F'closing Bank's Failure To Assume Management Duties Of 4-Plex Results In Unpaid Utility Bill; Leads To City "Red-Tags", Tenants Get The Boot

In Albuquerque, New Mexico, KRQE-TV Channel 13 reports:

• The city of Albuquerque red-tagged four apartments Thursday after tenants were without hot water for nearly a week. It’s all due to a recent foreclosure on the property that led to a gap in management.

• It was the latest blow for Shane Netherly. He lives in the recently red-tagged four-plex along with three other families. Last month he found out the building was foreclosed. The city said the building was bought by a bank out of Florida but the bank has yet to hire a manager to take care of the property or collect the rent. “Nobody here wants to move,” Netherly said. "We're all paying rent.”

• Netherly said August was the first month the tenants didn’t pay because they don’t know where to send the money. A portion of their rent pays for water and gas service. "They shut our gas off; now we no longer have any hot water,” Netherly said.

• Last week, the gas company removed the main gas meter to the entire building. That shut off hot water to all four apartments. The city said that is against city code and is why the city had to shut down the four-plex.

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• The city said it also discovered some more health issues. “The vent pipe is not properly attached to the water heater,” said Joe Martinez, who manages the Safe City Strike Force. Martinez said the city has tried several times to get the Florida bank to respond to the issues but has had little luck. So on Thursday, Martinez hand-delivered the bad news.

• “They're just caught in limbo," Martinez said. "They're caught in midstream before the bank can make the necessary arrangements to have somebody manage this property,” Martinez said. “It’s like where would I go, and finding the place is even more difficult part,” Netherly said. Tenants were moved to a hotel Thursday night. The city said if the Florida bank does not fix the problems soon the tenants will have to permanently move out.(1)

Source: Foreclosure leads to evictions (4 families forced to move out).

(1) One may wonder whether the foreclosing lender's (actually the loan servicer's) foot-dragging in this story that led to the tenants' eviction is a not-so-subtle way for it to circumvent the Federal Protecting Tenants At Foreclosure Act, which requires the lender (as well as any 3rd party foreclosure sale purchaser not intending to reside on the premises) to respect any existing tenant leases, and provide at least 90 days notice when vacating month-to-month renters. See Section 702(a)(2) of the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act of 2009.