Legal Question in Landlord & Tenant Law in California

Landlord in foreclosure

We are renting a house and before we signed the lease we asked the owner point blank if he was having problems making the mortgage. He said no, he bought it as an investment and was not having a problem. about 3 months into the lease we noticed BK papers on his dashboard he said he was thinking of filing and that he was going to put the house on the market and he had not made his payments since we had been paying him rent. we have stopped paying him rent and have been looking for a new place. He has issued a 3 day pay rent or quit, for sept, oct, and nov. He was given a check for Sept, but he failed to cash it (and told us it was unfair for him to collect it from us so he was going to tear it up) we put a stop payment on it. Question is what if he decides to take this to court? He broke the terms of the lease by not allowing us the full year of the lease, not giving us a copy of the lease, taking the $7,000 in CASH we put down on the option and listing the house - we have been having realtors show up all day long, and let our dogs out (one was hit by a car) Also there have been items that he was supposed to fix and never has including water damage.


Asked on 11/10/08, 2:22 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Pinette Law Office of Richard Pinette, APLC

Re: Landlord in foreclosure

You mention you put down $7,000 cash for an option. Is this an option to purchase the home? Your landlord can file for eviction for unpaid rent; however you may have defenses to such action. You need to contact an attorney to review the lease and collateral documents to ascertain your rights. Good Luck.

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Answered on 11/10/08, 10:30 am


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