In a difficult economy, tenants can a face their worst nightmare: moving into a apartment only to learn that the property has been foreclosed and they must get out.  After moving costs, tenants are facing with moving their stuff again.  Any legal action is destined to cost money.   Also while living in the foreclosed property they might be subject to losing utilites which are taken care of by property managers such as water and gardening.

North Adams Transcript has a full article about a horror story that occurred to one family :

“we all found out the house was in foreclosure and we were all being evicted”

At tenantchecker.com  we frequently talk about the need for landlords to screen their tenants; but perhaps tenants need to start thinking about doing some checking of their own.   Can you screen your landlord?  Part of this will include some common sense.  Inspect the building before you sign a lease.  Do you see any signs of problems.  It’s painfully obvious, but is there any foreclosure notes posted on property?  Ask around the neighborhood.   Ask the neighbors what they think.   Finally, you can conduct a landlord background check by running a Business Partner Owner Check.  These reports can tell you who owns the building, and possible liens and UCC violations that might have occurred.

 foreclosure
background checks
bad landlords