What if my house is owned by Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac?
Once upon a time Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said they were going to develop procedures to allow tenants to stay in Fannie and Freddie-owned houses while the GSEs tried to sell them. At one time, Fannie Mae even had a toll-free phone number for tenants. We were hopeful, excessively so, as it turned out. Now they have web sites with instructions for tenants, but they make them hard to find. And they seem to think that most tenants are potential criminals or low-lifes, requiring people who may have lived at the property for years to undergo background checks before getting a lease or rental agreement.
But I've done the work and found what little information is available for Freddie and Fannie tenants. Fannie tenants should read this and Freddie tenants should look here.
Unfortunately these rules are most often observed in the breach. Many tenants have reported that Fannie and Freddie aren't taking responsibility for the bad behavior of their agents, and are behaving as badly as Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo.
