Nativi v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., 223 Cal. App. 4th 261 (2014)

Citation: Nativi v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., 223 Cal. App. 4th 261 (2014)
Parent Document: Nativi v. Deutsche Bank National Trust Co., 223 Cal. App. 4th 261 (2014)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2014-01-23
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/2650742/nativi-v-deutsche-bank-national... ↗

Full Text

2,922 chars

10
Even assuming that the first group of post-foreclosure occupants were bona fide
tenants based on the evidence showing that they were already residing in the main house
on the Stoneylake property when Advisors' employee Dougherty visited the property on
the date of foreclosure, the evidence indicated that Advisors only learned appellants'
belongings had been taken out of the garage unit after the second group took up
residence, which suggests that the Bank, or those acting on its behalf, could not have
taken any remedial action with respect to that initial group of occupants.
11
The trial court ruled that statements made by various post-foreclosure occupants
that they were renting from "the bank" were hearsay.
56
from returning to live in the garage unit during that September 2009 incident and,
therefore, those actions were attributable to the Bank and the Bank, or those acting on its
behalf, were required to take remedial action to avoid breach of the implied covenant of
quiet enjoyment. (See Rest.2d Prop., Landlord and Tenant, § 6.1, pp. 222-223, & coms. c
and e thereto, pp. 225, 227.)
Respondents' evidence indicated that Diaz subsequently received a telephone call
from a male, whom she knew as Robert and who appears to have been appellant Perez.
The caller said that he was a tenant in the garage and he wanted to get back in but a
person in the main house had not let him on the property. Diaz told him she could not do
anything. No evidence was produced that, as of that point in time, the Bank, or anyone
acting on its behalf, had interfered with appellants' possession or quiet enjoyment.
Nevertheless, we find Advisors' failure to ascertain whether appellants were bona
fide tenants of the garage unit troubling, especially after Diaz was made aware of the
plight of appellant Perez. In our view, the PTFA's protection of bona fide tenancies for a
term would be empty if it did not impliedly impose a legal duty on immediate successors
in interest in foreclosed properties to make reasonable efforts to identify all bona fide
tenants and determine whether they are entitled to continue as tenants under a bona fide
lease for the remainder of the lease's term. This duty may, under the particular
circumstances, include requesting a copy of a lease, if any, from persons living on the
premises or claiming to be tenants. We see nothing in the Act that places the onus on
tenants, who may be unsophisticated or lack resources, to provide this proof without
request.
We recognize that a successor in interest's failure to reasonably determine whether
residential occupants of foreclosed property are bona fide tenants does not in itself
amount to constructive eviction or substantial interference with a permissible use of the
property. Nevertheless, where a successor in interest in foreclosed property fails to

Other Sections in This Document (81)

Full Text