Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Unfortunately, yes. That's between him and the bank so you should continue paying him rent. However, after the house has been sold at foreclosure, then no, you are no longer obligated to pay him rent. Of course, if you have a month-to-month lease, you may be able to move anyway before then. In any event, under the law protecting renters, if you have a lease you cannot be forced to move until the end of the lease or 90 days, whichever is later. If you have a month-to-month then you get 90 days to move out.

Larry L. Doan, Esq.

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This is a very unfortunate and increasingly common situation. I am very sorry to hear about yet another tenant having this experience.

Assuming the mortgage is older than your lease, foreclosure of the mortgage will wipe out (terminate) your lease and the successful bidder will have the right to evict you if you do not leave voluntarily. You have the right, after the foreclosure, to move out with no further obligation under the lease.

However, typically the lender is the winning bidder at the foreclosure sale and is happy to have somebody paying rent and taking care of the place while the lender figures out when and how to market the property for sale. You might even be able to negotiate reduced rent (50% reduction is common) in exchange for your agreements to keep the property neat and clean and allow real estate agents to show the house.

If you are one of the unlucky ones and the foreclosure sale purchaser wants you out, you must be given at least 30 days notice before the eviction lawsuit can be filed. If you receive only a 3-day notice, this can be a defense to the eviction lawsuit and they will have to start over with a 30-day notice. If you are evicted, you have a claim against your former landlord for breach of the covenant of quiet enjoyment under the lease, among other things. It was the landlord's obligation to keep paying the mortgage so that your possession would not be disturbed.

In the meantime, however, if you stop paying the rent, the landlord does have the right to bring an eviction action against you after giving you a short notice. Whether the landlord will actually do that or not depends on the resources of the landlord and the time remaining before the foreclosure sale.

Sorry, Nina, I disagree. President Obama signed into law SB. 896, the `Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009' on May 20, 2009, effective on that date. Tenants with leases, no matter where they are in the U.S., are allowed to live in the houses until the end of the lease, or 90 days notice, whichever is later. If state laws give them better protection than this, then state law preempts, but this federal law is the minimum protection.