The landlord let the house go into default and now the bank wants our rent payments???!! What to do!?

Okay mabey somone knows the best advice... I want to talk to a lawyer but my husband is refusing because he says we dont have the money with christmas almost here.

A few weeks ago the bank contacted us and said they were foreclosing on the house we are renting but DONT WORRY they said we want you to stay, whatever your contract with the landlord says still holds until it runs out so send US your rent payment,, what do you pay might we ask?

Hummm,, instant tip off, the bank cant get ahold of the landlord,, not a suprise because when we moved in here last spring we had the same experince, he never answers his phone and rarely returns phone calls. We had a major leak in a water line one time and it took him two days to get back with us about it.. thankgod I figured out how to shut it off in the meantime.

So the next thing the bank says is if we are interested in buying the house they would be glad to talk to us about that.

The truth of the matter is we love this little house,, but its got SERIOUSE problems. A leaking roof thats doing lots of dry wall damage in the newer area and there are some BAD cracks in one of the bedrooms which we suspect is from the same thing.. but we wouldnt know because the attic has been sealed off... total lack of insulation in the addition.. the wiring is so out of date you cant hook up a dryer and according to an electrician it cant be insured this way. A leaking water pipe that has been patched up by a plumber twice since we have been here ,, and which within a week went back to leaking .... the last plumber said it was a problem in the crawl space there and he didnt want to touch it would be 'opening a can of worms' .......... the backroom (crawlspace there too) where one corner of the room is so 'off' we had to use a medium sized book to prop one end of a table up.... and a double panel window seat glass that has gotten moisture in it and would have to be drilled, vented and resealed.

So.... now for the question ! (your like finally right?)

Do WE pay the bank our rent payment (they have already told us when I asked if something catastrophic happened would they be fixing it ... to which they replied 'uh no we dont actually own the house so we are limited legally on what we can do). Or do we hold onto the rent money since they DO NOT legally own it yet as that can take six to eight months and save that money to use as rent and deposit on a new place?

Also... would it be smart to pay for an inspector to come look at the house,, write down all the problems,, then make two copies and send one to the bank so THEY can see just what they are getting themselves into if and when they take possession? I wonder this because if they KNOW just how cheaply they will have to sell the house for they may choose not to take posession at all and we could stay here indeterminantly.

On the negative side my husband already did pay them the landlords rent for december....... which I objected strongly to because they dont OWN it. I wonder now if he hasnt somehow entered into a legal contract with them by doing that.

They say they cant renegotiate the rent payment (i assume this means legally because they indeed dont have ownership of the property until the legal hearing to take it from the owner) and Im pretty sure they have no interest in being landlords so.. then what?