Tenant rights during short sale? (moved from Los Angeles forum) (tenants, accepted)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Would love your thoughts/advice on this situation:
1) Husband and I entered into a 2-year lease on a house in Encino, CA in Dec 2008.
2) The landlords moved into a rental home in Calabasas, CA (better schools than in Encino).
3) In January, the landlords told us that one of them had been laid off and were putting the Encino home up for a short sale.
4) Before they could officially put the house up for short sale, they offered to 'ease our pain' with a decrease in rent by $400 for the term of the lease. We accepted.
5) Traipsing in and out of the house constantly, no notice of when people are coming or not. This isn't fun when you are trying to get out of the shower in the morning.
6) March 09, existing landlord said they have a couple of offers on the house which could take several months for closing. They mentioned that they know they owe us our $3500 deposit and promised that we will get it when we move out.
Questions for you:
a) Do you think the landlord knew they would go into short sale soon after we signed the lease? Too weird that we weren't in the house a month before they did the short sale. If so, what is the strategy behind it?
b) Who owes us the deposit if we have to move out?
c) Do we have to move out?
d) What can we request for the new or existing landlord if we move? Moving costs? Any other costs?
e) If the closing happens, how will we affected during the exchange of hands from old to new landlord, our lease, etc?
f) MOST IMPORTANTLY, What should we put in writing that will protect us? And who should we be dealing with in terms of those written protections - new or old landlord?
a) Considering 500,000 people were laid off in January and 650,000 in Feb it is very possible they were one the many who lost their jobs. It is not uncommon for people to get laid off after the holidays as many employers don't want to ruin peoples holidays by laying them off before Christmas.
b) the landlord owes you your deposit
c) You sound like you already agreed to move out by taking the $400 rent discount in exchange.
d) If someone buys the house as a rental they may choose to take you on as tenants and inherit the lease. If the person who buys the house wants to live there, then you need to figure out what your state laws/lease agreement say about breaking the lease.
I think the big issue here is that it seems you agreed to some modification of your lease when you accepted the lower rent payment in exchange for your pain. If the house is bought by an investor, then it's a no brainer to inherit the lease that you have. If the house is not bought by an investor, then you have a mess about whether or not you agreed to break your two year lease with the reduced payment.
Good points, thanks. FYI, The rent modification of the lease was for the remainder of the lease, Dec 2010. Looking at this addendum, it says nothing about lease termination or even anything about the impending sale of the property. The 'pain' discussion was an oral conversation.
Questions for you:
a) Do you think the landlord knew they would go into short sale soon after we signed the lease? Too weird that we weren't in the house a month before they did the short sale. If so, what is the strategy behind it?
b) Who owes us the deposit if we have to move out?
c) Do we have to move out?
d) What can we request for the new or existing landlord if we move? Moving costs? Any other costs?
e) If the closing happens, how will we affected during the exchange of hands from old to new landlord, our lease, etc?
f) MOST IMPORTANTLY, What should we put in writing that will protect us? And who should we be dealing with in terms of those written protections - new or old landlord?
Thanks in advance!
It kind of seems like they knew they were going to do this when they leased the place to you.
I would call around and find a local "Tenant Rights" organization. I'm sure they will be able to answer these questions for you. Tenant rights vary so much from place to place that you really need to get the info directly from a group in your area. Good luck to you - I hope you do get you damage deposit returned. I would definitely get the current landlord to put in writing (although it should be in your lease) that they will return your deposit.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
