Portland Metro/Tigard Real Estate News

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Tuesday, December 9, 2008

The REAL Victims

There are those out there getting hit but the housing crisis even though they pay their bill in full each and every month. These victims are called tenants and are getting blind sighted by sudden evictions all across the country. And in a lot of states they have no recourse.

This isn't just apartment buildings either. There are single-family homes that families with small children have been renting for years with no notion that they should be making other plans.

In the majority of cases the lender dealing with the foreclosure is not putting in too much effort to find out who the tenants are so they can be informed. So when the police arrive at their door to get them out, it is the first they have heard about it. Some cities have even suspended tenant evictions because the numbers of victimized tenants was out of control.

There are actually landlords out there who not only did not bother to inform their tenants, but kept collecting rent money after ownership had been transferred to the bank. One owner even had his tenants sign a brand new lease after the foreclosure was final.

Legally this needs to be looked at. This did not used to be an everyday occurrence but now it really needs attention. I personally think it should be up to the owners to inform the tenants that changes are coming. I don't know how this is not already a legal requirement. The lender, as the new owner also has some responsibility since it is now their property but perhaps more as a back up because it's the owner who got the loan they couldn't pay. These tenants should then be over-informed, first by the landlord, then by the new owner.

http://money.cnn.com/2008/12/08/real_estate/tenant_foreclosure_victims/index.htm?postversion=2008120909

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