Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California
I have been renting a room in a home since october 2009. After 2 weeks of living there, I received a notice on the door informing us of a forclosure that would be occuring the following month. I spoke with the landlord and she assured me that the house would not be auctioned off and we would have til our the end of our lease (which was 6 months). Right around the 1st of March, there was a huge leak in the upstairs Master bedroom toilet, which caused flooding upstairs and downstairs. We notified the Landlord and she got a quote. The quote was for approximately $2,000.00. She wrote me an email and said that she would not be fixing it, since the house would be either auctioned off or sold soon and that I and the 2 other remaining tenants could live there rent free. Now it is down to two of us and we found out that the house will be auctioned off September 2, 2010. Ive talked with several realtors and they all say different things. Some say that once that day comes, someone will come and offer us "cash for keys" (up to $5,000.00) to move out within a certain amount of time, and others say a sheriff will come and throw all our stuff on the curb and we will be homeless... So, two days ago, my landlord informs me that since I only rent a room, she will moving some of her stuff in the house and other tenants will be moving in and she can come and go any day of the week at any given time of the day. Her realtor told me that she believes that if she lives there, they cannot forclose on the house. I think she just wants the money, if it does work out that way. She has also been asking me for rent for this last month, even though we had an agreement for no rent. She has given me 4 three-day notices to pay rent or quit. All of them have been for different amounts. I asked her about our agreement and she has come back with several different answers, all of which she denies the agreement that I have from her in writing. I dont know my rights in this case and am looking for a new place to live, but want to know what will happen to my stuff if I am living there on Sept 2 and is she allowed to move in the house and will it stop the forclosure? Thank you.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Nothing will stop the foreclosure short of (1) the owner paying what is owing, (2) getting a loan modification or (3) a short sale being approved. A bankruptcy or loan modification discussions will only slow down a foreclosure, not stop it.
When you moved in, what was the arrangement for rent with your landlord? Can you show that you have been paying fair market value rent each month? Did you pay $2,000 for the plumbing repairs in lieu of rent? If you have been paying rent or instead, you have been paying for the plumbing repairs in lieu of rent, and you can show that you are a tenant, making such payments, if the home is foreclosed, the purchaser will have to give you up to 90 days notice prior to commencing an unlawful detainer against you as a tenant provided that the following three requirements satisfied:
1. The tenant must not be the borrower or related to the borrower as a child, spouse or parent.
2. The lease or tenancy must be the result of an arm's length transaction.
3. The rent must not be substantially less than the fair market rent for the property.
If any of those conditions is not satisfied, you may only receive on 3 to 60-days notice of eviction after foreclosure, that is if they know you are a tenant.
Once the property is foreclosed, the purchaser will have to evict you with an unlawful detainer proceeding if you do not leave voluntarily. You will only have five days to answer that lawsuit once you have been served, so do not sit on your rights. Once you have been served with either a notice to quit or a lawsuit, for legal representation, call Aimee Morris at 619-991-0548.
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