lease unless tenant and landlord mutually agree to dissolve it.

And leases do not transfer automatically from one owner to the next, at least not in Virginia. That would be at the discretion of the new owner if they wanted to keep the same tenant and under the same terms.

This is my layman's opinion, it definitely behooves the tenant to consult all professional resources and quickly.

[Yankeesfan]

Originally Posted by robbobobbo

Which goes back to the question of how is the owner in default for several months if the tenants are paying rent? I guess landlord is using rent monies for other living expenses.

Bingo.

[scottfs]

Originally Posted by robbobobbo

How is it that the lender agreed to a short sale when presumably the mortgage payments could be made by the tenant's rent (if not 100% of the monthly mortgage payment, at least a significant portion)?

I thought short sales were worked out between home owner and lender when foreclosure was imminent - meaning being in default. It's when the lender decides that selling at less than what is owed is preferable to going through the foreclosure process. Which goes back to the question of how is the owner in default for several months if the tenants are paying rent?

That's actually an interesting point...I wonder if the bank actually knows that the landlord has a tenant in there. Maybe the landlord is collecting the rent but simply not paying the mortgage. I've heard some stories of that happening in many places. In that situation, I'd think the bank might have the right to collect the rent payments while the house is on the market.

Or maybe the owner got one of those interest-only loans that resets after 5 or so years and the payments skyrocket, meaning maybe the rent used to cover the mortgage but no longer does.

So many things that could be going on.

Oh, and I don't think 24 hours notice is unreasonable. When I was looking at houses our realtor usually came up with a list of houses a couple of days in advance, and only once did we stumble into a house where the residents hadn't been notified. (They were pissed, screamed at us and forced us to leave )

[roninsedge]

Also, you can request that the selling agent put a note in the listing to call 24 hrs or whatever you want before coming to see the house. I noticed a few places I was looking at having that note and our realtor was very good in sticking to the directions in the note. As to the short-sale part, the bank does a financial/hardship review of the current owner after an offer is made to make sure the seller qualifies for a short sale, which makes no sense to me.

[robbobobbo]

As far as advanced notice for showing the property goes, there isn't much you can do short of being unpleasant to the agents and buyers stopping by. That kind of violation of the lease on part of the landlord is something that could give the tenant legitimate cause to dissolve the lease and move out, but that's not what you want in this case. I can't see any monetary damage claim that could you could make. The landlord is already breaking the lease, what does he care about your inconvenience or feelings? The Realtor will put a lock box on the property and start showing it. You could ask the landlord to pass your phone number to agents for them to call you ahead of showing, but it won't be anything like 24 hours. It will be more like "I've got someone who'd like to see it and we're coming over right now." If you are in the unit at the time, you could refuse to grant them access - which the landlord could then bring up for eviction (whether he's right about it or not).