Michael Scott and his wife Stella e-mailed 17 News after learning the house they rent is about to be foreclosed on. As they scramble to find a new place to live, the Scotts want to know if they have to pay rent if the homeowner isn't paying the mortgage?
"You know, we love the area, its quiet. We were looking forward to staying here for a while. The kids go to school two miles away. It's perfect for work. Perfect for their school, everything," renter Michael Scott said.
Scott, his wife, and their three kids love the southwest Bakersfield home they rent. Scott says they had no intention to move out, until the homeowner stopped by a week ago and told them she can't afford her mortgage payments and the property will soon go into foreclosure.
"We were upset, stressed out that now we have to find a place to live. At that point we didn't know how long it had been into foreclosure and we weren't expecting this to happen," Scott said.
Scott tells 17News he and his family have lived here for about a year and a half and always pay their rent on time. But now that the homeowner admitted she is not making mortgage payments, Scott wants to know, should he keep paying rent and to whom?
"I've heard a lot of stories about this going on and I want to get more information on it. I want to know where we stand, if the house is going into foreclosure are we still liable to pay them rent or not," Scott asked.
Well, Warren Peterson of the Bakersfield Association of Realtors says the short answer is yes. Even if you know the homeowner has stopped making payments, under state law you are obligated to honor the agreement you made in the lease, until the home is actual foreclosed.
"Now once the foreclosure has taken place then the homeowner is not required to pay any more rent to that previous owner because they no longer own the property. And at that point in time either the landlord or property manager should return all deposits," Peterson said.
Peterson also says once the home is foreclosed, the new owner or the bank will eventually evict you or work out a new rental agreement. And Peterson says many times banks want to keep homes occupied by good tenants rather than adding to their list of unmaintained, vandalized, and empty properties.
If you want to know if the property you rent has gone into foreclosure, Warren Peterson says you can contact a real estate agent to find out.
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