Rented Property

Hi,
My family and i have been renting an apartment in Sampaloc for more than 40 years now. Our neighborhood which consist of more or less 20 families made an appeal that the property be awarded or sold to us since we have tenants for a long time. Unfortunately we never got any answer until a new owner proclaimed that he brought the property and been collecting rents from us. Majority of the people didnt believe he's the new owner but some of us check if this is true. We found out he is the owner but the property is now mortgaged and might be foreclose. We have not been paying our rent but the owner is harassing us to pay him. What should we do? Do we have to pay him rent? Should we move to a different place? Or should we wait until our pledge be heard?
Thanks

as a renter you still have an obligation to pay the owner... you should have a new contract with the new owner...the property cannot be awarded to you despite having heen renting for 40 years... you can ony offer to buy the property from the existing owner...

fab31,

while your appeal is understandable, it appears to be without legal basis. your right over the apartment, even if it is for 40 years now, cannot ripen to ownership, especially if the property is registered and has a torrens title. even if it's an unregistered property, only possession in the concept of an owner may ripen into ownership. here, your admission that you are just renting the apartment shows that you don't possessed it as an owner. also, in the absence of a contract, you cannot compel your landlord to sell it to you.

thus, it is prudent to talk to and pay your landlord even if there is a possibility of foreclosure. nevertheless, you have to prepare for any contigency.

For more free legal information about the matter, you may visit www.domingo-law.com