Dear Tom and Dan,
I wanted to write to you to let you know that you may be contacted about your home being under foreclosure. I am working to resolve this situation and I will keep you apprised of events.
Signed,
$landlord
I can’t say that this comes as too much of a surprise. There had been indications of difficulties over the last two months, so we were prepared for this eventuality. The good news is that, depending on where things are in the foreclosure process, we have between four and eleven months before we have to move. We had planned on moving out and buying a home when our lease was up in January, anyway, so this actually isn’t too much of a hardship.
Yeah. Interesting times ahead.
Well, at least he bothered to inform you. There have been a large number of LL’s who didn’t.
See my reply below. Sometimes the landlord isn’t at fault.
Whenever the first a tenent learns of the problem, is the sherrif showing up to evict you, it *is* the LL’s fault. And this isn’t new to the current recession. It has gone on forever.
Like I said, It is good that the LL bothered to let them know.
It is fortunate for you that they were able to give you notice. Although landlords are required by law to give a certain amount of notice for eviction, there have been cases where a leinholder foreclosed on a rental property and tried to evict the tenants on much shorter notice than a regular landlord would be allowed to by law. I don’t know if the courts would agree with me but I should think that, once a leinholder seizes the property, they in effect become the landlord and would be subject to the same laws as any other landlord.
Fortunately, in the state of Illinois a law went into effect in January 2008 which grants tenants who are current with their rent 120 days from the time that the bank enters an order of possession. This follows the 3-month Reinstatement Period (in which the property owner attempts to settle all past due amounts) and the 4 month Redemption Period (in which the property owner attempts to pay the off the entire loan). Now you see why I say, depending on where we are in the process, we have between four and eleven months. And really, we may have longer than that – the landlord may have contacted us before the Reinstatement period began (though I doubt that).
Oh, my! I hope that all goes well with this! At least you have some advance warning…
At least he was kind enough to contact you about it. I’ve seen enough on the news where the first contact came from the police when they came to actually clean out the house.
If the bank gets the building back, wouldn’t they just rent it out to you directly through them? It’d make far less sense for them to kick everyone out and have a building that’s bringing in no money at all. Of course looking at the current banking stupidity, I don’t know why I’m expecting them to make sense.
The bank could continue to collect rent, though they’re far more likely to simply put it on the market, along with the 6-8 other townhouses in our development that are already foreclosed and on the market…
Time to start the home purchase moving. Adn you know, you may be able to buy where you live now, either by negotiating with the owner or pickign it up at an auction.
Between the high HOA fees, cramped quarters, and shoddy construction, the price would need to be pretty low for us to consider buying the place. And while my 10-minute commute is lovely, Dan’s 50-minute-each-way commute is kind of painful. Maving somewhere closer to halfway between where we both work would be optimal.
Run run run from condos in this economy. Our HOA fee on ours have ballooned, and yet our property is falling into disrepair between foreclosures, owners who rent theirs and mysteriously quit paying HOA fees, and people losing their jobs and not paying their fees– and our property was in the midst of being about 15 years overdue for renovation before everything went south. And due to the state of the property and the high HOA, people here can’t sell. If you guys do look at condos or townhomes, make sure your realtor does what they can to get you info on the financial status and track record of the HOA.
Good luck! Moving is rough, especially when the timing isn’t of your choosing. Hope it all works out well.
Dang… But yeah, thank god you actually got notified!
Oof! Well, kind of nasty, but as you say, could be a LOT worse.
erf *hugs n pets*
You know
There’s that constant part of me that wants to say, up front, this is for the best, there are tax breaks to moving now, the market’s down, so you can get more for your money, DaveQat calls your neighborhood “Stepford” and not without reason, yadda yadda yadda.
But this is the kind of drama I just don’t want anything to do with. Not ever. Either side. I’m sorry you have to deal with it. As much as you must feel bad, thinking of that poor landlord, with whom you’re on a first-name basis having to write such a thing must be humiliating for him, and awkward for you folks.
I’m so sorry. Y’all are gonna be fine, but what an awful thing to get in the mail.
Same boat here, our place has been in the process of foreclosure for a while. The landlord notified us and we were given a very detailed and generous timeline, and steps have even been taken to ensure the deposit is returned. Seems to be happening quite a bit, and with far less communication to tenants, so I guess we can count ourselves fortunate for courteous landlords. You guys’ll find something. :3
If you want an extra pair(s) of eyes while you’re shopping, you know where to find us! And of course, we’ll help you move. We will miss having you guys so close though. 😀