## Facts

- A ranch was owned in undivided halves by L. D. Stone and his daughter, Harriet.
- Stone mortgaged only his undivided one-half interest to William Harris.
- After Stone defaulted, Harris filed a foreclosure action in January 1890 and recorded a notice of pendency (lis pendens).
- In September 1890, during the pending foreclosure and with knowledge of the mortgage and foreclosure, Marion Foster leased two small parcels on the ranch from Stone and Harriet for grazing through April 1, 1891, and paid the entire rent in advance.
- In October 1890, the mortgaged one-half interest was sold at foreclosure sale; Harris purchased Stone’s interest and received a certificate of sale.
- No redemption occurred; in April 1891 a sheriff’s deed conveyed Stone’s former one-half interest to Harris.
- Harris sued Foster to recover one-half of the rent attributable to the period after the foreclosure sale and before the lease expired, corresponding to the one-half interest Harris acquired.
- The trial court entered judgment for Harris; Foster appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a purchaser at foreclosure of a mortgagor’s undivided interest is entitled to the mortgagor’s proportional share of rents for the period after the foreclosure sale.
2. Whether a tenant who leased and prepaid rent to the mortgagor (and co-owner) with notice of the mortgage, foreclosure action, and lis pendens may treat that prepayment as a defense against the purchaser’s claim for post-sale rent.

## Decision

- The judgment for Harris was affirmed.
- Harris, as purchaser of Stone’s undivided one-half interest, was entitled to one-half of the rent (or rental value) attributable to the post-sale period until the lease ended.
- Foster’s advance payment of rent to Stone and Harriet did not bar Harris’s recovery because Foster took the lease with actual and constructive notice of the mortgage and pending foreclosure.

## Legal Principles

- A purchaser at a foreclosure sale succeeds to the mortgagor’s estate and is entitled to the mortgagor’s proportional share of rents and profits accruing from the date of sale.
- A lease made during a pending foreclosure action, with a recorded lis pendens and actual notice to the tenant, cannot defeat the foreclosure purchaser’s right to post-sale rents attributable to the interest purchased.
- Prepayment of rent to a mortgagor by a tenant who has notice of the mortgage and foreclosure does not discharge the tenant’s obligation to pay the purchaser for the post-sale period.
- When the foreclosed property interest is an undivided fractional share, the purchaser’s entitlement to rents is limited to that same fractional proportion.

## Conclusion

The court held that a foreclosure purchaser of an undivided one-half interest may recover the corresponding share of rent for the period after the foreclosure sale, and a tenant who leased and prepaid rent with notice of the mortgage and lis pendens remains liable to the purchaser for that post-sale portion.


Harris v. Foster, 97 Cal. 292, 32 P. 246 (Cal. 1893)