Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

In what way do you feel any rent was improperly collected? If you had known before of the possibility of a foreclosure sale occurring would you have moved to another rental and would that rental, if the same as your current one, rent for less money? So your only damage is the moving expense, but that wolud have occurred if you had been given a 30/60 day notice that the month to month rental was not being renewed. Since you stayed in the unit, obviously someone is entitled to rent; the owner still owns the unit until a foreclosure sale actually occurs.

If the sale goes through, the purchaser, which undoubtedly will be the lender on the first deed of trust, steps into the shoes of the former owner and can renewal the lease with you or not. Most lender want the house vacate, so they will probaly will give you a 60 day notice shortly after the sale is completed. You may have to worry as to whether the former owner is going to turn over the security deposit to the lender or not. If not, try to go the former owner and the lender to see what they are willing to tell you about what is going on and what will occur .

One correction to Mr. Shers email. If you are a bona-fide tenant (have or had a lease, pay something close to market rent, and are not in any way related to the former owner), then a new federal law requires the person or bank acquiring the home at the foreclosure sale to give you 90 days notice to leave the property - even on a month-to-month lease. Many lenders will give you the 90 day notice, then offer a "cash for keys" deal to get you out sooner.

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I agree with Mr. Shers.....Mr. Gibbs' added information about the new Federal law is correct but doesn't fit your situation because you are a month-to-month tenant, not a lessee.

As to improperly-collected rent, there is a law that requires landlords, under certain limited circumstances, to apply rent collected to payment of their mortgages rather than pocket it. The law is part of a more general statute about so-called "rent skimming" and can be found in the Civil Code, sections 890 through 893 -- look in particular at 890(a)(1). It only applies to what the owner/landlord does in the first year he's owned the property, however, which might or might not apply to some or all of the rent he's collected from you in the past.

The remedy for rent skimming may also benefit an affected tenant. See 891(d).

You are not entitled to return of any rent collected, as that money belongs to the bank, not you. The notice you are entitled to is 60 days, not 90, not 30, not 3. As you are getting 60 days notice, the same you would get if the landlord evicted you, your damages are probably non-existent. You do not have a case.