Landlords fall into foreclosure, leaving tenants in shock, lurch

Landlords fall into foreclosure, leaving tenants in shock, lurch

In normal economic times, a landlord scrutinizes a potential tenant’s credit score before signing a lease.

In today’s chaotic housing market, maybe it’s the tenant who should check out the landlord’s financial stability.

Just ask Christy Orris, a single mother who last month signed a lease for a townhouse in Palm Beach Gardens and moved in with her two children, ages 5 and 12.

On Saturday night, only two weeks after she had signed the lease, a man knocked on her door. He was delivering a mortgage default notice from the landlord’s lender. The landlord hadn’t made a mortgage payment in eight months, leaving Orris to wonder how soon she would have to find a new home for her family.