Purchased foreclosure home with occupants

[Vedang Aditya]

Hi,

We just bought a town home through foreclosure proceedings at the county courthouse. The home has people staying in it and they are not the previous owners of the home. As per the rules we are supposed to give them a 10 day notice to vacate prior to filing for an order of possession so that the sheriff can then begin the process of eviction. We are not sure if they have/had any lease signed with the previous owner and we have not seen the home from the inside because they refused to let us in when we served them the 10 day notice to vacate the premises.
My question is - is there a way for me to get a legal court order for me to be able to enter my own home to look at the insides with a home inspector so that they dont trash the home between now and the eviction.

thanks.

[Jon Holdman]

Something else to consider is that if they do have a legitimate lease that was signed before the foreclosure process started, they may be covered by the "Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act". That says they get 90 days to get out.

Even if they signed a lease after the process started, they may not have been aware of the situation, and may have been jerked around by the former landlord. They may well have been paying rent and expecting to stay indefinitely. They may have given the previous owner a deposit which has now disappeared.

Have you tried offering "cash for keys"? Offer them a payment, maybe $1000 or $2000 (enough for moving expenses and a deposit on another place) if they leave quietly and leave the place reasonably clean. Cash only after they have moved out.

If they're just squatting there, or moved in without paying rent then they get little sympathy. But that's exactly the situation where you have the most risk. Cash for keys still might work, though.