Who should tenant pay rent to when house has been foreclosed?
Allen: I've been renting a house for years and we recently had a realtor come by the house posting letters saying that the house is under new ownership and it's been foreclosed on. We contacted the landlord and he said it was a mistake and it was supposed to be reversed, but the other guy's offering assistance to move and everything. We don't really know what to do.
Attorney Tom Olsen: Well Allen, when you rent a home and a mortgage foreclosure is done, they serve a copy of that mortgage foreclosure complaint on the tenants. So you would have been served. You would have known that this is happening. So that tells me that a mortgage foreclosure has not been started yet. You can go to Property Appraiser's website and search the property by owner's name or by street address and that will tell you who the owner of the property is right now. However, those records may not be up-to-date as to the last few days, but they are pretty up-to-date and that would be a good way to tell you who owns the home right now.
Allen: Okay. Awesome. Because we didn't know who to pay our rent to and any of the above.
Attorney Tom Olsen: Allen, you need to be very careful. I understand what you're saying. Now Allen, are we talking about rent for the month of February or March or what?
Allen: No, the February's rent was paid to the supposed previous landlord for the future rent.
Attorney Tom Olsen: Allen, my initial reaction is that you're going to continue to pay your existing landlord until somebody proves to you otherwise.