Posted by MistarellaFL on 9/8/09 10:53am
Msg #303134

Real question re: renters and foreclosures

Maybe I am using the wrong search terms, but I didn't find anything useful in the archives.

Real scenario:
My daughter recently rented a house, paid the first month and equal security deposit on 8/5/09.
She paid the FPL deposit, too.
9/1/09 she comes home to find electric off...calls FPL, they accuse her of being the same person in the house for last 2 years, or a shill for the owner and they say no electric has been paid on this house in 2 years.
Next, she meets 2 bank (lender) employees, who tell her she rented a place from someone who doesn't own the house...he was foreclosed upon 3 + months earlier! They gave her 2 weeks to move.
FPL tells her to fax her lease for a refund, less the 4 weeks she lived there.
My question is this:
Does she have any legal recourse other than small claims (to retrieve some or all of the funds she gave the former owner)?
Her friends say there is an agency who will help her, but I can't find anything on google.

Reply by 101livescan on 9/8/09 11:05am
Msg #303135

Renters have rights, well, in CA, when they rent from a party who has been in foreclosure. Department of Fair Housing is a good place to begin. If she holds over, the lender can begin eviction proceedings. Lots of luck getting anything from a small claims action. The guy she paid has already spent it, the bank has no liability whatsoever. Where was the rental located? Is she a single mom, there is always legal aide, they give some counseling, then refer you to an attorney who has an hourglass to measure "legal fees".

Reply by MistarellaFL on 9/8/09 11:18am
Msg #303138

The biggest problem is that the police, the lender, the electric ALL say she is a squatter at this point....she won't be evicted, as she did not have a lease with the real owner (bank).
The cops say the lender has every right to put her out on the street at a moment's notice.
It looks like I have some researching to do locally.

Reply by Shoshana/AZ on 9/8/09 12:04pm
Msg #303147

Try your county DA or the State Attorney General. Which one of your local TV stations deals with consumer fraud? That might help too.
Sorry to hear about this situation.

Reply by MistarellaFL on 9/8/09 12:22pm
Msg #303152

Thanks all for the leads

My brain must have went to mush for a few hours.
Cells have decided to resume communication.
Thanks all!

Reply by jba/fl on 9/8/09 1:06pm
Msg #303157

That is the classic deer-in-headlights moment

You were just too stunned to respond. Common response upon bad news.

Hope something better will find its way to your world. . . So sorry this happened. She in your area?

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 9/8/09 12:13pm
Msg #303150

Misty....

try "foreclosure home rental scam" - there's a bunch of links there...apparently they're called "foreclosure skimmers"...here's the first story

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june09/foreclosure_03-23.html

So sorry she got taken...hope she can square this away..

Reply by MW/VA on 9/8/09 1:30pm
Msg #303162

I'm really sorry to hear she got caught up in a scam. Why not P/M PAW?
He might have a suggestion.

Reply by JanetK_CA on 9/8/09 3:00pm
Msg #303170

Bottom feeders strike again!! :-(

So sorry to hear about your daughter's experience. It just amazes me how cold and ruthless some people can be. I hope she's able to find a good resolution to the situation.

Reply by MonicaFL on 9/8/09 3:30pm
Msg #303176

This has happened several times in Orlando. I have seen it on WESH 2. You might give them a call as see what thereporter found out.

Reply by Cambeth/FL on 9/8/09 4:01pm
Msg #303179

Florida Dept. of Ag for Rent and Lease Regulation

Check with the Florida Dept. of Agriculture, they over see rent and lease regulation in Florida. They have a very good fraud unit that may be able to follow up with the daughter.

Reply by John Schenk on 9/8/09 8:40pm
Msg #303205

Glad she didn't have a Contract for Deed...

There's a lot of folks out there that dealt in realty that are filing bankruptcy that had a bunch of properties financed and sold them to a prospective buyer on a Contract for Deed, which never gets recorded (although legitimate ones do), and they have a little clause in there that the seller can mortgage the property during the pendency of the payment for the Contract for Deed to the buyer. The supposed BUYER is holding a piece of paper subservient to the bank, and they have allowed some joker to sell them a house on a Contract for Deed, pay a down payment, been making their monthly mortgage payments, paying insurance and property taxes on the property, and then the seller goes belly up and files bankruptcy. What can that buyer under the Contract for Deed do? As I have seen, and all as a laymen of course....NOTHING! NADA! They are squatters, as far as the bank is concerned, and they can, will be, and do get evicted. It's basically a fraud that the buyer legalized by contract, in my lay opinion, and they walk away with nothing, unless the lender agrees to honor the Contract for Deed and let them retain the property, finance it, and let them pay it out. I just arranged that on a guy that did what I'm describing here on, so far, 38 out of 52 properties finalized, and 6 more properties I'm just waiting for them bank to send the Quit Claim Deeds on so they can also actually give the buyers under the Contracts for Deed better terms than they had before.

Sometimes these don't work out, but just a different twist to add to the thread regarding whether it's a buyer under a Contract for Deed getting kicked out vs a Renter.

A Renter has expectations to continue to live within a property for the term of the lease. A Buyer under a Contract for Deed Believes they are actually buying that property, and as long as they pay the mortgage, taxes and insurance that they are totally safe, which is not necessarily the case at all. Just because they pay the seller doesn't mean the seller is paying the bank. People get ripped every day on these kinds of deals.

Glad she wasn't buying the property. Hope they can find the most favorable way out of the situation.

JJ

Reply by John Schenk on 9/8/09 8:42pm
Msg #303206

BTW...NOT legal advice, yada yada n/m

Reply by CH2inCA on 9/8/09 10:31pm
Msg #303214

GRRR don't you just want to get a name and beat the sh** out

of someone?!!!

And no that's not legal advice either.

sorry, I'm having a bad hair day...