Building in Upstate NY in foreclosure and I am a tenant...help!

Question

Hello, I am a tenant in a 4 unit building that was summoned for foreclosure. I live in upstate NY (Dutchess County) I have called the bank that has filed and was told that is was in foreclosure and I have spoken with the lawyers for the bank as well to verify the property is in foreclosure. My question is, I am being harassed by the superintendent for the rent. (Now when we moved here, we were told that we can pay him the rent or send it to the land lady.) I told him we all received the foreclosure notice, he said he did not care and that since we still live here, we pay rent to him. What do I do? Because I argued with him, he has now put up a sign in front of the building to rent out our apartment. We have not had legal notice to vacate and he had told me "If you don't have my money, get the **** out in 3 days". What do I do? Also, adding to the question, we moved in on December 26th, 2007, we did not get our lease until March of this year. The lease says from "January 1st, 2008 to December 31st 2008", it is in both my name and my fiance. He signed, I did not (I was not home at the time to sign it). Can I do something about this too?

Answer 1

You MUST pay the rent to the owner of record no matter if they are in foreclosure or not. You owe them rent until the day the bank takes over. On that day your lease becomes void and the bank is authorized to give you a move-out date.

Answer 2

You are still responsible for the rent even while the building is in the foreclosure process. Once the bank has foreclosed and taken possession of the building, you would pay your rent to someone else.

Just make sure to get a receipt of a cancelled check to prove you paid the rent.

Answer 3

WOW, what a mess!  Call the bank and ask who you would pay the rent to.  If the bank takes over, you would pay them the rent.  And, the Super can't evict you without notice, so he might as well take the for rent sign down.  He would have to go through all the legal steps and he hasn't, but he may be planning to.  Actually, you can be evicted because you didn't pay the rent yet, even under the circumstances, you still owe someone that rent.  You can't live their free just because the building is in foreclosure.  The foreclosure process is not a quick one, it could be months until the bank takes over.  You would have to find out how far they are in the process.  I think by your husband signing the lease, he is bound to the lease even if you aren't.