What happens when the house you are renting is in default?

Maryetta
Can a family who is renting a house that is in default just stop paying rent. The landloard is a very good one, and the house is nice and big enough for the big family so they don't want to move. The house is in forclosure because the landlord was in the hospital for quite some time and lost a lot of work, but he is refinancing. The landlord has kept the family informed. The landlord has agreed with the tennants that they can pay rent after the month that they are due for, but now the tennants don't want to pay the landlord untill they see the refi paperwork, even though they have been in the house for the last month and have not paid for the last month. The landlord is sure every thing will be fine at the closing, and he is trying to work with the tennants, but on the other hand, he doesn't want to have to sue the tennants for non payment of rent. Even if everything doesn't go fine at the closing, shouldn't the tennants still owe and pay for every month they lived there

Roxann
You are the landlord, right. Sounds like you have a dilemma. If I were renting from you, I would hold my rent in escrow until I saw definite proof that the refinancing went through.

Narcisa
Good grief. I wonder what color the sky is on the tenants planet?Tenants have a legal obligation to pay rent for the right to occupy the premises. Since these tenants have, and are occupying the premises they must pay rent. If they do not pay rent the current landlord can (and should) evict them. Period. End of story.Tenants rights are not affected by the landlords current financial problems, and are unlikely to be affected unless there is a change of ownership and the new owner decides to evict them. Any new owner of the property would acquire the property "subject to" the lease or rental agreement with these tenants. In other words, he has to keep the current tenants unless the lease or rental obligation is in default. Of course - the failure to pay rent is a default.If there is a change of ownership and the tenants haven't paid rent - what do you think the new owner is going to do with them? Well my guess is that he will consider the failure to pay rent a default in the lease or rental agreement and will evict the tenants. In fact, even if the owner has to file bankruptcy, the US trustee in bankruptcy would probably keep the tenants unless they aren't paying rent. If they aren't paying rent the US trustee in bankruptcy will evict them. Think about this logically for a moment. The landlords reluctance to sue the tenants for non payment of rent is probably one reason he can't make his mortgage payments.