SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Foreclosures are down throughout the state, but in Santa Maria many homes have been foreclosed on this past year. Many of them are occupied by renters. When those foreclosed houses are occupied by renters, it puts them in a sticky situation when the owner doesn't let them know about it.
One Central Coast woman, Keely, was forced out of her most recent rental house.
"I didn't want to move. I'd been there for two and a half years. I loved my house."
Keely had been renting a house from a single landlord for over 2 years, then one day, she got a letter in the mail.
"I got a letter from the bank saying that in 60 days the house was going to auction and I needed to find a new home."
Luckily for Keely, her landlord was up front with her about the situation. But for some tenants, the notice of foreclosure is hidden from them by their landlord and they continue paying the landlord instead of the bank.
Corrie Arellano of Legal Aid Foundation of Santa Barbara County says "they still need to continue to pay rent, but it needs to go to the appropriate person. And that's where it can get sticky at times."
Arellano has seen a lot of cases of foreclosure recently where the landlord hasn't said anything to the tenants but continue collect rent from them. And while banks do give notice to renters, the time frame varies.
"I've seen it take anywhere from six weeks to 6 months. It really varies from bank to bank."
For those cases where the tenant is not informed by the landlord of the foreclosure and continues paying them rent, the banks have shown leniency according to Arellano.
"I've certainly seen instances where some banks will take that into consideration if the tenant can in fact prove, by receipt or documentation, that they were paying the incorrect owner to give them a little bit of a break and accounting for that payment."
