Summary: A new homeowner received a summons for problems the previous owner had with his tenants. You should only have to worry about the summons if you were named in the summons, but this buyer may want to have an attorney look it over. However, false owner scams are increasingly common. The buyer should check with an attorney and make sure they have an owner's title insurance policy.
Q: I recently purchased a home in Baltimore, Md. from a person who is a real estate agent as well as the owner of the property.
It appears that the seller was using the residence as a rental prior to renovating and placing the home on the market. When I arrived home on a recent Monday night there was a summons posted to the door requesting a judge to grant "ejectment" of "unknown tenant" and the return of the domicile. It was addressed to my seller at my address.
The summons was not delivered by a Sheriff, because that section was blank. According to the documents it appears that the seller sued the tenants for eviction stating that there was no rent paid for over six months.
I'm no attorney but reading the legal arguments for relief they appear to be really feeble at best, but my concern is only in a possible default judgment if I don't respond.
I called my agent who in turn spoke to the seller who stated that he intended to respond but I did not have to. I then requested a copy of his response.
Should I should respond or call the attorney listed to inform them the home is no longer a rental and has changed ownership?
A: It appears from what you indicate that the summons does not list you but rather lists former residents of the home. If you are not on the summons, you probably don't need to worry.
If you want more information, you should call your own attorney, if you have one, and ask him or her to follow up to make sure that you are not liable in some way.
Finally, I hope you bought an owner's title insurance policy since. It is possible that the person you think is the seller may in fact not be the owner. False owner scams are increasingly prevalent throughout the country. In other words, someone who isn't the owner may have posed as the property owner in order to sell the property and skim the equity.
If this is the case, you will need to have a conversation with an attorney who can represent your interests in this matter.
Published: Oct 31, 2005
See more articles on this topic by clicking on the "RELATED ARTICLES" above and to the right.
We have over 5000 articles on Real Estate Advice, Personal Finance Advice and Consumer Advice on our site. We encourage you to look at these articles. As always, if you have a comment on our articles, don't forget to post your comment below. We thank you for coming to ThinkGlink.com.
© Ilyce R. Glink. All rights reserved. This content may not be used, distributed, syndicated, compiled or excerpted in any medium or form without written authorization from Think Glink, Inc. For information on syndicating ThinkGlink.com please contact us.
Additional Topics
(View All Topics)consumer advice credit estate planning home buying ilyce glink mortgage mortgage lenders mortgage loan personal finance advice real estate real estate advice real estate agent refinance mortgage selling taxes
Related Articles
Related Blog Entries
Top Rated Articles
Related Videos
Who Has An 850 Credit Score And How Do You Get One?
Credit scores, on the scale assigned by FICO, rang...(4:39)
What Will Canceling Credit Cards Do To My Credit Score?
Which credit cards should you cancel to have the l...(4:39)
Should You Use A Credit Monitoring Service?
Do you need a credit monitoring service? You can p...(4:39)
Comments
No comments have been posted.