THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 1, 1994 TAG: 9410010167
SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY PAGE: 16 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: William Mazel and Albert Teich Jr.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
Q. About eight weeks ago, my wife and I rented a very nice single-family house and thought that we were on very good terms with our new landlord. We paid our month's rent in advance, as is customary, and gave the new landlord a $650 security deposit. The landlord even agreed that we could repaint the premises and that he would pay for the paint.
We bought a couple of hundred dollars worth of paint, painted the house, sent the bill to the landlord and heard nothing from him. Yesterday, we received a phone call from a law office telling us that the property had been sold at foreclosure and that the new owner wanted us to move immediately.
We were also told we would be given two days notice, but maybe they would be kind enough to give us five days notice. We are really left in a big mess.
Of course, we cannot find a new place to live within either two or five days and, on top of that, we paid the rent through the end of the months, we have spent a couple of hundred dollars for painting and redecorating, and no one seems to be accepting responsibility for returning our security deposit.
What can we do?
A. First of all, we suggest that you contact the new owner yourself and see if you can't have an extension of the lease. We understand that in many foreclosures on residential rental property, the new owner does want to terminate the lease and wants to have the property vacant.
However, we do not believe that they have the legal right to tell you that you have to move in two or five days.
We think that the purchaser at foreclosure will have to comply with the various state laws and would have to give you notice and go through court procedures to have you evicted.
As to whether the new owner has to comply with the balance of the term of your lease, our answer is no. You rented the premises subject to the rights of the holder of the mortgage.
Once the property is sold at the foreclosure sale, the new purchaser is not subject to your existing lease. As to your recovering the security deposit and the money for the paint, you have only one person to look to and that is the original landlord.
The purchaser at foreclosure will not be subject to the debts of the land that are junior to the mortgage that is being foreclosed. The security deposit and the money you paid for the paint would be considered to be a junior claim.
You have the right to go into the General District Court and file suit against the original owner of the property, your landlord, for the return of the $650 deposit and the amount for the paint, but we are not sure you would have much chance of collecting.
After all, if the house has gone into foreclosure, the owner obviously did not have enough money to make the mortgage payments; thus, he probably does not have the money to reimburse you.
If you obtain a judgment, you may be able to enforce it by garnishing your former landlord's bank account or attaching other property, unless he goes bankrupt. We think it's best for you to make the effort if your former landlord does not voluntarily refund your money. MEMO: Albert Teich Jr. and William Mazel are real estate lawyers based in
Norfolk. Send comments and questions to them at Real Estate Weekly, 150
W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510.
by CNB