Sometimes people unwittingly rent and move into a house or a condominium that becomes involved in a mortgage foreclosure.  For many years, those tenants who entered into a lease with the borrower had no right to stay in the property after the foreclosure.

During the foreclosure crisis (from 2008 through 2014), a Federal law was passed–The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act– which provided some assistance to bona fide tenants to allow them an opportunity to stay in the property for a while longer after the completion of the foreclosure.  That Federal law has now expired, but it has been replaced by a new Florida Statute (Section 83.561, Florida Statutes), which became effective on June 2, 2015.  The new Florida statute’s provisions include the following:

-it does not apply to mortgagor/owner-occupied property

-there must be bona fide tenant with a valid lease

-a foreclosing lender must provide 30-day advance notice as prescribed in the                  Statute to tenant to vacate

-after expiration of the 30-day notice, the foreclosing lender may seek eviction through a writ of possession.