Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: homestead statue of limitation

Your question is a little hard to understand, maybe because the facts are stated very briefly and refer to some unrelated legal concepts, but I'll try to figure out what happened and what you want to know.

Here's what I'm assuming: You were a tenant in a house which you were renting or leasing. The owner defaulted on his loan, and the lender foreclosed and the house was purchased at the foreclosure sale by the lender or current note holder. Six months have gone by, and you are still in possession of the house.

If all that is correct, what I still don't know is (1) whether the new owner ("bank") has contacted you about moving out or paying rent, (2) if so, are you paying rent, and (3) if not, have you made any attempt to contact the new owner to make some kind of arrangement with it?

The concept of "homestead" does not apply to this situation. It was once possible to homestead farmland owned by the government by living on it and tilling the soil for a period of years. More recently, "homestead" refers to rights in a home that an owner can assert against someone trying to collect a judgment or other lien. Neither concept has any bearing on your situation as a former tenant now perhaps unlawfully in possession of a house you never owned.

You are probably thinking of "adverse possession" or as it is sometimes known, "squatters' rights."

In California, someone can effectively gain title to real property by possession which is adverse to the interest of the prior owner for a continuous period of at least five years. The adverse possessor must pay all the property taxes during the five-year period. This law is a statute of limitations, since after five years the now-former owner cannot maintain a suit to recover possession.

In your case, you probably aren't paying the property taxes and perhaps cannot pay them, because the "bank" is now the assessee and the tax collector probably would refuse to accept payments from anyone else.

The bank could also halt the running of the five-year period at any time in the future by simply giving you a letter of permission to stay there as their custodian; that would render your possession non-adverse; or they could bring an unlawful detainer suit at any time within the five-year period.

So, the long and the short of it is that your chances of acquiring any rights under any statute of limitations are very, very slim.

Re: homestead statue of limitation

You're still there because the foreclosing lender hasn't bothered to kick you out yet. They will. For the time being, they must think you'll take better care of the house than if it is empty. Homestead exemption and statute of limitations have nothing to do with this.