Booting Connecticut Renters From Foreclosed Homes Subject To Various Legal Hurdles

Connecticut Watchdog reports:

• Persons who rent an apartment in a property that is going through foreclosure have legal protections that safeguard them from unfair treatment and upheaval, the Commissioner of the Department of Consumer Protection said []. Since some of these protections have been enhanced by recent legislation, it is a good time to remind property owners, property managing and servicing companies and real estate brokers of their legal obligations.
• “At least a half-dozen state and federal laws have protections for tenants of rental properties going through foreclosure. The owners of foreclosed properties — often banks — as well as property managing and servicing companies and real estate brokers must adhere to these protections so that tenants are not improperly uprooted from their homes,” Consumer Protection Commissioner William M. Rubenstein said.

Among these laws are:

• The Federal Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009;
• The Connecticut Identification of Landlord Law (Conn. Gen. Stat. §47a-6);
• The Connecticut Cash for Keys Law (Conn. Gen. Stat. §47a-20f, as amended by Section 3 of Public Act 10-181);
• The Connecticut Security Deposit Act — Conn. Gen. Stat. §47a-21(e);
• The Connecticut Just Cause Eviction Law (Conn. Gen. Stat. §47a-23c).

The new owner of a foreclosed property is also subject to the terms of any existing Section 8 lease and Housing Assistance Payments (“HAP”) contract between the prior owner and the public housing authority. If a tenant in a foreclosed property is a Section 8 tenant, then the new owner must assume the HAP Contract.

For more on each law, see Tenants In Foreclosed Housing Have Rights In Connecticut.