End of federal law puts renters at risk

When a little-known federal law expires at the end of the 113th Congress, millions of renters across the U.S. could face eviction, the Huffington Post reported. The Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act, passed in 2009, gives renters the right to remain in their homes until the end of their lease or for a minimum of 90 days if they are not on a lease, if their building is foreclosed on. Without the federal provision, renters will be forced to rely on local laws that are sometimes good and sometimes nonexistent.

According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, roughly 20 percent of all foreclosures are made up of rental properties and 40 percent of foreclosure related evictions occur on rental properties.

“States have not stepped up to ensure protections within their jurisdictions,” Tristia Bauman, a housing attorney at the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, said. “And so the PTFA is still the best protection available and we want to make sure that it lasts beyond 2014.”

And with the number of renters up by $5.1 million nationwide since 2000 and the federal provision’s end could leave even more renters in the cold. [Huffington Post] —Christopher Cameron