owner of house i am renting disappears off face of earth

[I.Rowboat]

This happened to a friend of mine once. The owner had killed himself. Although the deceased owner's family were sympathetic to his situation as a renter, they had bigger problems to deal with and there was nothing they could do.

[The Dude]

If you can get a hold of her sister, ask her to pass along the message that you'll sleep with your former landlord for a nominal fee. You can tell she's facing some hard times, and you want to do what you can to help.

[By-Tor]

[sublime]

[ QUOTE ]
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renting a house in the posh anthem country club

[/ QUOTE ]

diagf, seriously.

[/ QUOTE ]

sorry, i dont cook.

[POKEROMGLOL]

i think you are adversely possessing that hoe.

[sublime]

called the realtor who brokered the lease with this chick....they still have our deposits! wheeeeeeee

they pretty much said what others have said, we should look for places. also said we should be given time to move from the new place.

[microbet]

http://www.larcc.org/pamphlets/housi...oreclosing.htm

http://www.azcentral.com/home/hb101/...02combs02.html

http://www.foreclosuredataonline.com...re-foreclosed/

http://www.nolo.com/article.cfm/ObjectID...04/138/305/ART/

if you need more, go here

[MrWookie]

Link to a relevant NYT article I just saw on their RSS feed:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/18/us/18r...nyt&emc=rss

[Poshua]

[ QUOTE ]
called the realtor who brokered the lease with this chick....they still have our deposits! wheeeeeeee

they pretty much said what others have said, we should look for places. also said we should be given time to move from the new place.

[/ QUOTE ]

Generally, the mortgage is superior to the lease, which means that if the bank forecloses, it's no longer obligated under the terms of the lease. Once it has foreclosed, the bank will want to sell the house as quickly as possible. Houses sell faster if they don't have tenants, so they want the tenant gone, even if you are model tenant who pays rent on time every month, doesn't cause damage, etc. How long it takes them to evict you depends on the rules in your state (and contrary to some previous posts, if you don't leave voluntarily this is an eviction, though the rules are different than if it were to do with a tenant/landlord dispute under a valid lease); I agree with the consensus that you should talk with a lawyer, unless you plan to simply comply with what the bank asks you to do.

I had a friend in this situation a few months ago, in Massachusetts. He negotiated with the bank and got to stay for a few months at reduced rent, in exchange for leaving before his lease was up. So it might be worth pushing; OTOH, I think there was some irregularity in my friend's case that weakened the bank's position and made it likely that his lease could actually be enforced, so getting such a good concession was probably atypical.

[sublime]

we aren't gonna fight much. try to get some money out the bank for leaving early (called cash for keys) and get a new place with two additional friends.