Foreclosures Spare No One In Utah, Even Houses for Rent
The foreclosure crisis is rearing its ugly head in Utah as more and more homeowners are defaulting on their mortgages and facing the threat of losing their properties to foreclosure. The growing foreclosure rate not only affects owners of properties but also tenants of houses for rent.
And the situation is expected to get worst for both delinquent landlords and tenants of houses for rent following University of Utah’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research director Jim Wood’s prediction that the state’s foreclosure rate could almost double this year.
Recent RealtyTrac data showed that homeowners with foreclosure filings increased 99.5 percent from 2007 to 2008. The state ranked 13th in the country for its 2008 foreclosure rate of 1.65 percent. The figures are slightly below the national average of 1.84 percent.
As banks and mortgage lenders continue their aggressive foreclosure activity, landlords are forced to give few days’ notice to vacate to tenants of their houses for rent. This scenario is played out in every property owned by landlords who are delayed on their mortgage payment, regardless if tenants of homes for rent are diligent rent payers.
According to Neighborhood Nonprofit Housing Corp. executive director Kim Datwyler, tenants of houses for rent who never misses a monthly rental payment and never violated any rules, do not have any choice but to vacate once the banks and mortgage lenders have foreclosed homes for rental.
She noted that tenants of houses for rent are at the losing end because most of the time they never know that they will be forced out and are given only few days’ notice before eviction. This leaves them scurrying to find rental homes that are affordable at a moment’s notice.
Datwyler said that the biggest problem is on rental homes owned by absentee landlords who are not making any mortgage payment. According to Datwyler, most of these absentee landlords do not bother to inform tenants of their houses for rent that they should find another place to live.
Sometimes, tenants of homes for rentals are unable to recover any deposit they have given to landlords.
Tenants of rental homes can ask for assistance from various government agencies and organizations that help distressed homeowners deal with issues concerning foreclosures.
The Housing Education Coalition is one organization that can help displaced tenants of homes for rent in Utah find affordable homes rentals. The coalition also helps tenants find financial assistance to allow them to make ends meet.
