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Military Relocation-Things to Know if Your Landlord Defaults on Their Mortgage

The current real estate market in Northern Virginia has proved a rude awakening for some renting military families who signed a lease in the last year. Landlords who decided NOT to pay their mortgages have left the tenants holding the bag when the sheriff comes to the door.

Military familes who are forced to make a local move due to a foreclosure may find some relief from the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Not many servicemembers know that under section 531 in the SCRA anyone looking to evict an active duty servicemember from a rental property that is their primary residence must have a court order. This applies to rent that is less than $2831.113 per month. Servicemembers can apply to the court to stay their eviction or reduce their rent until their case works it's way through the legal process.

As of July 2008 servicemembers who are being forced to leave their rental property due to foreclosure can apply to their base legal services and transportation office to seek financial assistance with their move. In addition to the assistance you may find through your base you can also seek "cash for keys" from the lender who is foreclosing on the property.

Recently a family that I had helped find a home last year and signed a multiple year lease found themselves forced to move. I spoke with the agent who had contacted the renters about the impending foreclosure and was able to assist them with a "cash for keys" opportunity that provided them $1500 to move. They are currently working with their transportation office to see about assistance with additional moving expenses. If you are active duty military renter and have been notified of your landlords impending foreclosure RUN to your local legal office to talk about the options that the SRCA may provide for you.

Lenders have been forestalling foreclosure procedures for properties with renters who are current on their rental payments. Hopefully these lenders will realize a property with a paying tenant is better than an empty home during the winter months.

Military Legal Services Locations

Posted by Cindy Jones-Northern Virginia Real Estate & Military Relocation Services on 04/01/2009 07:46 AM

Comments (35)

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Originally posted at: : Military Relocation-Things to Know if Your Landlord Defaults on Their Mortgage

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35 Comments on Military Relocation-Things to Know if Your Landlord Defaults on Their Mortgage

APR

Thank you for the information. . . .very helpful to know

Thanks for posting this Cindy.

This post is helpful to spread the word to the military community in our area.

Good post. Pass this on to any Wounded Warrior, looking to relocate to Staten Island.

I will work for free to find them a new home. See my blog on Wounded Warriors.

Sound information and nice to have it when a military family calls us.

I am printing this out right now to hang in my new office! Thank you so much!

Great post. We don't have many military families in our immediate area but it's still a really great topic. I'm glad you posted this!

Cindy: Great information. Thank you for taking the time to share with everyone. This can help families around all military bases.

Cindy, good reminder.

Don't some of these protections apply to all renters, although not through the military's assistance?

Tragic Cindy. Thanks for the info. It will fit greatly inside of my tool box.

Cindy... some very good information to get out to people, especially those in the military. I found it some what funny about what the payment had to be under. $2,831.13? That's not only a high number, but an odd number. I can remember when I left the Army, that I also reported to the transportation department and I even received monies for moving. I am not sure if they still do that, but mine was just a basic move and leaving the Army and I still got monies. Again, some good information to help families.

Jeff Belonger

This is good information to have. Thanks for the post today.

Portsmouth NH Real Estate

Hi Cindy,

This information is really helpful and being within 20 miles of base, I am certain I will need to know this informtion. Also, in speaking to an REO banker yesterday, I asked him this specific quesion. "What happens if a person is 2 months behind, you are getting ready to foreclose and the borrower rents his house out?" He said he would ask the tenant to pay the bank directly and try to work out a loan modification or payment plan for the two months the borrower is behind. They don't want the house!

Thanks again Cindy - great information to have and hold onto!

Here we cannot do leases for over one year, so te mortgage companies have let them stay through the lease period.

We don't have any military bases in the State of Oregon (believe it or not), so housing HAS TO BE rentals. I've not heard anything in the news about this, so I don't think it affects our state that much. But, I can sympathize with those that have to go through this. The mortgage companies in Charless' state have been lenient. Thanks for the post!!

Well I think this is very informative and I know it is happening here too and we don't really have that many Military Relocations in our area. However, I have spoken to several families that this has happened too.

Buyer Beware when renting now days.

Being located right next to Fort Bragg and Pope AFB, this info will no doubt be extremely useful info for me. So, thanks a bunch!

Excellent information, thank you

Since I help with military around NAS Whidbey Island, I am bookmarking this post, in addition to printing it out! What great information to share! I applaud your sensitivity when dealing with some of our nation's finest! They deserve a break, and the aforementioned information is significant indeed. Cheers,

Amy's Sweet Signature

There have been several post over the past few days in regards to grammer and spelling. This post is a prime example of why the two are unimportant when blogging. Although there are spelling errors in the post the information is so valuable that it makes no difference. Thanks for your terrific post.

Awesome Information! I don't deal with rentals myself, but being Married to a Marine and being a volunteer lends me the opportunity of meeting many military families! I recently met a couple who I passed this info on to right away. They will need it, Thank you!!

Great info Cindy. Contacting the lender is also something that can be done. Lendees are not only forestalling foreclosures but they are also keeping tenants in the property after the foreclsure has taken place.

Fernando-thanks for stopping by.

Lenn-with as many military families as we have in our area keeping up with anything that will help them when trouble hits is important.

Kenneth-thanks for your comment and of course we support all of our military families here in the area.

Cherimie-since you are in a heavy military area as well I hope your legal office doesn't have to deal with any of these issues.

Norma-hope you don't have any families that will need to use it.

Great post -- we have the same problem here in Colorado. It's a shame when landlords don't make their payments.

This is a great post for the Northern Virginia/Metro area as there are so many military families located there. Not many here in WV, but this is good information. thanks,

This is great information for any military family that faces this problem. Many families do not have the funds to relocate because of foreclosure in today's economy. The military is at least somewhat protected.

Great information Cindy, I think that it is a shame that any renter in good standing should even have to think about being evicted because a landlord can not take care of there business. I know it may eventually need to happen but another investor may purchase the property complete with a quality renter if they were allowed to stay.

As far as our military. I can not say enough about them. I think that our tax dollars should be paying for there house. If anyone would even consider evicting them because of anothers failures well...shame on them. Thanks for your post.

Great info. This may come in handy with future clients

Hi Cindy -- Valuable information here, and it's a crime that our nation's finest have to add this to their already stressful lives, what a shame. I hope the Washington Post and other papers publicize it and cite your work and efforts as well.

APR

Christianne-thanks for stopping by.

Roland-I hope I don't get any more phone calls from military families who need assistance.

Andrew-I had to talk to the REO agent about offering them "cash for keys". The renters didn't have a clue and it wasn't offered right off the bat.

Peter-AR offers a lot of great info for us to save for future reference.

Jeff-it is an odd rental amount and I'm sure it had to be some "average" that the government came up with. There is always the one final move that the military provides back to your "home of record" when you get you retire.

Patricia-thanks for your comment.

Diane-you are right that banks don't want houses and some lenders have been working out agreements with renters to finish out their leases.

Charles-interesting. I've done a number of leases that are for multiple years. If a lender is going to ask you to leave it probably won't matter how long your lease is.

Carla-glad you aren't having to deal with this issue.

Missy-I try and do a check on the landlord before I have my clients sign a lease. Ask for copies of their last few mortgage statements to show they are current on payments.

Candice-you are in a heavy military area. Hopefully it is information you don't have to use.

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