Did you know that on May 20^th, 2009 the “Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act” was signed into law? Minnesota’s Rep. Keith Ellison helped pass this legislation. The bill requires landlords who are being foreclosed upon to give their tenants 90 days notice before they must move. It also holds the new purchaser of the property at the sheriff’s sale (either the lender or a private party buyer) to the prior terms of the lease.

The provisions of this law are "self-executing", so no federal agency (such as HUD) is responsible for making them work.  It is up to advocates to make sure that tenants, landlords, public housing authorities, courts, the legal community, and others involved in the foreclosure process are aware of these new rights for tenants.

So, if you are landlord who’s about to lose your property to foreclosure or a tenant living in a building that’s about to be foreclosed on, you need to be aware of this law. The National Low Income Housing Coalition has an excellent Foreclosure Toolkit on their website.