Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Leased and paid in advance now its in forcloursure

Due to the passage of time you probably already know what the bank can do in three days. Hopefully you have been allowed to remain as a tenant while the bank and the "landlord" hash out the foreclosure, or afterwards pending the bank finding a new owner/occupant.

It is unlawful in California for landlords to collect what amounts to additional security in the form of deposits, advance rent payments or whatever. Two months max. for unfurnished, plus periodic rent in advance.

You may have been the victim of a scam known as rent skimming. The scamsters make tiny down-payments on income properties, then rent them to tenants who don't have many choices because of pets, lots of kids, bad credit, etc.; they demand rent advances and big deposits, then they default on their mortgages and disappear with the tenant's deposits and advance rental payments. There are some variations on the theme, like where the landlord is stuck with a bad property and plans to abandon it anyway, but skims off the rental "cream" first.

Rent skimming is a fraud, and if conducted on a large scale is a crime (Civil Code sections 890-894). The bank may also be a victim here. You might want to talk to the bank's fraud investigators or to your local District Attorney's white collar crime investigation staff.

Good luck.