Can You Refuse to Pay Rent to a Buyer After a Foreclosure Sale

My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: CA

I have been renting a home in CA and the owner just got foreclosed on. My lease, which was signed before the foreclosure, is until March, 2017. B of A owns the property. I got a notice from a law office stating that I could continue paying the rent to the new owner (B of A as far as I know). I contacted my own lawyer who seems to think I could stay in the house longer and not pay any rent if I hire him. He says nothing will go on my record/credit. Don't know what to do. Any thoughts?

Regards

Where did you find that lawyer? Wherever it was, find your next lawyer somewhere else.

If you fail to pay rent, the new owner can evict you. If you do not succeed in defending against the eviction suit within 60 days after it is filed -- and if you're not paying rent, you won't prevail -- the eviction case will become a matter of public record. You can expect it to appear on your credit report, and to make it difficult for you to again rent premises.

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Quoting blackjack21

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My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: CA

I have been renting a home in CA and the owner just got foreclosed on. My lease, which was signed before the foreclosure, is until March, 2017. B of A owns the property. I got a notice from a law office stating that I could continue paying the rent to the new owner (B of A as far as I know). I contacted my own lawyer who seems to think I could stay in the house longer and not pay any rent if I hire him. He says nothing will go on my record/credit. Don't know what to do. Any thoughts?

Regards

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I believe that the attorney's advice is based on the fact that many banks have not been actively taking possession of foreclosed homes for long periods of time. However, I do believe that the habit of not taking active possession quickly is less prevalent than it was a couple of years ago. Therefore, that is very risky advice.

The bank might ignore the property, like many banks have, but the bank might also do exactly what Mr. KIA said that the bank would do. The fact that there is an attorney involved who has instructed you that you can continue to live in the house and pay rent to the new owner tends to indicate that Mr. KIA's position is the more likely one.

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Quoting blackjack21

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My question involves landlord-tenant law in the State of: CA

I have been renting a home in CA and the owner just got foreclosed on. My lease, which was signed before the foreclosure, is until March, 2017. B of A owns the property. I got a notice from a law office stating that I could continue paying the rent to the new owner (B of A as far as I know). I contacted my own lawyer who seems to think I could stay in the house longer and not pay any rent if I hire him. He says nothing will go on my record/credit. Don't know what to do. Any thoughts?

Regards

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I agree with the other responses. There is no longer any federal protection for tenants when a property is foreclosed.

Leases are extinguished by foreclosure and you become a holdover tenant subject to eviction if you don't leave or pay rent now that you have been asked.

Pay if you want to stay.

Don't pay if you don't mind an eviction on your credit report.

There is however California protection. CCP 1161b gives you 90 days if you had a month to month lease or to the end of the lease term otherwise.

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Quoting flyingron

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There is however California protection. CCP 1161b gives you 90 days if you had a month to month lease or to the end of the lease term otherwise.

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Not in CCP 1161 and nothing about giving the tenant 90 days in there.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/di...ile=1159-1179a

I think you mean the Civil Code Section 2924.8 which does allow for the 90 days notice provided that the tenant continues to "rent" the place, meaning pay rent, not live there for free. The 90 day requirement doesn't apply if the new owner is going to occupy the dwelling as his primary residence but the statute is silent on the notice period when that occurs.

http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/cgi-bin/di...e=2920-2944.10

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Quoting adjusterjack

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Not in CCP 1161 and nothing about giving the tenant 90 days in there.
I think you mean the Civil Code Section 2924.8

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No I meant what I explicitly wrote. It's in 1161b, which is a DISTINCT section of the civil code form 1161 (or any part within it).

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Quoting flyingron

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No I meant what I explicitly wrote. It's in 1161b, which is a DISTINCT section of the civil code form 1161 (or any part within it).

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You're right. My bad. I didn't scroll down far enough.

However, the fact remains that the tenant must pay rent if he expect to stay and there appears to be some procedural stuff in 1161c that can trip him up if he doesn't pay attention to it.

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Quoting flyingron

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No I meant what I explicitly wrote. It's in 1161b, which is a DISTINCT section of the civil code form 1161 (or any part within it).

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You are correct that CCP § 1161b does require that the new owner after a foreclosure must give an existing tenant at least 90 days notice of termination of the lease and gives the tenant on a fixed term lease the right to continue the lease through the end of the lease term. But the tenant still must pay rent to avoid eviction earlier. This section does not allow a tenant to reside there rent free for any period of time. The section Jack quoted from CC § 2924.8 is the notice to the tenant that must be given at the start of foreclosure that briefly the rights the tenant has under CCP § 1161b among other things, and it makes it clear the tenant still must adhere to the provisions of the lease after foreclosure. In short, all that CCP § 1161b does is ensure that a tenant who is otherwise complying with the lease will get at least 90 days notice of termination of the lease and that if he is on a fixed lease term he can stay during that term, again so long as he follows the lease terms. Nothing in it changes the answers that have already been given: if you don’t pay the rent, the new owner may promptly begin eviction proceedings against you just like any other tenant who fails to pay rent. I suspect you know this, but I wanted to make it clear to the OP and any other tenant that might read it that the mention of these California code sections doesn’t change what has already been said by Mr. K and others about the risks involved in refusing to pay the rent.