[quote=threadkiller]That brings up a good point. Does everybody in the house have to be named in the eviction?Roomates?Couldn’t someone just invite a roomate to stay during foreclosure. What if the house was being rented and the tenants had no idea of the foreclosure?Squatting?Adverse possession?OK now everybody let’s play musical house.[/quote]
I had the same question so I did some research and found the following
In some cases when the Sheriff attempts to perform a lockout, a third party will hand a Claim of Right to Possession form to the deputy. This individual will claim to be an occupant of the Premises but was not named in the Unlawful Detainer lawsuit. The Sheriff will immediately stop the lockout until the Court holds a hearing on whether or not the alleged occupant should have been named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The hearing will take place within a week or later if the individual posts 15 days rent.
If the Court decides that the claim is valid, the Court will allow the occupant to become a Defendant in the lawsuit and raise any defenses that could have been raised by the other named Defendants. If the Court decides that the claim is invalid, it will be denied and the Sheriff will be ordered to continue with the lockout as soon as possible. Very often such claims are denied because the “claimant” does not appear at the hearing but there is enough of a delay to buy the Tenants extra time in the Premises.
Tip: The only way to prevent this type of delay is to serve a form with the Unlawful Detainer lawsuit known as a Pre-judgment Claim of Right to Possession. This form gives any unnamed occupant the right to identify himself or herself so that they can be added to the lawsuit before the lockout. The drawback of serving this form is that it delays the case by an additional five days since the unknown occupant has ten days to respond to the Court instead of only five.
