Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Re: illigal florcloser

The landlord is not actually required to notify tenants that he is in foreclosure. There are a few very minor changes to the law to address this phenomena of landlords losing property in foreclosures, but it only protects you as a tenant from the foreclosing bank being able to throw you out immediately. The banks (or whomever bought the property at foreclosure) is required to give you sixty days notice that you must leave, and you must leave within that sixty days or you will be evicted. While the landlord still legally owned the property (even though s/he was losing it in foreclosure) you had an obligation to pay rent. The landlord doesn't owe you rent back for the time you were in the property, unless you had a lease with a remaining term that extended beyond the date of foreclosure.

What do you do? The best advice is to prepare to leave and be out by the time the notice from the bank expires. They may not give you the notice right way, but be prepared that at the end of sixty days you'll most likely have to leave. In the interim, send a letter to the landlord and "remind" him that he still has your security deposit, and is required to return it in full within 21 days of the sale of the property at foreclosure. In a normal situation, the landlord could deduct from the deposit for damages you may have caused to the property. Since he no longer owns it, I believe there is a good argument that he cannot deduct, so he owes you the whole deposit. If you don't receive it within 21 days, sue him in small claims court. Sorry to hear of this, but good luck.

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