Protections for Tenants in Foreclosed Properties

Renters whose landlords fall into foreclosure have new protections from evictions under a bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama.

The bill provides renters whose landlords have lost their properties to foreclosure the right to stay in the home for 90 days after the foreclosure or through the term of their lease unless the property is sold to someone who will occupy the home.  The bill also provides similar protections to housing voucher holders.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that 40 percent of the households who lose their homes because of foreclosure are renters.

The renter protection provisions went into effect on May 20, 2009, and will expire at the end of 2012. In most states, renters get little or no notice to vacate their homes upon their landlords’ foreclosures. The new federal protections preempt state law unless a state provides a greater level of renter protections at foreclosure.

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Lawmakers Seek to Prevent HOAs From Banning Mezuzahs

When Monica Lundeen Smith and Michael Smith got a letter from their condo owners association asking them to take down “the item” on their doorframe, they assumed it was a simple misunderstanding.

The association, the couple figured, must not have known that the object was a mezuzah, a small box with a scroll inside that Jews traditionally affix to their doorposts.

“We thought we just needed to have the opportunity to explain to these people that it’s part of our religion, that we can’t take it down,” said Lundeen Smith, who was renting the Houston condo with her boyfriend, who is now her husband.

But the association persisted, she said, and two years later, the Texas Legislature is considering a bill inspired by their experience.

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