To keep renters from ending up on the street after their landlords have lost their property to foreclosure, the Ohio House has passed a bill that will help protect renters in the state from being victimized by the nation’s housing crisis, the Dayton Daily News reports (“House Bill to Guard Renters in Foreclosures,” May 6, 2009).

The legislation, which passed the state House last week by a narrow 53–42 margin and now faces Senate approval, requires landlords to give renters written notice of foreclosure within 60 days of when the court notifies the property owner of default.

If a foreclosed house has been sold, the bill specifies, the new owner or landlord must honor a tenant’s lease, which will automatically be converted to a month-by-month lease arrangement. The legislation also stipulates that landlords must give tenants a 21-day notice after a sheriff’s sale of a foreclosed property.

Republican Rep. Shannon Jones, who voted against the bill, said there was “much to like about the legislation,” but was worried that it would discourage investors from purchasing foreclosed properties since the bill would force investors to take on the previous owner’s tenant.

The bill’s chief co-sponsor, Democratic Rep. Ted Celeste, on the other hand, thinks the new legislation is a good idea, considering a third of the foreclosures in the state are on rental properties, according to the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (“Collateral Damage: Renters in the Foreclosure Crisis,” June 2008).

Celeste said, “Tenants who play by the rules … should never be penalized because of their landlord’s foreclosure.”

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