Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
We rented a house about four months ago and signed a month to month rental agreement. We found out yesterday that the house has been in foreclosure proceedings since May and was actually sold at auction on 7/25/11. We were never given any notice of this by either our landlord or the new owner. Current owner wants the rent paid on 8/1/11 and she will only accept cash. My question is: If our landlord doesn't own the property anymore, are we under any obligation to pay her the rent on 8/1?
2 Answers from Attorneys
Who would you pay rent to except the owner of the property? Do you feel you can stay there and not pay anyone rent? Why?
In your case, it does not really matter that there was a transfer of ownership of the house via a foreclosure sale versus the more typical voluntary sale. The new owner buys the property subject to your month to month tenancy. If they did not, you would have no legal right to stay there.
As for demanding cash payments, did you have an oral or written agreement as to how payments could be made? The new owner can not change the terms of the rental until after 30 days notice. See if the landlord would accept a transfer from your bank account to her account.
There are limits to demanding that cash be the exclusive form of payment. Typically, landlords cannot demand rent in cash. Civil Code 1947.3(a). The landlord may demand cash for rent payments only if you've attempted to pay by check and the check bounced, but only after giving you written notice that your check bounced and attaching a copy of the bounced check. After that, they can only demand that cash be paid for no more than three months. Good luck.
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