Question (CA): The house that I am renting has been getting notices mailed to my address that are talking about "our" foreclosure problems. I am not sure what is going on. What I should expect? Are there renter's rights that deal with this kind of thing?

Answer: Are you sure these alleged “problems” are not just advertisements from companies that send them to all borrowers? If they are sent to your landlord at your address, then you as a renter are fortunate in that you received mail from the Landlord’s Lender and were alerted to potential problems. However, it was not addressed to you even though it displayed your address. It most likely should have been forwarded to your landlord who, by the way, should also have notified the lender as to his or her change of address.

Just because you pay your rent on time, it does not mean that your landlord is paying the mortgage owed to the lender on time. Thus the lender has the right to foreclose on the landlord (the owner of the property) to protect itself.

Nonetheless, assuming the lender addressed the notice to your landlord, the safest thing to do at this point is to hire a California attorney who can explain your rights as a tenant under California law. If you attorney agrees, communicate with your landlord. Inform the landlord as to the letters you have received.

The Trustee's Sale concludes the foreclosure and the new owner, who is sometimes the foreclosing bank, cannot legally take possession without then going through the eviction process. The process does take time, as with other types of evictions, during which you can sort out your options. Your lawyer can explain the details of the options available to you and help you decide how best to handle the problem.

Question (IL): Our children are moving to Austin, Texas. They put in a bid on a condo there in a complex that is well over 20 years of age. The condo inspection of that space came through with MANY problem areas. Therefore, they want to find out what the Homeowners Association fees are, what its responsibilities include, and if there will be assessments for planned improvements that will increase their monthly payments. In other words, does the Homeowner Association plan to repair the existing buckling roofs, old wooden decks, etc.?

The Austin Realtor told them that NONE of that information can be given out to potential buyers until AFTER the purchase. Is this true and legal in Texas? Isn't full disclosure a legal status there in Texas prior to buying property? Does not such disclosure include disclosing any expected future assessments for improvements the HOA deems necessary?

Answer: The Realtor, if indeed he or she did make that statement, is not correct. The State of Texas has a promulgated contract form applicable to Condominiums, entitled “Residential Condominium Contract (Resale)” (click here), together with a “Condominium Resale Certificate” (click here).

Those two documents provide all the disclosures you have mentioned in your email, plus some that you have not mentioned.

Question (NC): I have a real estate license here in North Carolina. However, I will be moving to Texas in August. Will I need to take classes all over again in Texas to obtain my Texas real estate license? Thanks.

Answer: Texas does not have real estate license reciprocity with any other states. We suggest that you file a “Request for Evaluation of Education Documents” located at the Texas Real Estate Commission’s (TREC’s) website. Once you receive the evaluation, you will know how many and what types of courses you will need in order to obtain your Texas real estate license.

Question (VA): We ran across a "FSBO" home. As much as we love to deal with real estate agents, the seller was not interested, so we proceeded with the purchase. We signed a legitimate sales agreement and have until this month to close.

We immediately contacted our real estate agent and got our home on the market. It's been on the market for 2 1/2 months without any luck.

We've even dropped the asking price tremendously. Our home is not even 2 years old and is located in a great area. I know it will sell at some point. The market is just low for that size home where we live. Plus, there are quite a few new ones for not a whole lot more. But, they have to stop building at some point and then our home should sell fast.

In our contract with the real estate agent, does it say we HAVE to sell it? We only have 2 weeks until the owner of the house we want will put his back on the market and it'll go fast I'm sure. So, we thought about just keeping ours and maybe even renting it out. We would like to have property to rent out anyway. We just hadn't planned on it at this time. Are we allowed to do this because the contract is up with the listing real estate brokerage? We wouldn't be selling the house which is what we had them attempt to do. Thank you.

Answer: Your Virginia listing contract contains all the applicable terms and provisions to which you must contractually comply. However, you cannot be made to sell your property against your will.

Thus, the real question is, “Would you owe a commission if you choose to rent your property instead of selling it?” You should read your listing contract very carefully, together with any documents that are included as addenda. It will either state that you owe a real estate commission to your agent whether you choose to sell it or rent it, or only if you sell it, or it will state that you owe the commission if you “convey title” or some other equally obtuse language to laymen.

The least costly thing to do is to simply wait until the listing expires, and then do not renew it. Who knows, you might receive an offer you deem to be acceptable.

Naturally, you can always hire a Virginia attorney to read the listing agreement and offer his or her opinion as to whether or not you would owe a real estate commission should you decide to rent your property.

Published: June 26, 2007

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

George Stephens, CRB is the Broker of ERA Stephens Properties. He is licensed as a mortgage broker in Texas, and a real estate broker in Texas, Georgia, and Massachusetts. Charles J. Jacobus, JD is Board Certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Residential and Commercial Real Estate Law, and the author of Texas Real Estate Law, and Texas Real Estate, both published by Thomson Publishing. He also teaches at Champions School of Real Estate, Houston Community College, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center. To send us a question visit AskGeorge.net and click the "Ask A Question" button. The answers to questions in this column do not contain legal advice. George and Chuck are co-authors of Texas Real Estate Brokerage and Law of Agency, published by Thomson Publishing. If you wish to obtain legal advice, you should consult your own attorney.