Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Illegal forclousure

Are you saying, by "illegal forclosure" that you think the bank foreclosed the property without sending you the proper notices? Did you receive a document entitled "Notice of Default and Election to Sell," then later, a "Notice of Trustee's Sale?" Those two documents are the heart of any foreclosure. Regardless of whether you were trying to work things out with Ditech, they still have the right to proceed to foreclose the property and recover their collateral.

The offers of money are what is often referred to as "cash for keys," which means that after a foreclosure, the bank has to give you a notice to quit the property (which it sounds like you received). If you are the homeowner, that notice need only be 30 days. If you were a tenant, it has to be sixty days. Often, real estate companies are authorized by the lender to offer the occupant of the home money to leave before the notice expires - $4,500 to leave by July 15, etc... They do that hoping that, 1. by giving you money, you won't trash the house, and 2. that they won't have to file an eviction lawsuit to get rid of you when you don't leave by the last day of the Notice to Quit. The offers of money don't mean you have to leave early, its just an offer to leave early, and you can refuse it (though why would you?). Take the money and run if the foreclosure was properly completed, and honestly, banks don't often start evicting someone before the property has been legally recovered through foreclosure.

This is all perfectly legitimate assuming the foreclosure was done properly. Before you retain an attorney, you need to go back through your records and look for the Notice of Default and Notice of Trustee's sale. You might also go to the County Recorder's office to find out if those two documents were recorded against your home, and then finally, was a Trustee's Deed after Sale ever recorded, and if so, get a copy. That is the date that the home was foreclosed and owned now by the bank.

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