Saturday, April 07, 2012

Foreclosure Lockouts Remain Major Problem, Leaving Unwitting Renters Caught With Pants Down, Unable To Retrieve Belongings

In Bakersfield, California, KERO-TV Channel 23 reports:
  • Attorneys tell 23 ABC that tenant lockouts have become a major problem since the foreclosure crisis hit. Tami Knopf said she came home two weeks ago to find she'd been locked out due to a foreclosure. "This caught me with my pants down, basically," said Knopf.


  • Knopf claims she's known since November that the home she was renting was in the process of being foreclosed. "So we were moving things out in little increments. I figured I had all the time it took till I got served or until I got all my stuff out," said Knopf.


  • She claims she was applying for cash for keys with Altisource and was told she'd have until April 10 to vacate when someone changed her locks and even glued the keyholes with her property still inside the home. "I received no money for cash for keys, no notice to vacate the premises, no three-day or 30-day notice, neither from landlady or this company," said Knopf. Her belongings have since been cleared out and Knopf says she feels violated.


  • "There's such an injustice going on. I don't know who has done this to me. They're doing it to secure their assets. Those aren't their assets in that home -- those were my assets," said Knopf.

For more, see Renter Lockouts Due To Foreclosure Becomes Major Problem Locally (Real Estate Attorneys Say It's Common For Renter's To Get Locked Out Of Homes After Foreclosure).