GonnaDoIt

Wait a second, JESUS wrote the Lord's Prayer!!?!?

This is NOT my understanding of Michigan law, though. According to two separate law offices including the one that handled her foreclosure, the lease stands.

I wanted to give an update on this. (edited to add a paragraph I totally forgot). A week ago last Wednesday the landlady called again and said she would be coming by THAT NIGHT to pick up the washer/dryer, refrigerator, some built-in office shelves and other things. As in "make sure all your stuff is out of the fridge and clear a path because I'm coming with a truck." She also called us SQUATTERS! HAAAA! We had tried to explain to her MANY times that even after the auction, we would be allowed to remain in the house due to the redemption laws in Michigan but she apparently didn't believe us. So we spent half the day freaking out, calling around to find out what our rights were, etc. My husband was out of town for the day and I was home alone with the kids, thinking she was going to show up with a truck and some guys and try to take things out of the house. Needless to say it was stressful. Finally my husband called the landlady and told her that if she showed up and tried to remove items from the house, we would be calling the police. She flipped out, told us we ruined her life, F-you, F-this, I'm suing you, blahblahblah but the long and the short of it is, she did not show. I guess she finally decided to use Mr. Google to find out about her rights, because later she sent a text "informing" us (after WE had already told HER) that she has a 6 month redemption period and the lease stands until then. The house went to auction the next day. She is still badgering us about the money she thinks we owe her. We paid her February's rent and she accepted it & cashed the check. That was a couple days ago...now today we got papers from the courthouse saying we have an eviction hearing on Feb. 12. She has done SO many things wrong that I am actually kind of eager to get in front of a judge. I can't see how she's going to be able to make an argument that we owe her for a security deposit she collected and handled illegally...especially considering she was already in foreclosure before we decided to hold back rent to "make up" that deposit (she keeps insisting it is "illegal" to apply a deposit toward rent. But she didn't follow the law with it, and I'm sure she spent it the minute she got it...hello, also illegal). She has also entered the property illegally several times over the last month (a few times she called us and left messages saying she would be coming by the house later that day...we weren't there when she got there...she LET HERSELF IN. Once with a contractor to fix the ceiling--that had been crumbling for, oh, four months--and once to bring a Realtor through). She has harassed us via phone and text and made threats. All this on top of the multitude of maintenance problems that she ignored until we started withholding rent...and even then, didn't take care of in a timely manner. Also, she gave us the 7 day notice to quit back in December, and has since accepted January's and February's rent. I am pretty sure that renders the notice to quit void. Wouldn't she have to start the process again? I'm a little unclear about the law. We are looking for a place to move to, but we live in a tight rental market and this isn't going to happen overnight. I am tempted to counter-sue to try to get moving costs or a rent abatement for all the crap we've put up with. This has been such a ridiculous experience--I have rented from many people, both independent landlords and management companies, and have never experienced anything close to the level of craziness, dishonesty and irrationality as I have here. If at any time she'd seemed interested in anything besides collecting a check, I'm sure we could have worked something out. Instead, she's been mostly AWOL, and when she's around, pretty much 100% crazy. Anyway, we'll call the lawyer on Monday and get representation, but I'm so irritated that I have to waste my time with this idiocy. Think good thoughts for me!

If the bank now owns the house - they probably now also own the fixtures and appliances that were there when you moved in. If the landlady tries to come in and remove the stove/fans/AC or any fixtures, I believe the words "burglary" and "vandalism" come into play - I'd call 911. I'd also document - via photographs and/or video - the content and condition of every room of the house, as well as the exterior, TODAY, just in case anything happens. Is your lease still valid, seeing as she no longer owns the property? (assuming that she does not redeem) You might want to call the lender that now owns the property, and ask what their position is in relation to you as tenants. thanks. I'm just so confused about what the MI law means. I called the law office that handled the foreclosure, and they said my landlady is still considered the owner of the home until the redemption period is over. But how can that be when the home was SOLD to the bank? My lease still stands, though, that much I know.

We are renting a home that went to auction last week, and was purchased back by the bank. In our state, MI, there is a 6-month redemption period in which the owner can reclaim the house if they can come up with the money. I very much doubt that this is going to happen in this case. Our lease is up 6/1 and the redemption period ends on July 21. We initially were planning on moving by the end of the lease, but now we're wondering if we might like to stay if we can get a good deal on the house. We have lived in it long enough to understand its quirks and potential and, well, we're already here and like the house...it would be great not to have to move again if we can just buy here, especially if we get a good deal! Two potential issues: our landlady is probably going to want to come into the house and strip everything she can out of it, and she is not likely to want us to stay, which means we'd probably have to convince her to let us, or plan on a fight. So before we even start thinking along those lines, I want to know if it's going to be worth it to us to stay. I'm curious what the bank bought the house for, and what their plans will be for it once the redemption period is up. Is there any way I can find out what it was purchased for at auction? Or figure out what they might try to get for it once it's back on the market?

The house we're renting is in foreclosure and the auction was earlier this week. Opening bid was ridiculously low! I'm guessing the bank probably bought it back, but is there a way I can find out for sure? Is it part of the public record somewhere? Also, I know that the owner has a 6-month period in which to reclaim the property, and until then my lease stands. But does she actually *own the house during that time, or is it more like a limbo period? And when does the six month clock start ticking?

I'm having a hard time telling the differences between a land contract and a lease to own. It seems like with a land contract, you make monthly payments directly to the seller with the understanding that at some point you obtain financing for the house. With a lease to own, you also make payments directly to the seller with the understanding that at some point you will obtain financing for the house, however, you don't "own" the house in the meantime and your rent payments aren't applied in full toward the price of the house (though a portion of them may be). Is that right? What are the other major differences? Also, if you put down money to be used as a downpayment and the seller puts that aside for you, is it legit as far as FHA downpayment monies go?

Elizabeth, thanks, this is good advice. We have been documenting pretty much every major conversation with her and sending it to her in a letter via certified mail, but it was starting to feel a little silly since she NEVER responds in writing even though each of our letters to her ends with "if you have any further communication with us about these matters please respond to this letter in writing..." But you're right that at least if we do it, we can show that we did everything we could.

there's an eviction process she has to go through before she can just decide she's not bound to the lease, though. We *do* get an opportunity to go before a judge and explain our side before she is allowed to kick us out. I'm not worried about the lease at this point, anyway. We're planning on moving asap. But it takes more than 10 days to move a family into a new home, particularly in a town with a tight rental market, and in the meanwhile, I'm not relishing the idea of her barging in and removing a toilet or something.

I think she's really stupid. Or thinks she's above the law, one or the other. We've explained backwards, forwards and upside-down exactly what our legal rights are and she just chooses not to hear us. At this point, I really think a judge would laugh if she tried to sue us, because the story (there's even more than what I've shared, but it's just long and silly) is so over-the-top. But it's going to take us more than 10 days to move, and I don't particularly want to come home one day and find all the light fixtures and plumbing gone either.

Sure, but there's a difference between moving in February and moving in June, which is when our lease is up. Also, we were staying to avoid HER suing US: according to the laws in our state, even after the house is foreclosed on, we have the right to stay in the house through the end of the lease AND she has the right to insist that we continue to uphold the lease until the bank actually assumes possession of the house, which doesn't happen until 6 months after the auction date. She never released us from the lease, so by staying, we thought we were doing the safer thing.

I'm not so much worried about my stuff as I am being left in a house with no refrigerator or stove. Or toilet! (she and her hubby flip houses so I doubt there's much they wouldn't want, you know?) I don't think she'll take my stuff...though I can't guarantee it, of course. But her own stuff, that I'm using as her tenant...absolutely.

Sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I'm not sure where else it might fit. I have been renting a house since last summer and have had problems since the first day we moved in, with one thing after another breaking and not being taken care of for weeks or months (AC, plumbing, roof leak, you name it). It all came to a head when we came home to a foreclosure notice stuck to the front door in October. The landlady told us it was a mistake, blahblahblah, she'd take care of it. We consulted with a lawyer and found out that she'd taken way more security deposit than is allowable in our state (MI) and also hadn't handled it correctly (as in she spent it.) It became clear through a series of absolutely psycho phone calls with her that there was no way she still had the security deposit nor did she have any intention of giving it back to us when we moved out (nor the ability to, honestly). Under the advisement of an attorney we withheld rent for a while in order to "use up" the illegally-collected security deposit. I was not thrilled about doing this as I generally abide by the spirit of an agreement more than the letter of the law, but I was really worried about letting her sit on thousands of dollars of ours, when the future of the house was so unclear, and she didn't seem interested in being a real landlord--just in getting paid. She made some threats to evict, but never followed through. As soon as the money we'd put down upfront was "used up" we paid rent going forward and all quieted down for a while. Then the other day she called to inform us that oh by the way she IS in foreclosure and we have to be out in 10 days (Ha!-not legal by Michigan law) also that she will be suing us because it's OUR fault she went into foreclosure (Um, huh?) AND -- here's the part that worries me -- in 10 days she and her husband (in the process of divorcing which has made all this that much more crazy) will be showing up at the house to start taking things out. I'm not worried about the 10 days thing. She can't legally throw us out without going through an eviction process. I'm not worried about the lawsuit threat because, well, it's laughable. And honestly I'd love to move out of this house so I'm glad to have an "out". However--I have kids, and there's no way we will be moving out of this house in 10 days, and I am a little worried that she's going to come over and take appliances or something. Just last week she let herself into the house while we weren't here to fix the ceiling (which is also a little weird to me, since she knows she's losing the house? Maybe she's planning on moving into it herself until the bank throws her out?) without giving notice. I have no doubt she will try to strip this house before she loses it to the bank and I'm worried she'll do it while we're still living here. If she does, do I have recourse? Would it be a criminal matter since the house belongs to her, or would I have to sue her?

Do you have a Twitter account? I had a big issue with Comcast last year and had great luck messaging @comcastcares. Within an hour I had COMPETING customer service reps calling me to make sure my problem was resolved...which it was, within a day or two.

Thanks, Brian. So if an applicant's FICO, DTI and all that meets the computer's guidelines, then it just goes through without needing to show all that other stuff? I was thinking I'd have to fork over utility bills and such...