Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New York

Re: foreclosure eviction

You have a problem. If there is a squatter in the house, you will need to evict him. It's tricky. You said you purchased at the auction, so, presumably, you are taking a referee's deed in foreclosure. You will need to have a process server go to the house to exhibit the referee's deed AND to read the portion of the foreclosure decree that says the purchaser is to be let into possession upon doing so. Then you'll go back to court and get a writ of assistance. The whole process can take more than a year and cost more than $25,000 in legal fees.

On the other hand, if you purchased the property from the bank after the foreclosure, then your contract should call for tenant-free occupancy at closing and you do not close with the squatter in there.

You should have an attorney to do this. You should already have an attorney and that attorney should be answering these questions. If you don't then you have put yourself at risk and you'll end up paying more to fix it. Good luck.

This post is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. It is a comment on the legal question posed by the poster and should not be relied upon unless and until an attorney-client relationship is entered into. Doing so would require signing an engagement letter and depositing a retainer to secure payment of legal fees.

Re: foreclosure eviction

Offer him money to vacate. Less expensive/quicker than going the squatter eviction route. He gets out now w/ say $5-10k or he gets out "eventually" anyway, with nothing.