My landlord is being foreclosed on. Should I confront him?
If John signs the lease he is entitled to stay there for the duration of the lease regardless of the foreclosure status.   http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/renters-foreclosure-what-are-their-30064.html I would suggest that signing a year lease (even by email), with the plan to leave as early as possible is a good thing.  The key will be to make sure the penalty for leaving early is nothing. John doesn't know the status of the foreclosure, how long it will take, who might own afterwards and a lot of other unknowns.  The worst case is to be unsure of where you are living. Sign the lease, and be secure for one whole year that you know where you will be living.  Spend that year finding a new place to live.   If the bank doesn't offer you clear and obvious ways to submit rent, open an account AT THE BANK and deposit the rent there, on time. You are establishing credibility that you deserve to stay.  You still owe the rent, so pay it. They don't want to be your landlord, but don't let a bank bully you around. I wouldn't confront him. It's really none of your business what he has done or not done with your money as long as you've been a faithful tenant. Whoever gets the house after the foreclosure wants you to stay. I mean, a faithful tenant paying rent is a whole lot better than no one in the house at all. The new landlord (if it's the bank) probably will leave you alone for the most part. Just take MrChrister's advice and document everything and don't let the bank bully you around. It's not your fault the owner got foreclosed on. Remember that the foreclosure process takes months so just because papers got served today (hypothetically) doesn't mean next week the bank takes over the house. "Verbal agreements are not legally binding. Unless you have signed a new lease agreement, you are not obligated to continue renting the property - you are free to go.  On the other hand, if you really like the place and want to stay, you should sign another lease agreement. This agreement will be binding on whomever owns the home - whether it is your current landlord, a bank or a new purchaser.  But, if you go this route, make sure that there is not a clause that says the lease agreement is void upon foreclosure (or something similar). This is a standard clause in lease agreements allowing the bank to cancel the lease. Another option, if you really like the house is to offer to buy the property. If the property is being foreclosed on, you could suggest buying on a short sale. Here is a link to an article I wrote entitled ""Buy Instead of Rent: A Recovering Real Estate Market"" that discusses the benefits of buying rather than renting."
If possible, I would disable online payment on the card, immediately (reduce the limit of online payment to zero). I think you should also demand the photocopy back, immediately. It is tad confrontational, and maybe he did get it without any ill will, but even in this case, he should be made aware of the fact that this is wrong. Note that if he genuinely did it with ill will, he will have likely made multiple copies (who knows how many), so it will not really protect you from fraud (in this case). Then you should call or e-mail the card company (and/or your bank) and tell them what happened. I think they would consider the card stolen and maybe advise you on what you should do next. Note that if he uses the card, you might (and should) try to chargeback the money (through the card company), but it might be argued that you did not sufficiently protect the details of your card. And even if you succeed, the process can be long and you will not have access to your money in the meantime (this is one of the downsides of a debit card vs credit card...). You may also consider moving away the money from the associated bank account (so that there's not much to steal). Of course, the situation (on that front) gets more complicated if account overdrawing is enabled in your account. &gt;Landlords vs slumlords - somehow I doubt if the author lives in a real slum with a landlord that provides substandard housing. Why call a landlord a derogatory name for providing you a place to live&gt;?  Because my apartment needed 5 repairs in the first four months of renting.  Because my landlord claims to be a nonprofit university (MIT owns large portions of Cambridge) when it's time to pay property taxes but increased the rent 27% over the rent from 3 years ago when they rented the apartment to me.  Because renting out housing stock as old as this by doing the minimal necessary repairs to get it back on the market every year is basically just economic rent-seeking on the value of living in this city. These 'issues' don't exclusively relate to the 'sharing economy', the challenge of uncertainty would exist for any small business / independent contractor. It's not as if people didn't work as independent contractors in these industries before, it's just now the industries are being enhanced and overhead lowered, from technology.  For example:  Uber driver vs Medallion [Leasing] Taxi Driver  AirBNB landlord vs Apartment landlord, vacation rental landlord, or traditional bed &amp; breakfast owner.  PostMates messenger vs traditional bike messenger A large part of the cost seems to be that he created the physical space from scratch:   &gt; Because Tortosa chose a brand-new building that had never been occupied, every single thing had to be built in. The upside is that he was able to create his dream space from scratch. The downside: That it cost him much more time and money.  He spent approximately $500,000 doing that, and he received $100,000 from the landlord for doing it. So he's out $400k. The landlord will get a furnished space if he folds. "I am not sure how anyone is answering this unless they know what the loan was for.  For instance if it is for a house you can put a lien on the house.  If it is for the car in most states you can take over ownership of it.   Point being is that you need to go after the asset.   If there is no asset you need to go after you ""friend"".  Again we need more specifics to determine the best course of action which could range from you suing and garnishing wages from your friend to going to small claims court.  Part of this process is also getting a hold of the lending institution.  By letting them know what is going on they may be able to help you - they are good at tracking people down for free. Also the lender may be able to give you options.  For example if it is for a car a bank may help you clear this out if you get the car back plus penalty.  If a car is not in the red on the loan and it is in good condition the bank turns a profit on the default.  If they can recover it for free they will be willing to work with you.  I worked in repo when younger and on more than a few occasions we had the cosigner helping.  It went down like this... Co-signer gets pissed like you and calls bank, bank works out a plan and tells cosigner to default, cosigner defaults, banks gives cosigner rights to repo vehicle, cosigner helps or actually repos vehicle, bank gets car back, bank inspects car, bank asks cosigner for X amount (sometimes nothing but not usually), cosigner pays X, bank does not hit cosigners credit, bank releases loan and sells car.  I am writing this like it is easy but it really requires that asset is still in good condition, that cosigner can get to the asset, and that the ""friend"" still is around and trusts cosigner.  I have seen more than a few cosigners promise to deliver and come up short and couple conspiring with the ""friend"".   I basically think most of the advice you have gotten so far is crap and you haven't provided enough info to give perfect advice.  Seeking a lawyer is a joke.  Going after a fleeing party could eat up 40-50 billable hours.  It isn't like you are suing a business or something.  The lawyer could cost as much as repaying the loan - and most lawyers will act like it is a snap of their fingers until they have bled you dry - just really unsound advice. For the most part I would suggest talking to the bank and defaulting but again need 100% of the details.   The other part is cosigning the loan.  Why the hell would you cosign a loan for a friend?  Most parents won't cosign a loan for their own kids.  And if you are cosigning a loan, you write up a simple contract and make the non-payment penalties extremely costly for your friend.  I have seen simple contracts that include 30% interests rates that were upheld by courts." A bank selling a foreclosed property would negotiate a lower cash deal, I doubt it would be that extreme, 130 vs 100.  An individual seller may give up $10K to save time and get his next home closed as well, but again, I suspect it would be rare to find that large a delta. "A short-sale seems like an extreme and unethical course to take.  You should read your mortgage documents or work with your attorney to read the mortgage and determine whether it is an ""assumable"" mortgage. If so, you might be able to get the former owner to take over the mortgage." BLUF:  Continue renting, and work toward financial independence, you can always buy later if your situation changes. Owning the house you live in can be a poor investment.  It is totally dependent on the housing market where you live.  Do the math.  The rumors may have depressed the market to the point where the houses are cheaper to buy.  When you do the estimate, don't forget any homeowners association fees and periodic replacement of the roof, HVAC system and fencing, and money for repairs of plumbing and electrical systems.  Calculate all the replacements as cost over the average lifespan of each system.  And the repairs as an average yearly cost.  Additionally, consider that remodeling will be needful every 20 years or so. There are also intangibles between owning and renting that can tip the scales no matter what the numbers alone say.  Ownership comes with significant opportunity and maintenance costs and is by definition not liquid, but provides stability.  As long as you make your payments, and the government doesn't use imminent domain, you cannot be forced to move.  Renting gives you freedom from paying for maintenance and repairs on the house and the freedom to move with only a lease to break.