Those individuals who rent homes can potentially become involved in foreclosure proceedings where that home goes into foreclosure. Approximately 34 million families rent homes today in the United States. A 2010 study performed by the National Low Income Housing Coalition revealed that approximately 40% of the families facing eviction due to foreclosures were tenants, and not the owners of the property. A tenant’s ability to pay rent – and pay it on time – is not a defense when the house is foreclosed upon by the financial institution.
Federal Laws Protecting Tenants
One federal law protects any tenants who reside in homes that are foreclosed on. The statute requires financial institutions to give tenants 90 days notice prior to taking action to evict tenants from foreclosed properties, and also allows tenants who are up to date on their rent to stay in the property until the end of their lease.
Very Little Protection for Tenants
Tenants are forced to confront two problems when they reside in a home that goes into foreclosure. In situations where the home is foreclosed upon by the financial institution, the landlords simply sometimes skip town, leaving the homeowner without anyone responsible for making repairs and maintaining the residence. A second issue confronted by tenants is that landlords sometimes stop making payments on the premises to the financial institutions while still collecting rent. In these situations, the tenants have no idea that the home they are renting is going to be foreclosed on. Overall, there is very little tenants can do to protect themselves from a landlord who stops making mortgage payments causing the property they reside in to end up in foreclosure.
The Law Offices of Schlissel DeCorpo can help you should your home go into foreclosure. We have extensive experience in defending foreclosure lawsuits throughout the New York metropolitan area. We attend foreclosure court conferences for the clients we represent and provide our clients with all of their foreclosure options at the initial consultation. We vigorously defend foreclosure lawsuits submitting defenses involving defective mortgages, defective foreclosure lawsuits, predatory lending, and other real estate related defenses.
Our law firm has also developed an expertise in bankruptcies that are utilized to defend foreclosure proceedings. Filing a Chapter 7 or Chapter 13 bankruptcy not only can stop foreclosures from moving forward, but they can also be utilized to stop debt collection activity and eliminate second mortgages.
Call us for a free consultation. This is the Elliot Schlissel foreclosure defense in NY blog.
