I posted a few months ago about how our current landlord is being foreclosed upon, and we are basically SOL.  Here is the updated situation.

Here's the basics:

We moved out of our home to this rental for my job, and were told that the house would be available for up to 2 years, and we told her (landlord) we would most likely stay for 12-18 months, even though we got a month-to-month lease on the off chance that my job situation changed.   We moved in sometime around October or November of 2008.  

A few months ago, a process server wanted to serve my wife some papers, thinking that my wife was the current owner.  My wife refused, but they left her the documents which detailed that the house was going to be foreclosed on.  The owner hasn't paid her mortgage since April 2008.  So she rented it out to us 6+ months after she had stopped paying her mortgage.  She never let us know that we would be out on our asses shortly.  

We contacted our landlord, and she tried to give every excuse possible, and that the foreclosure wasn't going to happen, that it was being worked out, and not to worry.  It was obviously bullshit, and I confronted her, and demanded reduced rent, or we would move immediately, and she would be out of the income.  She agreed.  

We received notice earlier this month that she isn't going to be able to save the house from foreclosure, and we received a letter of reference from her, detailing how great we were as tenants, which is important, because getting a rental house is an issue with our German Shepherd Dog.  

Because of her dishonesty, we decided that for the final month, we would withhold our refundable deposit, that she told us we would receive in full at the end anyways.  We don't trust her, so we kept it ourselves.  No big deal, until today.  Our next door neighbor is moving out to be closer to her job, and we are probably going to rent her house, and she contacted our current landlord, who then sent us a nasty letter about the deposit, and she won't give us a positive recommendation.  When I contacted her, and tried to talk to her, she hung up on me.  

Now this gets fun, and here is some of the important updated info:

First off, our current landlord works for the local Sheriff's Dept. as the director of inmate banking.  

Second, the nasty letter we received was from her official Sheriff's email address, with Sheriff's Dept. footer.

So not only has she been fraudulently renting out her property, when she isn't happy about something, she tries to intimidate us.  

Too bad for her one of the other neighbors happens to work for one of the local news channel.    My wife is trying to convince me not to go that far.

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In.

That sucks............

i say let the reporter have the info. fuck her, she lied to you and now she is screwing with your references. let her have it.

Did you give the potential new landlord the story in advance so that the negative reference holds less weight?

Stick it to her.  Using the email with the electronic letterhead/footer in an attempt to intimidate is crossing the line in my opinion.  

 

Oh yeah, she knew in advance, that's actually how the idea of us renting from her came up.  

She also has told us that she would have done the same thing we did, so no worries about that.  

I dont understand the part of the refundable deposit being withheld.

You decided to withhold it because she was dishonest.

So if I feel my CC company is dishonest I can withhold part of my payment to them?

I am trying to understand this maybe I just read it wrong?

I say get her ass fired from the Sheriffs office for mis-use of agency computer systems.

We payed a refundable deposit, and were told when the issue regarding the foreclosure came up, that we would receive back our full deposit.  

However, due to the dishonesty that was shown to us the entire time we were here, not being notified by the landlord about the foreclosure (she wasn't going to tell us, we found out by sheer luck), and the fact that she had been ducking the process server, and the mailman had a stack of notices for her that can't be delivered, nobody could find her.  

We decided that there was no chance we would ever see that money again, so we notified her that we would pay our full rent for our final month, minus the amount of our refundable deposit which she had agreed we were entitled to in full.

She is getting her money just in a roundabout way. They aren't getting their deposit back so they just tell the landlord to keep the deposit in place of this month's rent. No point in throwing good money after bad money.



 

Bingo.  

BTW, my wife just told me that this is the first time that we received an email from the sheriff's address, previously everything had been from her private emails.

screw unto others before they screw unto you.

Heh, that sucks.  Woman I'm dating has had the same thing happen to her family (ie. she lives with her mom, who's been dealing with cancer for the better part of a year...  and their landlord is her mom's brother... tried to sell it out from under them.  


Most people would call me a fucking retard, but I lent them a fair amount of money to help pay their downpayment on the house, as they had first right of refusal.

*shrug*

send e mail to sherrifs office saying she is threating you on their time.

Technically misuse and theft of gov property. You can probably get her fired if you so desire by taking the letter into the Sheriffs Dept and talking to him. They do NOT appreciate their letterhead being used for non official private use. [and for intimidation purposes]

I would go straight to the Sheriff. If he isn't willing to do anything about it, take it to the news.

So the landlord was OK with this?

I understand what you are saying now but the Landlord may now feel that she is entitled to part of that deposit because there may be damages to the home after you guys moved out that were required out of the deposit....

Just wondering why she would be OK with this then all of a sudden she is giving you guys a bad rep.

OP should have stopped rent payments immediately upon finding out about the foreclosure.
You could always inquire about an assumption or make an offer on the place to the bank if you really don't want to leave.

We contemplated stopping payments, but we felt that we still were responsible for making our payments, even if the landlord wasn't being responsible on her end.  

We really aren't interested in purchasing another house, we already own one (which we are renting out, yes, we are landlords now too).  We did contact the bank to see if we could pay them, and stay, and they weren't interested.  

In addition to the next door neighbor, the house two doors down is now available as well, so we have options.

Check the laws in your state, in Colorado it is illegal to use the refundable deposit for the last months rent.  It is in the lease agreement I signed, along with a copy of the renter's law.

FYI:  This is a VERY good time for you to make an offer on the house.

You could offer to simply take over the pmts...offer NO cash to the landlord, just the opportunity to avoid foreclosure, unless she has lots of equity to bargain with.

Make the pmts directly to the mortgage company after talking to them (they will take the pmts rather than be stuck trying to sell the house into this market).  After a year you can refinance the mtg into your own name.

A lawyer can get the property deeded into your name.

We will look into this, but since she isn't taking possession of the house after we leave......

That is exactly how I feel...IMO you are giving her spending money while she lets you hang in limbo...



 

landlord is being foreclosed. Happen to me last year.

TIME TO CALL THE LOCAL ACTION NEW TEAM!!!!

I'm sure you will not have any problems renting then.  I know that if I see something one the news I can help with I WILL.  If I had a rental property, it would be yours, plus it helps you are an ARFCOM member.

You need to look at the REFUNABLE DEPOSIT when you pay it as the LAST MONTHS RENT.  When I rented a place off campus I paid first and last.  Last months rent was the "deposit", too bad my place burnt down.

Lawyer up!! If she stopped paying her mortgage payments prior to you moving in that may be fraud, theft by deception, or some legal infraction. If not a criminal offense, you surely got fucked civil-wise.



Find out who holds the mortgage and make them an offer on the house. Can't hurt to ask. You might be supprised how cheaply it can be had.