Do you still owe past due rent to a landlord after foreclosure?
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Do you still owe past due rent to a landlord after foreclosure?
I received an eviction notice. After around 15 days or so the locks where changed (I had moved all of my belongings out by then). I had not paid rent to the landlord for the 6 months prior. Now he is still wants me to pay him for my back rent. I do not have any kind of signed lease with the landlord, just a verbal agreement. Is he legally due any more rent money seeing as he stopped paying at least 3 months prior to me not paying rent?
Asked on August 18, 2011 Florida
Answers:
M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 13 years ago | Contributor
Whether or not your landlord has paid his mortgage has nothing to do with your obligation to him. Your "lease" (see below) was for a habitable premises in which to live and from all accounts that's what you got. So yes, you can be sued for back rent even if your lanord's property is foreclosed on.
Additionally, even if you did not have a signed lease, you still had a lease albeit an oral one. This established what is known as a month-to-month tenancy. This makes you liable for rent for the time in which you stayed on the property and did not pay (plus fees/costs).
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