Landlord getting foreclosed on (Tampa: apartment complex, foreclosure, lease) - Tampa Bay - Florida (FL) -Tampa - St. Petersburg - Clearwater - City-Data Forum

kamorra2 · 08-25-2009, 07:27 AM

I just got a notice that my landlord is getting foreclosed on. Does anyone know what my rights are as a tenant? I've paid my rent on time every month!

TampaKaren · 08-25-2009, 07:51 AM

You have rights under the Florida Landlord/Tenant Law Florida Landlord/Tenant Law Division of Consumer Services, DOACS (http://www.800helpfla.com/landlord_text.html - broken link).

And thanks to the new Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009, you have better protection and some options. The following article should give you some good information to get you started Renters in Foreclosure: What Are Their Rights? (http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/objectId/B8CE60DC-0D00-4E6B-8DC71AF1165C89EA/104/138/139/ART/ - broken link)

Were I you, I'd do as much research and reading as possible and then find an experienced attorney.

bentlebee · 08-25-2009, 07:55 AM

You still have to pay and move out when your lease is over. It takes months sometimes even years for the foreclosure to happen. Many tenants just served out their lease and moved. Not paying can result in getting you a judgment and harming your credit score. What the LL does with the rent is not your business but it is your business to pay on time...I know it sounds wrong but that is still the law, although I heared that it was going to change and LL have to provide proof that they are current on payments on the home like mortgages and HOA, etc...

I already gave my tenants a signed paper that I have no debts and no mortgage

This has going on for such a long time now that tenants should know they have to check the public records to see what kind of record the LL has...most people facing foreclosure had in their past more financial trouble. Just like a LL checks a tenants background, so should a tenant check the public records to see the history on the property and if the LL is really the owner.

Good Luck and don't worry too much.

kamorra2 · 08-25-2009, 08:15 AM

Thank you Bentlebee for the input. I did check his history and he bought the house 12 years ago and had no bad record. I checked to see if it was in any state of foreclosure so I did my check up on him. Apparently he quit paying his mortgage 4 months ago and by then I was already in the house. Up until then he was 100% on time.

TampaKaren thank you for the links. It looks like after May 20, 2009, Obama signed into law that the banks now have to honor the remainder of the lease. This is great news! I'll have to move when the lease is up but I'm so glad to find out I have until then.

bentlebee · 08-25-2009, 10:14 AM

It is sad to hear that but good you did your due dilligence although it shouldn't be necessary to do due dillegence.....but times are what they are.

So you probably have 8 months left on your lease which should be enough to stay there and make arrangements to move. You could decide to move earlier and approach your LL and make a deal that you can leave without consequences before the lease is up and just to be sure....don't pay last months rent but although officially it isn't allowed, you should write it in a certified letter and make a statement in there that because of the foreclosure papers served to you, you won't take a chance of not getting your sec. deposit back and want the LL to sign off on the last month being covered by the sec. deposit. If he goes to court, which I doubt since he probably has no cash to pay for the small claims court fees, you still have proof why you did it and I don't think any judge will rule against you if you are current on all other rent during your lease period.

Synergy1 · 08-25-2009, 11:35 AM

Why is it necessary for a a tenant to pay the landlord lease money when the landlord is the one who is getting foreclosed? I have listened to a tenant who was still paying her rent and the home was into forclosure. The tenant was informed not to pay the owner any more money when the owner cannot pay the bank for a home he is collecting rent.

Is there really a reason to continue paying rent to a person who is not paying their fair share? It is the bank's responsibility to gather all money due and the owner to receive a deficiency notice from the price he/she had left in the mortgage and the price the home was sold in the foreclosure proceedings. However, at times banks do not submit a deficiency notice (via IRS) that will add to the former owners salary for the year the home was foreclosed. In fact if the home was sold in foreclosure for 185k and the owner had 285k on the loan then the owner should receive a 100k 1099 note or what ever the number from the IRS that will state the owner's salary increased by 100k......

I would look deep into why a tenant should continue to pay rent to an owner of a property that is being foreclosed...

myra120 · 08-25-2009, 11:51 AM

The tenant must continue to pay the rent becuase, unless there is a clause in their lease about foreclosure or failure to use the monies for the mortgage, the lease is still a binding contract between the tenant and the landlord. The lease has nothing to do with the LL and his bank.

I am just going through this process myself. I signed a lease last December, after doing my research and according to public record the landlord was paid to date. It turns out that 3 months after I moved in, I was served with a notice of default for the LL. He stopped paying his mortgage 3 months before I even signed the lease. Unfortunately there is no way to check on that.

In speaking with my attorney, she said that the tenant has every right to ask to see the LL's most current statement to see if he/she is up to date in their payments.

Until the bank actually owns the property (meaning the foreclosure process is completed), the lease is valid between the LL and tenant because he still "owns" the property.

algia · 08-25-2009, 01:08 PM

Yeah, that happened to us too, we moved out! same thing they stopped paying 2 months before we moved in!!!!
You're lucky if you get your deposit back, we didn't.....

bentlebee · 08-25-2009, 03:37 PM

If you don't pay the LL can go and get a judgment against you because as I stated before "it is non of your business what the LL spend the rent on" which isn't fair in case the LL isn't paying for the property but that is the law. The mortgage is between the LL and the mortgage company and the lease is between the tenant and the LL....if you don't pay and get a judgment against you than your credit score can plunge and you don't want to deal with that....
It is unfair but that is what the law is....

Just today I read an article about credit score changes and that unpaid bills under a $ 100.- won't affect your score if you have been paying on time for all other things...but rent is more than $ 100.- so it will really hurt your score + if you get a judgment it is hard to explain your next LL why and what.

There are also tenants out there who claim they had to move from a foreclosed property while they never paid the rent and damaged the place...I had an application like that and the address the gave me was indeed a foreclosed property. They told me due to the foreclosure I couldn't check with the previous LL....well the public records told a different story and I went to the apartment complex and heard the real story. After I confronted them they told me the apartment complex lied and I got many sob stories...but the court order was very clear why and what was in the judgment...

kamorra2 · 08-25-2009, 03:52 PM

I don't want to negatively impact my credit rating. I suppose if I quit paying the rent, he could evict me and then try to sucker some new chump into renting the place. Then he could take my deposit and the new poor guy's deposit too.

So can I just not pay last month's rent and keep my security deposit? I'm guessing he's not planning to give me that back.