Can anyone help with real estate law?

[scrapbookingpro]

I have a "situation" and I could really use some advice with some legal backbone. Thanks in advance to anyone who can help.

Here's the short version of the problem:
My family is currently renting a house that is going into foreclosure. The owners have not paid the mortgage or the HOA fees for months. The home goes to auction in three weeks, after which we have been told that we can buy it from the bank.
We met with a lawyer very briefly in May. He told us that since the house was about to be foreclosed on, we were no longer required to pay rent. The owners weren't too happy about that. They were being really nice about the whole situation at first so we agreed to pay them one more months rent even though the lawyer said we didn't have to. Now all of a sudden they are demanding more money from us and threatening to kick us out AND take all of the appliances from the house.
Our lease was not renewed once the foreclosure process started- we were just told that we could stay. There is nothing in writing. Do they have the right to come in and take appliances from the house? Can they make us move out? The house will officially NOT be theirs in just three weeks.
We do not have the money that they expect us to give them.

What can we do?

Thanks for any insight or advice. The situation has me pretty worried.

 

[redrosesix]

I work for a property management company, but I'm sure the rules are different where you are. But...do you have a Tenancy Board, state information office or something like that? There will be state or local statutes that govern the rights/obligations of tenants and landlords -- you need to arm yourself with information.

Like I said, the rules are probably different here, but there is no way I can imagine they would be able to do that -- even if there never was a written lease, here it is assumed you have a month to month lease (and that includes renting the appliances, since they are part of the apartment) And it takes time to kick somebody out of the apartment. If you do find out that you are within your rights to stay there, you may have to get a restraining order or something.

 

[*pixie*dust*]

Were the appliances listed specifically in the lease agreement? If not, then they may be able to remove those.

 

[scrapbookingpro]

Were the appliances listed specifically in the lease agreement? If not, then they may be able to remove those.

I will definitely check, but we actually put in an offer to buy the house (before all of the foreclosure madness) and I KNOW the appliances were included in the sale.

 

[leight]

I would immediately change the locks on the door- put deadlocks as well. Also - put the rent $ in an acct that shows you are saving it if needed. But also check and see where they are in the foreclosure process. The bank who is foreclosing on the owners will have to contact you as well - you can try to negotiate a buyout from the bank when they do to pay you to leave. I wouldn't entertain the owners requirements- print out the lis pends and foreclosure docs from the county court and have it avail just in case- as well as a copy of your lease- say that you've been paying the owner month to month. At this point it would be your word against them and they are obviously not paying so they don't have anything to back them up!