Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois
Good afternoon,
My 80 year old mother has been living in the same apt for the past 43yrs. SHe has had the same landlord for the past 10 years.
This past weekend, she received a "hand written" notice from a real estate agent that was slid under her door stating that the building was sold at a public auction in August and he was there to help relocate.
I have a couple of questions
1. Wouldn't the new owner and/or their attorney be the ones initiating contact with the tenants regarding the status and of possible evictions? Why would a real estate agent just write a hand written note to slide under the door? My opinion is he is trying to make extra money off the 4 tenants.
2. The prior owner of the building continued to take my mothers rent up until this past month, and he would not have had to pay mortgage for quite a few months prior to August before they would even consider foreclosure. Is this legal? He was stealing the money, correct?
Thoughts?
Lori
3 Answers from Attorneys
1) Not necessarily. You did not provide any information concerning charges for his services, so it is impossible to say that he is trying to make extra money off of the four tenants.
2) There is no crime in what he did if that is what you are asking. His obligation is civil in nature and to the mortgage company. He has the right to obtain the rents as long as he has legal ownership unless the mortgage company uses its assignement of rents rights.
The buyer has to give proper notice prior to eviction. There is a federal statute on this. The landlord owned the building until the date of sale. There may be an issue as to whom rents were owed, but no the fact that they were owed by your mom.
It is unfortunate that your mom will be losing her home of 43 years, but that is the pron\blem with renting. You should contact you local council on aging for additional help.
Anything is possible including the fact the broker is not adept at how to handle this kind of situation. You need to gather information from the landlord as to who the buyer was and from the broker as to what the situation is and what the buyer's intentions are with the property. Double check your mom's mail to see whether she received other notices of any kind. But generally this is not the way to do things and may just be the broker scamming too. You may need an attorney to help out here.
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