Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

First, if you were in the first house for three years, I am guessing that you were only month-to-month tenants at the time the house was foreclosed, in which case you have no real expectation of remaining in the property for anything more than 60 days. While you lived in the property, and the landlord still owned it - even if he was not paying his mortgage - you still owed the rent you paid. Regardless of whether he paid the mortgage or not, you had the benefit of possession of the home and you paid for it. Again, unless you had a term lease - meaning something more than month-to-month, you really cannot legally have any expectation except that on a sixty day notice, you can be evicted.

Second, with the next house, there are many factors that go into whether the landlord took advantage of you or not. First, if you again had a month-to-month lease, or worse, no written lease, then you again have no right to expect that you get to stay in the house (in this case because you have lived there less than a year) for more than 30 days at a time. If you had a term lease, then that is a different story, and you can search this forum for descriptions of what happens when a landlord loses a home in foreclosure but has a tenant on a term lease. So, what happens now? It sounds as if the bank has foreclosed and taken the house back. The notice you received is a notice to vacate the property, and is giving you 90 days to do so. Most likely, the bank will not try to collect rent from you during that time, so you will actually be benefited by having a place to live possibly for free. Even if they charge you rent, you are able to remain in the property longer than if you had been given a 30 day notice as a month-to-month tenant. Further, banks sometimes will offer "cash for keys" in which they will pay you to get out of the house before the 90 days are up. If you can move that soon, it is a good way to cover your moving costs. Again, the landlord probably should have disclosed the fact that the house was in foreclosure, or was actually foreclosed, but it is probably going to be very hard to track him down, sue him for that and return of your security deposit - if he hasn't been making the mortgage payment, he probably doesn't have much in the way of assets to satisfy a judgment.

It is really hard to answer the question "How could this happen." except to say that in a perfect world, you would rent through a reputable property management company which should minimize the chance of this happening. You can also do some research - you can have a friend in real estate check public title records to see if the house you are considering renting is in foreclosure, but even that is not a guarantee. Finally, if you find a place you can afford, and want to be in for a long time, get a written, term lease of six month or a year. I do wish you the best of luck - I've had a few prospective clients recently who were stung more than once by landlords in foreclosure.

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