Owners have rights, Tenants have rights too-- all God's children got rights!

 OK! I will admit that I am guilty of bashing the "tenants from hell" and I still stand on that.  Tenants can ruin an owner's property in no time flat.  I have seen and experience with several of my owners the aftermath of tenants gone bad.

HOWEVER, in defense of the tenants that are blind sided with the owner dropping in at announce that they are in default on their mortgage payments and will be putting the property up for sale!  This has to be some really bad news at a really bad time.  Tenants don't understand or wasn't aware that the owner was having to add to that monthly payment that they were paying to make up the difference on the mortgage payment.  (example: tenants pay only $1800 per month, however, the mortgage payment is actually $3300!).  So now the owner is in hardship because they can no longer make up the difference.

But back to the tenants.  Since they received the news they are confused, angry and does not know what they are going to do.  So first they decide to stop making any payments to the owner, because they should have been paying the mortgage is their first thought.  They should be giving them more time to find a place and how dare they put a "for sale" sign out front and rush them out of what they felt was a secure and long term place to live.

In most states, tenants are entitled to 30 day's notice when a property owner is facing foreclosure.  For some tenants this is not enough time to find another suitable place to live.  Check with your state to see what rights tenants that are affected by foreclosure have. Illinois is helping by passing law that require that tenants get 120 days' notice instead of the 30. I for one do not believe that tenants should suffer the consequences of owner's mortgage issues. Some states can enact legislation to protect tenants. 

There is Federal legislation out there to protect the tenants that are caught up in the foreclosure dismay (HR 3915).  There is a Bill that would protect tenants from eviction in foreclosures. On the federal level, some action is already under way. HR 3915, The Mortgage Reform and Anti-Predatory Lending Act of 2007, would not only tighten up the mortgage industry, but provide that tenants' leases would survive foreclosure, and that month-to-month tenants would be entitled to 90 days' termination notice. see www.house.gov for more information.  Nov 15, 2007: This bill passed in the House of Representatives by roll call vote. The totals were 291 Ayes, 127 Nays, 14 Present/Not Voting.  I believe that this bill if passed will require new owners to honor leases of tenants for as long as six months after foreclosure.

So hopefully more tenants will know and understand their rights and not feel that they need to jump up and become the tenants from hell by destroying the owner's property or leaving in the middle of the night or refusing to let the agents and prospective buyers in to view the property without a problem.  If this is done, there will be no more tenants from hell - will there?

Tenants are human and have rights too!

Information from: the Mother and Daughter Realty Team @ Perfect Financial Solutions 866-750-8282