ROSEVILLE, CA - A tenant living in a bank-owned home says the bank is trying to force her family to leave despite a federal law protecting renters in foreclosed homes.
Christine Pierce, 29, said OneWest Bank has made multiple attempts through its real estate agent and law firm to get her and her husband and their three-year-old son to move out even though they had a two-year lease with the former owner through July 2011.
The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009 prevents tenants from being evicted when the rental property goes into foreclosure. The act took effect in May 2009 and will expire at the end of 2014.
The law allows tenants to remain in a foreclosed house through the end of their lease unless the home is purchased by a buyer who intends to occupy the property, in which case the existing tenants may remain for 90 days after the sale. Month-to-month renters are also given the 90-day protection.
Pierce said she was threatened with eviction by the bank's real estate agent unless she accepted a $5,000 "cash for keys" offer to move out after the house was repossessed in May. Pierce said they were given 15 days to move, which she found unacceptable.
Pierce provided News10 with a copy of the agent's email. "As of right now you do not have an eviction on your record. If you agree to move... then the eviction would be put on hold," the agent said.
"It's threatening," Pierce said. "They wanted us out of the house and that was that. I called them and said I had a lease that was good until next year and they said it didn't matter."
Pierce sought help from California Sen. Barbara Boxer, whose staff appeared to have stopped eviction proceedings. Boxer's office forwarded Pierce a letter dated July 8 from the U.S. Treasury's Office of Thrift Supervision.
"OneWest advised us that after commencing the eviction proceedings, it obtained a copy of the lease between Ms. Pierce and the former landlord. In compliance with the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, OneWest will comply with the lease and terminate the current eviction attempts," the letter from OTS said.
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