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Family renting home in foreclosure; no water since May
lohud.com — No one can track down the owner of the house, which is in foreclosure. The family renting it hasn't had water since May. When officials tried to reach the owner in his Florida house, they found that was also in foreclosure. The latest victims in the foreclosure crisis: Renters.
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There usually are laws on the books, though they do vary by state. In Washington the landlord is responsible for keeping the house in a livable condition and if (s)he doesn't, they can be held responsible in court.
However in this article it looks like they can't even find the bastard.
kuzotz, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1cross I wish that was the case here in America. Because in America if you withhold rent under any circumstance then the sheriff knocks on your door adn you have to pack up your stuff right there and NOW!!.GG
One day my doorbell rings and it's a guy from the Providence Water Supply Board. They're about to cut the water to the building off due to non-payment. I told the guy I didn't own it but got on the horn to the management company post haste.
They had to shell out $5,425 dollars to keep the water on. Good, it serves them right. They never did their due diligence when they bought the building.
Alternatively they may not be able to afford or refuse to pay the gas bill the landlord is supposed to pay. If they're stuck in this slumlord's building I suspect they're not well off. crapmatic, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1Sounds like this family may need to complain to the city manager's office, and maybe their council people.
BTW I live in oklahoma city now lol.
The housing market isn't too blame - the idiot who took out mortgages on homes, rented them out to try and soften the blow of not being able to afford what he borrowed - and then left the tenants to suffer - HE is to blame. Not the housing market (though, no worries, this ***** will be saved by the upcoming mortgage bail out).
This guy is an *****, but I can't feel sorry for a family who first didn't research who they were renting from, didn't bother looking into the property before renting it, and managed to live in a place without running water for three months before contacting anyone about it.
It does teach you some valuable lessons in survival and what is truly necessary or not in this life.
Not pleasant but livable. Never wanna go there again. jbcsee, on 07/25/2008, -0/+5I lived through my teenage years without running water at home, central heating or electricity in Alaska. It's easier then it sounds. You just keep a few 5 gallon jugs of drinking water around. Dig a hole in your backyard and setup a out-house for a toilet. For showers visit a gym, friends house or many laundry-mats sell showers.
Nobody should have to go without water.
This submitter and some of the comments here on Digg are filled with sensationalism. My real question is - do some of you say things just to get Dugg up, or do you actually believe some of that outlandish *****?
http://www.move.com/apartments_new-york/haverstraw ...
they didn't move because they had a great free place to live. also the fact that the water was shut off from the landlord not paying means that they were in an all bills paid place. since they weren't paying rent they could have easily contacted the city and had the water turned on in their own name. but they didn't so no sympathy from me. spaceddaisy, on 07/25/2008, -2/+10@mikesbaker
You'd first have to apply for one of those places and hope you get it. Half of the time the places on sites as those are already taken or they have costly application processes.
I do agree they could have turned the water on, and that they were probably living there rent free. Probably means they are in a bad place in their lives right now and that does get sympathy for me. Who knows I might lose my job, live on my savings for a while and when that runs dry be in the same sort of situation. motivatedmama, on 07/25/2008, -2/+12@mikesbaker
You're a heartless dick.
The real question is - where WAS the money going.
I'm living in a house right now that's been in foreclosure for almost a month, and I've actually driven down to the city and paid the water bill myself twice. They'll take money for it, because they know ***** like this guy (and my own x-landlord who I haven't heard from for almost 3 months) are doing things like this. The lady at the city even said she'd put my name in the computer to receive a copy of the bill so I'd know when to pay it, even though she wasn't suppose to without permission from the landlord, who is M.I.A.
gurudrew, on 07/25/2008, -2/+3The house is the collateral and as long as the payments are made, who cares who is making them. I agree, give the house over to the tenants and let them start making the mortgage payments. Stochio, on 07/26/2008, -0/+2Guru, no. That decision is up to the bank. But suppose that you get your law passed that in the event of a foreclosure, the house will be handed over to the current tenant in the event that that person is not the owner and that the loan will be assumed by the renter, at the option of the renter. This will represent a risk to the creditor, and the creditor will require to be compensated for this risk. The cost will be shifted to the buyer of the house who will then pass on this cost to the renter. Rents will go up as a result. So in the end, renters will not gain this put option for free. They will pay for it. There is no free lunch.
Ajajadude, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1You know what's funny? You people freaking out over a passing thought. Stochio, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1Don't throw around words like "fair" and expect no response.
gurudrew, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1@Stochio
I'm not asking for a law, just some common sense from the bank. What is better, evicting the current tenants and waiting to find another buyer or let the current resident take over making payments so the money keeps coming in? And of course the bank will want some compensation for their "kind deed". Just tack it onto the total.
If these renters were in position to lay out the $5k plus that this would cost (and were even zoned for wells), they'd be smarter to just move.
Yeah it's unethical but I gotta eat too you know.
There needs to some reform in laws in cases like this. For instance I was told by the energy company that I could not pay the bill for heat on my own (which I planned to deduct from rent) because, quote: "he (landlord) may not want the heat turned back on in the unit and only the person on the account could make that decision." The only way I could turn it back on is to put it in my name which entailed a $500 deposit.
These cases will continue to increase and something needs to be done to protect the renters. The only thing I could do was not pay rent for the last couple of months which resulted in losing my deposit. Not counting the inconvenience I came out about even.
diggduggDOOM, on 07/25/2008, -1/+13Stop paying rent. You'll find that landlord real fast. Rather, the landlord is likely to find you.
A friend of mine got kicked out of the house they were renting when the landlord
got foreclosed on. This guy has like 6 homes he just stopped paying on.
Most water meters are inside a box in the ground but in some areas I guess they are on the side of the building. When they figure out that you turned it back on they will be pissed and probably call the cops. You better play dumb real well. crapmatic, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1I guess if you want to get creative you could put a fake water box in with fake meter (add a lock if you like) and cover the other one up. Not that the family has time for that, of course.
MUAHAHAHHAHAH XombieRobot, on 07/25/2008, -2/+13This is what happens when people get greedy and buy up several homes to rent out, while not being able to cover their own mortgages because they re-financed the hell out of their own property.
GREED is the main culprit of the foreclosure crisis. Both from the people and greedy lenders. When foreclosures happen its always a lose-lose situation.
-- or do you think people innovate and bring new products/services to market because helping people makes them happy?
This probably isn't a matter of people being "stupid enough to live there", but rather a case of people being too broke to move anywhere else right now.
The *only* reform I imagine would be a good idea would be for the state to start requiring some sort of escrow service for security deposits. Other than that?
That's what this woman is doing. She is staying in a place without water because it's free.
"The mother was not available yesterday, and it could not be determined if she was still paying rent to the landlord."
"Hekl said the tenant -a woman with her three children, ages 20, 14 and 9 -has not been very cooperative with housing inspectors."
She hasn't been cooperative because she knows if they track down the landlord she's getting the boot. The tenants aren't victims, they are taking advantage of the rent vacation. dupswapdrop, on 07/25/2008, -3/+4If you rent you have no control over anything. Rental unit foreclosures are hard because most of the owners are corporations so they just dissolve the company and move on. The people behind the company are not affected, that is how business is done today.
Although at this point, I'm glad to be a renter because I would otherwise have entered the home ownership market right before it fell off a cliff.
Bad choice when there is no water.
But why leave the trash in the front yard? Do they have no pride? Can't they take a trash bag and spend an hour?
Sometimes here in Phoenix we drive through the Indian reservation to get up North and a lot of the residents have ok homes but the front yard is covered in trash. I can tell people live there why don't they pick it up? Does being poor mean you no longer care that plastic wrappers are jammed up against your chain link fence and bottles, boxes, cans, etc. are in the yard?
Say it with me:
"Sqquaaatters". jippers, on 07/26/2008, -2/+1Would the housing market in Vancouver, British Columbia PLEASE crash already?! Some people who actually can afford a home would like to buy one right about now!
Our best hope at the moment is Barr.
We were renting a place and the land owner soon moved out of state, he let the house go into foreclosure and never told us the tenants, he had known about it since April. We only found out this was happening because we had a yard sale and a person who had seen the property listed in the public auction asked if we were having a moving sale. The sale was last Friday with no one buying the properties so they defaulted back to the bank, on Monday we received notice that we have to vacate by August 5Th. The bank would rather sit on a piece of property in the hopes that it would sell rather than have steady income from the current tenants, how messed up is that. The two good things that happened though were after our yard sale we had enough money to put the deposit in on a new apartment, and I happen to work for the bank that all of the tenants deposit money is stored and I know that we are receiving it back.
I agree there needs to be more laws protecting renters who do pay on time and just need a place to live. mrjoebert, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1This happened to me about 4 years ago but I found out when there was a surprize eviction notice for my landlord on my front door. There's some shiesty people in Florida. stealthc, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1This is why the feds should have let Fannie and Freddie fail. Yes housing prices would have collapsed and left a lot of people (who had made BAD DECISIONS) holding the bag, but the low prices would mean affordable housing for millions, and the market would begin to heal. Economic downturns like this are like getting a rotten tooth removed. Which do you prefer? A quick procedure or a slow one with poor anesthetic?
http://mises.org/story/3045
What you're suggesting is pumping the whole head full of Novocaine in order to ignore the sore tooth. Hangly, on 07/26/2008, -0/+1The infection has spread to the jawbone and may infect the skull.
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