Foreclosure

[Riley]

What am I legally able to take with me from the house when I move due to foreclosure? Was wondering what would happen (if anything) if I was to take the furnace and air conditioning unit from the house.

I never received a foreclosure notice at all and today received notice of sherrif sale on January 13th! I was thinkin that I would get a notice of foreclosure and have at least a couple months to find a new place to live.

[lrprn]

What am I legally able to take with me from the house when I move due to foreclosure? Was wondering what would happen (if anything) if I was to take the furnace and air conditioning unit from the house.

What matters around what can be taken after a sale or foreclosure of a property involves the distinction between fixtures and personal property.

If removing an item from the house when you leave it would cause damage to the property or make it unlivable, then the item is most likely a fixture and cannot be taken. For example, removing a washing machine doesn't make the house unliveable or damage it, but removing the furnace and air conditioner unit does cause damage to the property and very likely makes it unliveable as well.

A second issue deciding what you can take and what you can't is whether the item was installed to be a permanent part of the house. Obviously no one expects to supply a furnace or air conditioning unit when they move into a house. You would have a very hard time defending taking either. Now if you left a lesser quality, functioning furnace or air conditioning unit in their place, that would be ok. But it doesn't sound like you intend to do that.

It's possible that your mortgager could file criminal charges against you since you removed fixtures from the home without permission. Or they might do nothing. How much of a gambler are you? Is possibly having to defend yourself against criminal theft charges really worth thumbing your nose at your lender?

[Riley]

Thank you for the information... I thought that that was the case. I have heard of people taking everything from the kitchen sink. I do not plan on doing anything that I think will cause any issues.

[jlmaca]

What am I legally able to take with me from the house when I move due to foreclosure? Was wondering what would happen (if anything) if I was to take the furnace and air conditioning unit from the house.

I never received a foreclosure notice at all and today received notice of sherrif sale on January 13th! I was thinkin that I would get a notice of foreclosure and have at least a couple months to find a new place to live.

What state are you in? It seems very strange that you did not receive any notice of deficiency or a summons of foreclosure. To just have received a notice of sherrif's sale seem strange and rare. I'd be looking into this.

[Riley]

I am in Indiana... I just looked over one letter that I received the end of October. The entire letter was regarding HUD and opportunity to apply for Request for Occupied Conveyance. At the very end of the letter it does say Actual Foreclosure sale of Jan 13th. I didnt even see it until I looked again today.
I didnt think that this was the actual foreclosure notice and from what I had heard I thought that they would come and actually put something on my door.

[jlmaca]

I am in Indiana... I just looked over one letter that I received the end of October. The entire letter was regarding HUD and opportunity to apply for Request for Occupied Conveyance. At the very end of the letter it does say Actual Foreclosure sale of Jan 13th. I didnt even see it until I looked again today.
I didnt think that this was the actual foreclosure notice and from what I had heard I thought that they would come and actually put something on my door.

Indiana uses judicial foreclosure law where they must sue you in court to get a foreclosure judgement the timeline is usually 150 days. Do you have a foreclosure judgement from the county court? I would think you should have been served by the sherrif with the foreclosure notice in person. I'd look into this at the courthouse.

[Riley]

Thanks for the info... I will look into that.

[JustFileSuit]

Defective service

Riley was more likely served "at abode," and whoever was the process server was supposed to either post it onto the door, by taping it there, or by sliding it under the door sill. If the server did not, and then returned a "Return of Service" with the Court saying he did, then you have problems. It is very tough to successfully challenge a defective service at this late date. So Riley got screwed over by the legal system. Riley could file an Appearance, and a Motion to vacate Judgment, on the grounds that the Court had no Jurisdiction over the person ab initio due to defective service, together with a supporting affidavit, but it remains a long shot (up to the Judge).

Riley can put a stop to the sale by a bankruptcy filing, and then filing an adversary proceeding challenging the state court proceeding and the service.

Riley "might" be able to file against the "servicer," if the servicer is not a sheriff, and also the lender, in a new suit and asking the Court for injunctive relief on the grounds of irreparable harm, but that would imply that the cash was available to put into escrow pending an outcome of the relief and also a determination of who actually owns the Note (always a fertile area of inquiry,these days). But if Riley has not been paying anyone, and cannot put the funds up in escrow for the Court ("deposit into Court), then the Court is not likely to lend an ear at this point.

Going back to the issue of "house stripping," being done more and more by vengeful owners being arbitrarily dispossessed by the bottom-feeder crowd, the cops view this as a civil dispute, since you still "own" the house as long as you are on the Land Title Registry. They take the view that the cops have to actually see you in the act of removing the furnace, or there is no direct evidence of "who dunit," e.g. a vagrant or band of criminals could also have broken in. To remove fixtures "legally" would require the Filing of a Renovation Permit, and the furnace is removed as part of the renovation. When the lender steps in and prevents you from completing the renovation by a precipitous sale and eviction; well, then it is their problem to complete the renovation. Note especially that is is strictly illegal in Arizona to remove fixtures (gets done anyway, of course, but there the cops are a tad more aggressive).

It is getting so ugly that furious homeowners hit by the vulture-foreclosure crowd, those that buy Notes for the specific purpose of forcing out the owners in order to flip the properties, have been known to pour concrete down the drain pipes and into the septic tank, and even fuel oil pumped into the water well, just to pollute the site. So those out there that are contemplating buying a "foreclosure" to get a cheap house: watch out. You can expect more of this as matters worsen, and the vulture-foreclosure artists become more sophisticated in buying up CDO's en masse (one guy has already bought up 3,000 houses in Cleveland, all by himself! Amazing).