The purchaser at a trustee’s sale foreclosure is required to serve on all occupants a notice to vacate. The former owners and other non-tenant occupants must vacate within twenty days of the foreclosure auction. The new owner must give tenants in the foreclosed property 60 days notice to vacate.
No 20-day notice to terminate tenancy or other type of pre-eviction notice is required.[1]
In a recent Court of Appeals case the foreclosure sale purchaser served a notice naming a former owner. The former owner’s wife had already moved out, so the new owner did not name her in the notice or in the subsequent eviction case.
The former owner argued that his wife was a necessary party, and therefore the notice was defective. The trial court ruled in the favor of the foreclosure sale purchaser. The court ruled that because the former owner’s wife was not in actual possession of the foreclosed property it was not necessary for the new owners to name her. The result was upheld on appeal.[2]
If you have questions about post-foreclosure eviction you should consult with a landlord-tenant attorney.
[1] Savings Bank of Puget Sound v. Mink, 49 Wn. App. 204, 205-07, 741 P.2d 1043 (1987).
[2] Way v. Choquer, unpublished (No. 48191-0-II December 28, 2016).
