House foreclosrure?

Question

I rented a house 6 months ago. I recently found out the landlord must not be paying the mortgage. A sheriff showed up at the door to serve the landlord with a civil suit. How long do i have before this foreclosure happens?(i live in pennsylvania) should i move out asap? keep paying rent??

Answer 1

Start looking for a place; once the foreclosure is complete, you may have to move out as your lease is not valid with a new owner thru a foreclosure;

Some basic facts:
Judicial Foreclosure Available: Yes

Non-Judicial Foreclosure Available: No

Primary Security Instrument: Mortgage

Timeline: Typically 90 days

Right of Redemption: No

Deficiency Judgments Allowed: Yes

In Pennsylvania, lenders may foreclose on a mortgage in default by using the judicial foreclosure process.

Judicial Foreclosure
In Pennsylvania, the lender must send a notice of intent to foreclose to the borrower before any foreclosure proceedings may begin.

The notice of intent must be sent, by first class mail, to the borrower, at their last known address and if different, to the property secured by the mortgage. The notice should not be sent until the borrower is at least sixty (60) days behind in their mortgage payments.

In the notice, the lender must make the borrower aware that his or her mortgage is in default and that it is their (the lender's) intention to accelerate the mortgage payments if the borrower does not cure the default within thirty (30) days. This means that the remaining balance of the original mortgage will come due immediately.

If the borrower does not cure the default by paying the past due amount, plus any late charges that have accrued, within the thirty (30) days, the lender may then file a suit to try and obtain a court order to foreclose on the property.

If the court finds in favor of the lender and issues an order of sale, the property will be sold at a Sheriff's sale under the guidelines established by the court. The borrower has the right to cure the default and prevent the sale at any time up to one hour before the Sheriff's foreclosure sale.

Lenders have up to six months after the foreclosure sale to file for a deficiency judgment. Borrowers have no rights of redemption once the foreclosure sale is complete.



More information on Pennsylvania foreclosure laws.

Answer 2

In a foreclosure, the bank takes the property subject to all liens, encumbrances and conditions. If you have a written lease, the bank must honor it. Check your lease for a termination clause. The bank has to honor the termination clause. You cannot be forced out of even an oral lease without 30 days notice prior to the date your rent is due. For example, if you pay rent on the 1st of the month and you get an eviction notice on the second on the month, you have about 59 days to vacate. You should keep paying rent. You can be evicted for non-payment in roughly 3 to 7 days. Instead of looking for another place to live, contact the mortgage holder and ask if they want you to leave. If you have a written lease that does not allow you to leave or terminate the lease early, the mortgage holder could sue you for the unpaid rent. You have a minimum of 30 days before the foreclosure suit can be completed. If your landlord fights the foreclosure, you could have much, much longer. If you do not know who holds the mortgage, the foreclosure papers are a public document that you can see. You can go to the courthouse and look, but your state courts will have a web site. You could call the state bar office or the courts and find that site. If you find the site, go to "case look-up" and type in your landlord's name. If you can find the case, call the attorney representing the lender and ask him/her if you can hold over after foreclosure. However, the real answer lies in your lease agreement's termination clause. BTW-I found a pa. web site by googling "pa. common pleas court", but then I got lost because we need the county to find the correct link.

Answer 3

I'm not sure, but I would think at a minimum you might have 90 days considering the requirements for serving the documents. Of course,there could always be delays and you would have longer before the property is ultimately put up for sale by the lender. If and when the property is sold, the owners may not want tenants and you would be asked to leave. Knowing that is a good possibility, why not just move now and save yourself the worry.

Answer 4

Keep paying rent unless the landlord does something to violate his end of the lease.

Answer 5

If I were you, I better start looking for another place to stay. As soon as the foreclosure auction is over you don't have that much time to relocate. At the most 4-6 months.

Answer 6

Check on daveramsey.com He has tons of real estate experience and can tell you for sure.

Answer 7

go to your local court house.the county assessors office will help you on the regulations in your state