Foreclosed home

[kennoah]

Foreclosed home - renter's didn't pay rent in last month

What is the name of your state? Texas

My husband and I owned a home that we were renting out because we could not sell it. The lease agreement was up May 2005 and we've been renting month to month since. We have had some medical problems almost this entire year that has made us not be able to pay our mortgage and our home was bought back by the bank on Nov. 1, 2005. We received our foreclosure notice in the middle of November. Would our tenants receive the notice the same time we did? The date on the foreclosure notice is November 16, 2005. Somehow I think our tenants heard or knew that the house was bought back on November 1 and they chose not to pay November's rent. I do not believe they had received the foreclosure notice yet because we hadn't received it. They said we didn't own the home anymore and they weren't going to pay us. They didn't know if they were going to be asked for money from the bank or what so they were waiting. As it turned out, they were not asked for any money and they moved out Thanksgiving weekend. We had made a verbal agreement that if they were not asked any money then we would not pay back their security deposit and we'd call it even. They paid $950 a month in rent and the security deposit was $475. Well we've now gotten a call from them saying they think they should still get their deposit back. I don't think that's right because they lived in the home an entire month for free. They paid rent on October 1 and moved out the last weekend in November. I believe they should have paid November's rent like normal, $950 and then when they received notice that the home was foreclosed then we would give them their deposit of $475 back. There is a passage in the foreclosure letter that is specific to tenants...it says..."if you have paid rent to your landlord prior to your receiving notice of the foreclosure referrred to above, you MUST VACATE THE PREMISES within thirty days from the date this notice is delivered. If this paragraph is applicable, you MUST provide our office with a copy of your lease agreement and proof of your lease payment." Am I right or do we still owe them money?

 

[LindaP777]

I don't think that's right because they lived in the home an entire month for free . . . Am I right or do we still owe them money?

Ahhh . . . let me see if I'm following this . . .
You own a house that you haven't made a payment on in months, causing the bank to foreclose on it. Now, that very same house you have rented out, collecting $950 each & every month up until November (but did not bother to give any of that rent money to the bank towards the payment, that you did promise to make - i.e. "mortgage").

Now, are you honestly asking what is fair? Fair to whom? You've pocketed the rent money every month, but have not shared any of that with your bank who holds the note to the residence you were profiting from? And you don't think it's fair of your tenant to ask for their deposit back, even though they had to vacate their home (at their expense) because you haven't made the house payments??? You really don't want to know what I think is fair, do you? (OK, here goes - I think the bank should sue you butt for all those months you collected rent without turning it over to the bank! That's what I think is fair!)

Is this completely ass-backwards to anyone else, or is it just me? It galls me that people want to know how the law will protect them when they've been "wronged", but could care less how they have wronged others even worse!

 

[kennoah]

I appreciate the constructive criticism and I need to clarify a few things. First of all the rent payment we received of $950 did not cover the mortgage payment of $1400. We were having to make up the difference. We did that for over a year and then things got out of control. It's not like we just chose not to continue paying. We had thousands of dollars of medical bills from surgeries for my children and me. We then made attempts to bring everything back to current by making payments here and there but time ran out and we couldn't do it anymore. We are going to be held responsible for the months we didn't pay our mortgage. It's not like we got away with stealing money. We are going to be expected to pay that back and we are going to be expected to pay for the November month that the tenants stayed in for free. It is my understanding that by law the foreclosure is none of the tenants business until they receive notice from the courts which means they needed to pay November's rent like normal. We don't think it's unreasonable to expect our renters to either pay us the rent due in November or not expect their security deposit back. Your magnanimous understanding is truely appreciated! I sincerely hope you are never in the same situation.