Mary Garcia always paid her rent on time to make sure there was a safe roof over the heads of her three children.
Then two months before she was scheduled for surgery, a real estate agent offered the disabled mom $2,000 if she'd pack up and move her family within 30 days.
The owner of the house she was renting lost it to foreclosure, but Garcia never got a 60-day move-out notice, required by California law.
"I had a panic attack," said Garcia, 46, of Van Nuys, about foreclosure on her three-bedroom rental house last month. "It's now a little over 30 days, and we still haven't found a place.
"I'm afraid we'll end up in the street."
As foreclosures on houses and apartment buildings have soared to record levels in Los Angeles and the nation, renters have scrambled to cope with the fallout.
In the San Fernando Valley - epicenter for home foreclosures in Los Angeles - those who rent have been especially hard-hit.
Caught between banks looking to flip properties and former landlords who can't afford to return security deposits, tenants of foreclosed digs face the daunting task of finding suitable houses or apartments on relatively short notice in a pricey rental market.
The confusion is heightened by move-out agreements, known as cash-for-keys offers, to vacate rental properties amid a labyrinth of legal tenant protections.
As millions of property owners lose houses and apartments in the subprime-mortgage collapse, renters are getting lost in the shuffle, tenant advocates and attorneys say.
"The tenants of a foreclosed property are the real victims here because they are current on the rent, for the most part," said Valley-based real estate attorney Roger Franklin. "It's the landlord who has not kept up the payments, and it's the renters who suffer.
Displaced fearful
The foreclosure rate in Los Angeles has surged by nearly 300 percent, with foreclosures on 1,700 apartment units and 9,100 houses and condos in the 18 months through June. Much of the foreclosure activity in the city is in South Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, according to the Los Angeles Housing Department. In addition, mortgages on more than 35,000 homes were in default - at risk for foreclosure.
In July, 844 Valley families lost their homes to foreclosure, while 1,509 got notices of default, according to the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center at California State University, Northridge.
The result: Thousands of displaced Angelenos forced to comb the rental want ads looking for new leases on homes.
"There has really been a spike in the people who are victims of this whole foreclosure madness, and it is very unfortunate," said Pastorcq Herrera Jr., director of the Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs, which counsels displaced renters.
"It is impacting another tier of individuals who do not have enough money to find another property, because they are innocent victims of an economic crisis they were not directly involved with," he noted.
In the past four months, his office has fielded between 60 andto 75 calls per week from tenants affected by foreclosures, compared with about 10 per week before the crisis.
Since February, the Fair Housing Council of the San Fernando Valley has received an unprecedented five to 10 calls a day from foreclosure-affected renters.
Tactics deplored
What especially irks housing and tenant advocates are the tactics employed to remove renters from foreclosed properties.
In early July, city officials chastised Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corp. for offering $1,000 to relocate tenants in a foreclosed duplex in South Los Angeles. Rent-control laws require a foreclosing lender to pay a minimum of $6,810.
The company apologized to the tenants and halted the eviction letters, saying they were a result of a mix-up by a real estate agent working for the company.
Since then, the Fair Housing Council has investigated two other complaints about Countrywide cash-for-keys offers or move-out notices to foreclosed renters.
In one case, a single father of three said a real estate agent and telephone clerk representing Countrywide told him he had two days to move or his locks would be changed.
"I was shocked," said Ely Quijascq, 35, of Santa Clarita, who has since received a formal 60-day notice to vacate his rented town house. "I told him, 'I have three kids; I don't know what to do.' I told him, 'There's no way I can get out so soon.'"
Mary Garcia said a Countrywide agent told her to sign the cash-for-keys offer in 30 days, or the sheriff would move her out.
Agents deny bullying
Both real estate agents vigorously denied the allegations.
A Countrywide official responded to the Fair Housing Council by saying the company does recognizes the hardship placed upon tenants of foreclosed properties. In doing so, the company permits tenants to live in the home 60 days after completion of the foreclosure proceedings, in addition to cash-for-keys offers.
"In regards to the eviction process, our eviction attorney would execute any notice requirements in accordance with state law," Dave Sunlin, senior vice president of Countrywide, said.
Often, tenants end up losing thousands of dollars in security deposits.
Garcia said it won't be easy to find a replacement home. To no avail, she has applied to rent dozens of affordable places suited to those with disabilities like hers. She said it might cost her up to $6,000 to move.
"There really is nobody there to help us," she said. "To this day, I can't sleep because I'm afraid they will come and change the locks. ... I'm afraid to leave the house."
Renters with questions about tenants' rights concerning foreclosed properties can call:
-- Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs, 800-593-8222, or http://dca.lacounty.gov.
-- Los Angeles Housing Department, 866-557-7368. http://lahd.lacity.org/
-- Fair Housing Council of the San Fernando Valley, 818-373-1185.
-- San Fernando Valley Bar Association, 818-227-0490, or www.sfvba.org/
-- Neighborhood Legal Services of Los Angeles County, 800-433-6251, or www.nls-la.org/contact.html.
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