Received the following question from a tenant of a property in foreclosure:
I’m renting an apartment in Vancouver and I’ve just received ‘petition to the court’. It seems that my landlord has not been paying the mortgage on the place we’re renting. What do we need to do? Should we find a new place to live? Will we get our deposit back?
Are our belongings safe in the flat?
This was my answer:
Even if the bank will eventually sell the place, there is still some time before this happens. Depending on the specific property you still have 2~7 months . Nobody is going to go into the apartment tomorrow and take possession and I am sure your belonging are safe.
On the legal side, you may read this publication: cantPayYourMortgage.pdf – on page 16 there is a chapter for tenants.
As a first step, I suggest you contact your landlord and ask him if he has done anything to stop the foreclosure. I find that many homeowners solve the problem way before it gets the point the bank needs to sell it. ( You can also refer your land lord to www.ForeclosureHelpBC.com )
I also recommend you call the bank’s lawyer and ask for more details, this may help you understand how much time you have.