Anyone know about leases/lanlords/foreclosures?

[Edensmum]

We are interested in buying a home, it's an old home and we are working on selling our home. The home is currently full of renters. We would like for the renters to stay in place until we sell our home. If we take over this lease from the foreclosing bank, they said we'd be responsible for giving back the renters deposit and all. The bank has taken the home and is not maintaining it Etc.
If there are issues with getting a CO would they have to fix anything? I know there are plumbing issues. It's a great old house, but needs work, wondering if it's too much of a mess to deal with. In this state we don't need to have an attorney, but I'm thinking one might be a good bet.

[gatorsmom]

Well, I guess I don't understand what the bank means about you being responsible for giving the renters back their deposit. I am assuming the renters paid a deposit when they started renting from the bank. If so, the bank doesn't get to keep that. They would have to pass on to you whatever they haven't used. In our state, they would need to provide an itemized list of their deductions, if there are any. Of course, they can only include things they've already done like repairing broken windows and screens or any plumbing issues, etc.

We sold a rental house that had a renter in it and we had to pay to the new owner/landlord the deposit. When the renters left, he was responsible for paying them back the remainder of the deposit, but we had passed it on to him at closing.

Something else to think of is that once you buy this house, you are probably better off at the end of this lease, having the renters sign one that YOU have put together and had a lawyer review. You don't know how current or accurate the bank's lease is. But, to insure that the renters continue to live there, I'd not mess with their lease until it is up. As soon as you buy the house, i'd give the renters your address asap so they don't continue sending their rental payments to the bank by mistake!

[ha98ed14]

Tread carefully unless you want the house so much that you are willing to "pay off" the renters. Given the situation you are describing, where the house is bank-owned but there are renters, it is going to be VERY hard to determine what was wear 'n tear, what was broken BEFORE the tenants moved in and what damage the tenants did do. Since you are the last one in on the deal, you have no way to prove what damage they did, so you will have no grounds to without their security deposits. That's why I said you'd basically be "paying off" the renters.

FWIW, when I was in grad school, my building changed owners. The new landlord tried to make us all sign new leases right away, but the existing leases were still binding, and we had every right to finish it out with the new landlord based on the terms in the existing lease. I just tell you that because *IF* the renters have a lease that is good past the point at which you sell your home, there is no reason they have to leave. For example, if their lease is good until January, but you sell your house in September, there is no reason why the tenants have to leave until their lease is up.

[TwinFoxes]

FWIW, when I was in grad school, my building changed owners. The new landlord tried to make us all sign new leases right away, but the existing leases were still binding, and we had every right to finish it out with the new landlord based on the terms in the existing lease. I just tell you that because *IF* the renters have a lease that is good past the point at which you sell your home, there is no reason they have to leave. For example, if their lease is good until January, but you sell your house in September, there is no reason why the tenants have to leave until their lease is up.

This happened to friends of mine in college too, the landlord tried to get them to believe they had to sign a new lease, but they didn't fall for it.

OP, the bank won't return a deposit, because they didn't get the deposit, whoever owned the building when it was rented got the deposit, and then they were foreclosed on. When you ask if "they" have to pay for repairs, I don't know if you mean the bank or the renters, but from what I understand from looking at foreclosed properties, and doing stories on the foreclosure market, no one is paying for any repairs except you, sorry.

[ha98ed14]

When you ask if "they" have to pay for repairs, I don't know if you mean the bank or the renters, but from what I understand from looking at foreclosed properties, and doing stories on the foreclosure market, no one is paying for any repairs except you, sorry.

Exactly. With a forclosed, bank owned property, you are buying it "as is", so you're on the hook for all of it. I only know this because we tried to buy a bank-owned property but luckily the inspection revealed the problems and we didn't get stuck. We didn't have the cash to mke it liveable, but if we had, it would have been a great house. If you have the cash to make the repairs, then it could be a great way to get a house with good "bones" and make it your own. The problem we had was that there was no end to the number of things that could be causing the problems and we just did not have that kind of cash.