Lender Backs Off From Attempt To Illegally Bully Tenant Out Of Foreclosed Home After New Jersey Public Advocate's Office Intervenes

In North Bergen, New Jersey, The Jersey Journal reports:

• When Rosita Crooke learned her North Bergen apartment building was being foreclosed she contacted the bank. Crooke wanted to keep paying her rent, but instead the bank told her she would have to leave and that the anti-eviction law didn’t apply because of the terms of her lease. She contacted the state Public Advocate’s Office and learned she could stay in her apartment. “After the Public Advocate contacted the bank, the bank sent me a note asking me to pay the rent,” she said. “When I told the bank that I know my rights and I have a right to stay, they didn’t listen to me, but when I got the Public Advocate involved, they finally listened. More people need to know that help is available to them.”

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• The state’s anti-eviction law protects tenants whose sole reason for eviction is the building is in foreclosure or there is a new owner.(1)

For more, see Public Advocate helps North Bergen woman (if link expires, try here).

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In a related story, see The Star Ledger: Protect N.J. renters from eviction from foreclosed homes:

• The Department of the Public Advocate says its office has assisted more than 160 tenants in the state who were facing unfair eviction from properties under foreclosure. In some cases, renters were sent notices by banks or their representatives informing them they had to vacate the property. Others had utilities shut off, or were evicted by local sheriffs. [...] Meanwhile, the advocate’s office attributes the rise in eviction abuses to the economy. It says in cases of foreclosure, tenants are protected by the state’s anti-eviction laws, but many don’t realize they can’t be forced to move.

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From the New Jersey Department of the Public Advocate:

• Public Advocate: Tenants continue to be pressured to leave homes because of foreclosures (Many unaware they are protected by NJ law),
• Go here for NJ Public Advocate Tenant Foreclosure Project Case Histories.

(1) The New Jersey Supreme Court has ruled that the New Jersey Anti-Eviction Act protects most tenants from eviction even when the property where they live is in foreclosure or has been foreclosed. Chase Manhattan Bank v. Josephson, 135 N.J. 209 (1994). The state high court opinion in Maglies v. Estate of Guy, 193 N.J. 108; 936 A.2d 414; 2007 N.J. LEXIS 1436 (2007) gives a discussion of the breadth of tenant protection provided by the New Jersey anti-eviction law. See also: Legal Services of New Jersey's Amicus Brief filed in Maglies v. Estate of Guy. RentSigmaSkimming