Renting and just got Notice of Default, what to do?
So my fiancée gets home tonight and sees a Notice of Default taped to our front door. Reading through it, the landlord stopped making payments in Sept, so 5 missed payments.
Good thing the one year lease we signed is almost up (end of Feb).
Anybody have any pointers on what to do, legal rights, etc? Or even past experience with this as a renter?
Figure I might need to sit down and talk with a real estate lawyer about our legal rights and what we should do, but figured there has to be some knowledge here
For some more background info, before we signed the lease, we asked if they were planning on selling. Their answer was nope, as they owned this house for over 25yrs and raised their kids in it. Five months into the lease, they offer us first crack to buy it and letting us know they might be putting it on the market. Said no (way to high, no point in buying it and having the cost of ownership be almost twice the rent, gotta love this blog). They ended up then putting a For Sale sign out front about 3.5 months later (2 months after they stopped making payments).
Good thing the one year lease we signed is almost up (end of Feb).
Anybody have any pointers on what to do, legal rights, etc? Or even past experience with this as a renter?
Figure I might need to sit down and talk with a real estate lawyer about our legal rights and what we should do, but figured there has to be some knowledge here
For some more background info, before we signed the lease, we asked if they were planning on selling. Their answer was nope, as they owned this house for over 25yrs and raised their kids in it. Five months into the lease, they offer us first crack to buy it and letting us know they might be putting it on the market. Said no (way to high, no point in buying it and having the cost of ownership be almost twice the rent, gotta love this blog
). They ended up then putting a For Sale sign out front about 3.5 months later (2 months after they stopped making payments).
Comments
Trustee sale comes up, investor buys the house, and wants you to remain a renter at current lease, likewise with some banks that I have seen. This scenario will usually be known to you 1-2 weeks before trustee sale.
Likewise someone buys it and shows up by next morning with a notice of immediate eviction, and offers to throw things gently out the window.
If you follow RCCs advice #2 you are still liable for lease payments up to the date of foreclosure. Can be brought to civil court and all the following consequences to collect it from you.
I see in the Consequences of Default section that without covering the debt in 30days, it may lead to the "publication of a Notice of Trustee's Sale, and the property may be sold at public auction at a date no less than 120 days in the future."
Am I reading that correctly that after the Notice of Trustee's Sale, they are going to put the house up for auction (with nothing else before hand?) at a minimum of 120 days out? When does the forclusure proces start in there.
I'm mostly trying to figure out that we the lease ending in Feb, if we stuck around til then, would it be any issue, or if we leave early once the forclusure process starts and we get notice. But not sure what happens with the foreclosure process and us moving out/kicked out.
- You could try to contact the bank to prenegotiate rent in case they get the property.
- Ask your current landlord about your security deposit. I think they are legally required to put it in a separate account to return to you. If they didn't you might be able to get away with not paying your last month of rent to them. But don't take my word on that.
http://www5.kingcounty.gov/kcgisreports/property_report.aspx
and then go here to search for the Notice of Trustees Sale document:
http://www.metrokc.gov/recelec/records/
Of course, the NTS document will be mailed to your address soon enough.
http://www.washingtonlawhelp.org/WA/sho ... id/1630300
Fact. You LIKE living in the property.
Fact. You signed a lease which has consequences if you breach it.
Fact. The Landlord may exercise his rights to file Bankruptcy. The act will delay the Trustee sale for 3 or 4 months at least.
Fact. The notice of Trustee sale puts the EARLIEST date of sale at 120 days after the notice.
Fact. After the Foreclosure sale occurs you will be given another notice to vacate in 20 days.....or 90 days if you have a valid lease and it extends beyond 90 days.
No need to get excited.
Talk to the Landlord. Ask him what his intentions are. Continue to pay your lease payments. Come to an agreement to recoup your deposit int he future. Take good care of the property.
Don't be part of the problem.
Good luck.
I just reviewed the Dates of the postings on this topic. Have you been living in the house since the Notice was posted in January?
Fill me in on the events that have transpired since. And now you stated that you want to stay another year?
What has happened since the posting?
Even if you're on a month to month tenancy, you apparently have 90 days from the date of the auction. That's federal law. so you're probably good til almost April. From the link I posted above:
""What if I am renting month to month?
If you are renting month to month, or if you began your tenancy with a lease that has expired and you are now renting month to month, the new owner is required to provide you with at least 90 days notice before evicting you. In the circumstance of a foreclosure, this Federal law overrides Washington State law, which allows a landlord to terminate a month to month tenancy with just a 20-day notice."
Landlords stop paying in Sept 08 (we moved in in Feb 08)
Notice of Default Jan 09
Landlord didn't get up to date, auction was schedule for April or May (can't remember)
Each month the auction was delayed
Sept 09 auction was postponed due to Bankruptcy
Not sure what has happened since, but we ended up moving out when our lease was up in Feb. Checking the property records show it is still under the owners name. So 2 years after stoping payments, they still have it...
So we got right as the auction date was set. In the end, we probably could of worked something out with the landlord to cut the rent, but since we were getting married we wanted to just be done with it. Also, they were trying to short sell it that spring, so it wasn't going to be a fun place to live with people coming to take a look.