Collect Rent after file Chapter 7?

[brandon94]

awayalways,

So they still haven't foreclosed and sold the property at auction in all that time? I just received a motion for final judgement of foreclosure from the lenders attorney. There is no hearing date scheduled yet. I will be filing chapter 7 next week. Do you have any idea how long things will be delayed for my property in Florida before they finally get to auction it off?

This whole thing is confusing to me because I had one attorney I consulted with say that once you file chapter 7 and surrender the property then its not your property and you cannot collect any rent. I had 2 other attorneys say that you probably could keep it.

Did you list your anticipated rental income on the schedule J. I would think it would be hard to list that since you don't have any idea how much longer you can collect it. The renter could stop paying or the place could get auctioned off quickly.

Thanks,

Brandon

[awayalways]

OP I defaulted on my FL pre-foreclosure in Dec 2006 so thats about 35 months or so now. I made the lender produce the note and jump through a few other hoops too. So maybe this is part of the reason. Anyways my f/c is on a 750k property so I really dont know why their not moving on it.

If I were in your shoes, I would file a few days before the f/c hearing. Then bring a copy of the notice of stay down to your circuit court county clerks office and have them time stamp it and file it with your f/c docket. This will close your forclosure for a while because they will have to either lift the stay (about 6 weeks) or wait until your discharged (about 12 weeks) then reopen your case (about 3-4 weeks) file motion for summary judgement (about 3-4 weeks) advertise for sale of property (about 3-4 weeks). Plus, if you can find something wrong with your mortgage, you could probably get some more time by raising questions in the foreclosure summons. Just because you surrendered your property does not mean that any ol lender can come in and foreclose on you. Everytime they have to answer adds time. And you can do whatever you want with your house while the home is in your name.

Hope it all works out for you. aa.

[shabam]

Yes I am.

Does your rental contract have a bk clause?

[shabam]

Since you are handing it back, I would tell the renter you are filing and stop taking any more rent from them. The lease could very well be null and void when you file, so why complicate things for a few extra $$$$. You would not want the tenant to file an AP or get the UST involved.

[brandon94]

awayalways,

Did you report the rental income on your schedule I as current or projected monthly income. I know you mentioned you reported it for the means test.

Thanks

[awayalways]

OP my attorney added my rental income to the current income schedule. Then he listed my current mortgage under expenses because these were the amounts due on the day I filed (I dont remember the forms). But then he also added $1200 to my projected expenses for housing because I was surrendering my home in bankruptcy (you have to live somewhere). But remember surrendering your home in bankruptcy doesnt change the fact that you are still the owner of the property until it forecloses and entitled to rent payments.

Also the Obama 90 day tenant law for renters only applies to Federally backed loans *sigh*.