[url=https://www.tinboats.net/forum/viewtopic.php?p=327051#p327051 said:
DMGO » Yesterday, 19:44[/url]"]Listen to this: My daughter (36, married, 3 kids, renting) just called me. She leased a house (2 year lease through a real estate agent) in a really good school district. She's been there over 7 months, paying her rent timely, and rather happy. Today, she finds a note stuck to the front door, saying the house is in forclosure, and must be vacated immediately. So, she calls her landlord, who readily admits that he doesn't own the house, he just makes the HOA payments. He said he would let her out of her lease. What does she do next? Anyone ever hear of nonsense like this? My thoughts are; the bank owns the house, so they can padlock the doors, and confiscate all her stuff. She has no ties to the bank, only the lessor, who doesn't even own the place. HUH?
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I'm just an "armchair lawyer", so take anything I say with a heavy sprinkling of salt.
"She leased a house": Does she still have a copy of the lease? If so, she needs to lawyer up and file fraud charges against this so-called "real estate agent". With a lawyer, she'll be able to find out if he's legitimately acting as the "owner's" agent. If he is legitimate, then the "real estate agent" is off the hook, to a degree.
You say he "just makes the HOA payments". So, how much rent does she pay a month, how much are the HOA payments, and what's he doing with the difference? If he's sending it on to the "owner", (who apparently isn't making the mortgage payments), then I suspect the lawsuit could then extend to them, as the contract was made in good faith on her part, but broken in bad faith on thier part.
I highly doubt that she can file any complaint against the bank, as they most likely aren't in the information loop. (Might be now, but they weren't when all this started.) She does need to have her lawyer contact the bank and advise them as to what's going on, and maybe even open dialogue about taking over the mortgage. (Better yet, renegotiate for a better sale price, as the housing market is still slumped, and from what a "snowbird" friend of mine says, pretty badly in Florida.)
As far as the foreclosure is concerned, that takes quite some time. As the others said, typically six months or longer, so she doesn't need to get out by the end of next week. If she gets a lawyer involved, that might stretch out to a year.
This "note" stuck to her door. Was it a handwritten note, typed, official bank letterhead stationary, legal document, or what? A handwritten note could have been stuck there by anybody, even a (heaven forbid) stalker. Hopefully, she still has this note in her possession.
Either way, she needs to get herself legal counsel that specializes in real estate and leased/rental property.
Good luck.....Roger