With the record foreclosure rates, many homeowners are able to see the tragedy coming. Once they know they will lose a job, or a medical crisis suddenly hits, it is just a matter of time before the mortgage payment is missed, and homeowners know it. But, what happens if you are just renting your home and the landlord falls behind on the bills?

In this case, you may not find out until long after the fact that there is a problem, especially if the owners do not say anything. They may, of course, finally inform you of the foreclosure problem when the sheriff sale is approaching, but this may give you only a small amount of time to find a new place to move. And how much time do you have, exactly?

If you are renting a property that you have recently found out is in foreclosure, you need to find out what part of the foreclosure process the house is in, and determine if there is a redemption period after the sheriff sale.

Unfortunately, because of their limited rights to the property, renters have fewer options available to them to stop foreclosure before the process goes all the way through. Thus, they have to rely on the landlords much more than they would probably like.

Find out from the owners if a sheriff sale has been scheduled yet with the county. The county courthouse or sheriffs office will also have this information. Knowing the foreclosure auction date will give you a good estimate of when the landlords will no longer be the owners of the house. The sheriff sale transfers ownership of the property to the purchaser at the auction, which is usually the foreclosing bank itself who buys the property back.

After knowing when the sheriff sale will take place, look up your state foreclosure laws to find out if there is a redemption period after the sale. If there is no redemption, then you have to move out soon after the foreclosure auction, or you will be evicted. In fact, the eviction may take place within as little as two weeks after the sale. It is possible to negotiate with the lender for more time, but there is no guarantee to be given extra time to move out.

However, if there is a redemption period, you can stay living in the house until after the period is over. This is a length of time guaranteed by state law for homeowners to keep possession of the house and attempt to pay off the amount owed or sell the property outright. So the bank can not evict you until after the period is over, no matter how much they would like to do so.

In some cases, after the foreclosure the bank will offer to give you (or the landlords if they are still in the picture) a thousand dollars or so just to move out. This is called a "cash for keys" deal, and the amount offered will not be very much. Banks do it as a sign of good faith, and as an attempt to persuade homeowners to leave the property in good condition without destroying anything or stealing all of the copper pipes to sell for moving expenses, or ripping out the water heater and furnace.

But how long you have depends on how much time has already expired and what the state foreclosure laws have to say. One of these pieces of information can be obtained from the landlord or through county officials, and the other is freely available online on any number of foreclosure websites, as well as official state websites which will have the exact language of the foreclosure laws.

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