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This is sad especially for a grandmother. There should be some protection offered for renters in cases where the landlord is receiving rental income however he/she is not paying his mortgage, resulting in foreclosure.
Alice Mills signed her lease in February, thinking she would have a nice place to stay for the next year, until she could make her way into a senior citizens' community.
The corner house she found in northeast Philadelphia was small, but it was enough for the 67-year-old great-great-grandmother who lives by herself.
Then in July, Mills got a rude surprise when she came home from a hospital stay to find a sheriff's notice on the door, saying the house had been foreclosed and she must call about being evicted.
It is sad, but I'm sure this is bound to increase in the near future with all the foreclosures these days.
This very same situation happened to us back when we were renting... had leased the house for over five years. No word, nothing from the landlord that anything was different (he lived in another city)... still taking and cashing our checks. And, came home one day to find a eviction notice to be out in 30 days... the house had already gone through foreclosure and had been sold without one word to us, no one had come by, nothing! Made numerous calls to the courts and agency that had bought it, but still ended up with no recourse. Hopefully, the laws have changed since then that will allow some type of recourse for people this happens to now.
As others have stated, renters, especially good, long-term renters, get shafted as much as good landlords do. Maybe we could start a match.com for good renters-good landlords!
Last edited by BstYet2Be; 11-30-2007 at 01:07 PM..
My co-worker just went through the same scenario... with a better out come.
She came home and found a realtor placing a for sale sign in her front yard. The Realtor explained that she would need to be out because the bank now owns the property. The Realtor wanted her out in 10 days.
I contacted the realtor and explained that my co-workers rent was paid for the next 35 days and that she is willing to move... BUT... she did not have the move-in money required to move. The Realtor became upset and said that it was not his problem...
I replied, that my friend was an innocent party and that she would not move unless the Sheriff came to the house and we wanted him to put the 10 days he was giving her in writing so that we could forward it to the media and call attention to him and his Brokerage Firm.
With out going into to all the details... my friend received all of her deposit back, was paid $2,000 for her new deposit in consideration of vacating withing 30 days, a letter stating she was an excellent tenant and that the place was left in excellent condition.
My city requires 60 days minimum notice to move and after that time an eviction could easily take another 6 to 8 weeks.
The moral is... don't let someone push you around and bring in help if needed.
I think it worked for her because she knew her rights and was able to communicate effectively what she would accept in consideration for giving up her lease. The Realtor had a choice... do nothing and spend a lot of money and time going through the legal system or coming to an agreement with her. I think they both came out "OK"
My co-worker just went through the same scenario... with a better out come.
She came home and found a realtor placing a for sale sign in her front yard. The Realtor explained that she would need to be out because the bank now owns the property. The Realtor wanted her out in 10 days.
I contacted the realtor and explained that my co-workers rent was paid for the next 35 days and that she is willing to move... BUT... she did not have the move-in money required to move. The Realtor became upset and said that it was not his problem...
I replied, that my friend was an innocent party and that she would not move unless the Sheriff came to the house and we wanted him to put the 10 days he was giving her in writing so that we could forward it to the media and call attention to him and his Brokerage Firm.
With out going into to all the details... my friend received all of her deposit back, was paid $2,000 for her new deposit in consideration of vacating withing 30 days, a letter stating she was an excellent tenant and that the place was left in excellent condition.
My city requires 60 days minimum notice to move and after that time an eviction could easily take another 6 to 8 weeks.
The moral is... don't let someone push you around and bring in help if needed.
I think it worked for her because she knew her rights and was able to communicate effectively what she would accept in consideration for giving up her lease. The Realtor had a choice... do nothing and spend a lot of money and time going through the legal system or coming to an agreement with her. I think they both came out "OK"
Where were YOU when we needed you??? Great Job!!! This happened a long time ago... and we were so young, and there weren't many renter rules around then to help... so we did whatever they said. But, it sucked and I didn't forget it! The worst part was we had no reference for the 5+ yrs we were there to use as tenant history since our landlord had skipped. It all worked out, but we sure learned our lesson at an early age.
This is sad especially for a grandmother. There should be some protection offered for renters in cases where the landlord is receiving rental income however he/she is not paying his mortgage, resulting in foreclosure.
Alice Mills signed her lease in February, thinking she would have a nice place to stay for the next year, until she could make her way into a senior citizens' community.
The corner house she found in northeast Philadelphia was small, but it was enough for the 67-year-old great-great-grandmother who lives by herself.
Then in July, Mills got a rude surprise when she came home from a hospital stay to find a sheriff's notice on the door, saying the house had been foreclosed and she must call about being evicted.
You know, thats EXACTLY what happened to us! We found a gorgeous house to rent, out in Fontana (many, many years ago) and it was my dream house. Everything I wanted in a house, this was it. Moved in, in Feb. Within a few months we got a notice to move out in 30 days, it was going to be put on the market. Apparently, the guy we'd been paying rent to didnt even own the house. He was the owners brother. The owner skipped the state, or the country, whichever. There was a foreclosure on it, payments hadnt been made in almost a year. Dont know what this guy had been doing with the money we've been paying him, heck we didnt even know he wasnt the owner!
Had we had the money at the time, we would have bought it. But unfortunately, we just didnt. We had 4 kids and only one income. Anyway, we were lucky to find a place within that 30 days but to this day, I still love that house. We've driven by it a few times recently and its still there, the new people really did a nice job, put up a new fence (it had a white picket fence before, now its chain link), painted it, but otherwise it still looks great!
You know, thats EXACTLY what happened to us! We found a gorgeous house to rent, out in Fontana (many, many years ago) and it was my dream house. Everything I wanted in a house, this was it. Moved in, in Feb. Within a few months we got a notice to move out in 30 days, it was going to be put on the market. Apparently, the guy we'd been paying rent to didnt even own the house. He was the owners brother. The owner skipped the state, or the country, whichever. There was a foreclosure on it, payments hadnt been made in almost a year. Dont know what this guy had been doing with the money we've been paying him, heck we didnt even know he wasnt the owner!
Had we had the money at the time, we would have bought it. But unfortunately, we just didnt. We had 4 kids and only one income. Anyway, we were lucky to find a place within that 30 days but to this day, I still love that house. We've driven by it a few times recently and its still there, the new people really did a nice job, put up a new fence (it had a white picket fence before, now its chain link), painted it, but otherwise it still looks great!
That's HORRIBLE...........glad you were able to find a place.
As another poster stated, Renters Beware!!!!!!!!!!!! I think we'll be hearing about more of these horror stories as time goes on
im in a shortsale situation..found out from strange people knocking on the door asking are we having trouble paying our mortgage etc... well, the landlord admitted it. the first thing we did was take picts of all the issues unrepaired at move in. filed it with our laywers and served her. landlords r given 30 days to repair. and most know that court proceedings can begin if not repaired to get you out of the lease.
Bc we were SERVED papers (i asked nicely when they came knocking at 10pm). I know the dates and timelines-June08 that's it and that's when the lease ends.
We have since got the landlord to end our lease Dec 31, 2007 then rent month to month thereafter with last month going as security deposit. She signed off a week ago-woohoo!
Hope this helps someone. She knows she was wrong.
from here on out i suggest everyone visit the county auditors page to see if any homes are in foreclosure/ bankruptcy....however, many havent made it there YET..so ask the landlord for THEIR credit report and a letter from their loan holder to show good standing. it's crucial to check BOTH ways today.
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