Bill would give renters foreclosure rights

http://www.dispatchpolitics.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/05/07/copy/leg07.ART_ART_05-07-09_B5_PIDPKTM.html?sid=101

Bill would give renters foreclosure rights
House OKs plan to let them stay 30 days; now Senate gets it
Thursday, May 7, 2009 3:24 AM
By Jim Siegel

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Bill Faith said he hears the stories all the time -- a renter who has paid on time and done nothing wrong is without warning tossed out of his home or apartment because it has fallen into foreclosure.

"With tenants, it's just so egregious because they are evicted sometimes with only three days notice, even through they've paid their rent on time for years," said Faith, executive director of the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio.

The Ohio House passed a bill yesterday that would allow tenants to remain in their residences for at least 30 days following a foreclosure, giving them more time to find a new home. The bill passed 53-42, with most Republicans voting against it.

House Bill 9 also would:

• Require landlords to notify potential tenants if the property is currently in foreclosure.

• Require landlords to notify all current tenants residing in any building if that property goes into foreclosure, within 60 days of the filing.

• Require landlords to notify tenants 21 days in advance if a foreclosure is not remedied and a sheriff's sale date is set. This is to give the tenant a fair shot at bidding on the property.

"No tenant who pays rent on time and lives up to their end of the contract should have to face immediate eviction because their landlord faced a foreclosure and sheriff sale," said the bill's main sponsor, Rep. Ted Celeste, D-Grandview Heights. "Unfortunately tenants have largely been forgotten in this mortgage situation."

Republicans expressed concern that upon sale of a foreclosed property, a renter's contract would convert to a month-to-month agreement. Rep. Shannon Jones, R-Springboro, wondered who a tenant contacts about repairs if a bank or out-of-state investor purchases a property.

"People won't want to purchase property if they have no interest in being in a landlord-tenant relationship, but they are forced to do so," she said, adding that it could further devalue the properties.

The bill now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate.

jsiegel@dispatch.com