Cal. AG Urged To Follow Connecticut Colleague In Hammering Lenders, Lawyers, Real Estate Agents Illegally Steamrolling Tenants Out Of Foreclosed Homes

In San Francisco, California, Dean Preston, executive director of Tenants Together, writes in Beyond Chron:

• Across our state, realtors and lawyers working on behalf of banks are violating federal law by illegally pushing renters out of their homes after foreclosure. The results are devastating, with thousands of tenants being driven into homelessness and communities left with vacancies and blight. Responding to a similar pattern of illegal evictions in Connecticut, Attorney General Richard Blumenthal recently announced a new initiative to aid tenants of foreclosed properties. Blumenthal issued cease-and-desist letters warning law firms, real estate companies, banks and loan servicers to stop illegal evictions. Here in California, tenants want to know whether Attorney General Edmund G. (“Jerry”) Brown, Jr., will follow Blumenthal’s lead and take decisive actions to protect vulnerable tenants.(1)

For more, see Brown Should Follow Connecticut AG’s Lead: Go After Banks, Realtors and Lawyers that Violate Tenant Rights.

In related stories, see:

• Connecticut AG Fires Warning Shot At Lawyers, Lenders, Real Estate Agents Using Sleazy Tactics To Illegally Drive Tenants From Foreclosed Homes,
• A Case Study In Sleazy "Tag Team" Tactics Used By Real Estate Agent & Attorney To Illegally Intimidate Family From Foreclosed Home.

(1) The Protecting Tenants At Foreclosure Act (PTFA) (go here for federal statute) allows tenants to stay in their homes after foreclosure for at least 90 days or until the end of their lease term, whichever is later. According to the story, in cities with just cause for eviction ordinances, tenants may not have to vacate at all after foreclosure. Despite these laws, real estate agents and lawyers working for banks routinely violate tenant rights, the story states. Tenants Together reportedly operates California’s only statewide hotline for tenants in foreclosure situations, receiving calls from tenants around the state who are being lied to about their rights and illegally evicted from their homes by bank lawyers and real estate agents, according to the story.

Go here for laws protecting tenants in foreclosure situations in California.