Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

It would help a lot in providing a good answer if we knew if this was a first, second mortgage or what, is there a provision for collecting rents in your mortgage, are their other siblings, what are the other lienholders doing, probate been filed for, why have you waited a year, who is being paid the $600 and who is living at the property, etc. Without this information I can not tell if you are entitled to collect the rents. You can foreclose, but if there are senior loans they get first crack at the money produced.

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Mr. Shers would be hard pressed to provide more mis-information in such a short answer. It makes no difference what position your lien is in. All that matters is the terms of the lien. Is it a judgment lien? A mortgage? That is what matters and the absence of that information makes it hard to answer your question. Likewise it makes no difference what other lien holders are doing, or even if there are any, unless one of them has opened a probate case. Other siblings? Who cares? Creditors come ahead of heirs no matter how many and what degree of consanguinity. All that matters is does your lien have an assignment of rents clause. If it does, you can go to the tenant and collect the rents directly. If it does not, you have no right to the rents. That's all there is to it. Be careful, though, collecting the rents may be considered one form of action and it could open you up to the estate disputing your right to foreclose later. Also, ignore Mr. Shers' absolutely incorrect statement that senior loans get "first crack" at the money produced by a foreclosure. That is only true if the property is sold to satisfy a judgment lien under a writ of excution. If you have a deed of trust or other mortgage instrument securing a debt, senior lien holders don't get anything unless they foreclose themselves (which you would have to watch out for if you foreclose). Mr. Shers' incorrect advice aside, however, what really needs to be done here is a probate needs to be opened and an administrator appointed to take over control of the property, collect the rents, pay creditors and presumably sell the property to pay off the lien(s) and distribute anything left to the proper heirs. Anyone can open a probate and ask to be appointed administrator. There does not have to be a will (in fact technically if there is a will you appoint an executor, not an administrator), and the person who opens the probate and is appointed administrator need not be in any way related to the deceased. As for your closing question, the answer is "no." Unless he was appointed administrator of the estate, he has no right to do anything with the property or rents. An administrator would have the power to have him hauled into court and ordered to repay the money he collected, or if he is an actual proper heir, then to have his share of the estate charged with the money he took, usually along with fines and penalties.