we just received a letter from the United states Bankruptcy court for the district of Colorado. The debtor has filed a Chapter 13 Plan; a hearing has been set for Feb 12, 2007. The person filing is renting our house and has a lease agreement. Is she obligated to pay the rent on the regular due date until the hearing has been completed? If so, what if she does not pay rent? Do we have legal recourse to terminate the lease agreement? I assume we will need to attend the hearing to find out the ‘plan’ of repayment. It states on this web page that the ’stay’ allows a debtor who is behind on their mortgage payments on their principal residence to cure any defaults by bring payments current over a reasonable amount of time period. Here is a question for that: Since this is a rental for the debtor, yet a mortgage for me, does this statement apply? Also when does this ’stay’ go into effect? Is it already in effect? or will that be after the Feb 12th hearing?
It is beyond the scope of this blog to provide specific legal advice, so we recommend that you consult your lawyer.
In general, while in a Chapter 13 Plan the debtor continues to pay their normal monthly living expenses, such as rent, hydro, etc. In your case, as the landlord, you would therefore expect that you would continue to receive your rent each month, so it is possible that the Chapter 13 filing will have no effect on you.
Again, you should consult your lawyer for specific advice in your case.