The Concierge Service Team

Hello,

I wrote a bit about this situation on my blog a few months ago when a new law took effect giving tenants a little more protection.

Here is the link: http://havasuhometalk.com/?s=tenant

The text of this blog post says:

"S. 896, the “Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009″, which became law on May 20, 2009, included provisions to protect tenants from eviction as a consequence of a foreclosure affecting the property being rented. Many examples were seen of families living in rental housing throughout the United States who were evicted without any prior notice when the home where they had lived was foreclosed upon. Much of the time, the rental family had no idea the home was in delinquency or subject to foreclosure until their eviction. The new law requires tenants be given 90-days notice prior to having to vacate, and allows them to stay through the remainder of their lease, if the home will continue to be a rental property."

A statute outlaying the timeline for foreclosure in the state of Arizona mandates at least a 90 day redemption period from the date of when a Notice of Intent to Foreclose and the actual Trustee sale takes place. Property owners can work out many different ways to redeem the loan during that time - whether it be through repayment of the missed payments, modification of the loan, or some type of agreement between the bank and the owner.

Many of the banks have so much happening right now that "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing" - so if your landlord has told you that he or she is attempting to modify the loan, this could very well be the case; however, the foreclosure department of their mortgage company might not be in close communication with the loan modification department so the notice may have been recorded in spite of the fact that your landlord is trying to work something out with them.

Sometimes loan modifications don't happen until the 11th hour, so you may not hear until very near to the Trustee Sale date whether or not the modification has gone through. I recommend staying in close communication with your landlord.

Since I'm not a lawyer, I don't know exactly the procedure for implementing the provisions of the "Helping Families Save Homes Act". I highly recommend seeking professional legal counsel to advise you on what steps you should take next. Have you ever heard of Pre-Paid Legal services? I have been a member of that for a year or so and have called them with a lot of different questions and always gotten really good advice. It's a very minimal cost per month at about 30 dollars per month - way cheaper than it would be to talk to a lawyer for just one incident. If you would like me to give you the information to connect with Pre-Paid Legal, please let me know.

You definitely have at least until the Trustee Sale date to continue occupying the property. You are responsible for rent for any period that you occupy a home - so I would not stop paying the rent.

If you have any other questions, please don't hesitate to call us!

Dominic Labriola - Associate Broker/ Team Director
The Concierge Service Team
Selman & Associates
928-854-5511
Dominic@TCSTnow.com http://www.Havasu-Real-Estate.com - Tue Dec 1 2009, 09:41