Should I pay rent while the landlord is defaulting on the home loan?

This is not as matter of should. It is a matter of legally required. Your friend has no choice. He has every right to demand the rent that they are legally required to pay. If they do not pay then they can evict and sue them for it.

Their foreclosure legally has nothing to do with the tenant The tenant is legally required to pay them the rent until the day the bank takes possession then they pay rent to the bank. The foreclosure does not void the lease. I know many tenants feel screwed and want to get back at the owner in these situations but that will only put them in a much worse position.

The banks are now required to let the tenant stay through the end of their lease or give them 90 days notice if they do not have one.

EDIT: The landlord does not have to pay the mortgage with the rent. In fact they are not legally required to pay it at all. I know it seems like the rent should go directly to the mortgage but it does not work that way. One has nothing to do with the other. A lease is a legally binding agreement to pay, but a mortgage is simply a loan.

The tenant has an agreement with the landlord to pay x-amount in rent by a certain date every month. If the tenant doesn't do that, they are in violation of the lease, and subject to late fees, eviction for non-payment, etc. The landlord's personal finances are none of the tenant's business. Even if the landlord has not made a payment of his own for months and is in foreclosure.

In fact, it behooves the tenant to pay on time, especially when the property is in foreclosure. There is a federal law on the books called the Tenants of Foreclosure Act of 2009 that states a tenant of a property in foreclosure does not have to move out of that property until 90 days after the foreclosure sale (auction or on the open market), if the tenant is month-to-month or the current lease expires after the sale is final.

However, if the tenant does not make their payments on time, the current landlord can kick them out before the foreclosure is final or before the 90 days is up after the sale of the property.

in case you submit-pay your lease, convinced - ought to adhere for your duties. in case you prepay your lease, then favor to position the quantity of your lease in a separate account and furnish your landlord a assertion of escrow, letting him do not forget that you've the money to pay. in case you stay in a state the position they does not eject you from the abode for 30+ days after foreclosure, then you favor to pay the finished quantity in the journey that your motive is to stay there. My own selection might want to be to move, yet i do not forget that there are probable a myriad of mitigating aspects that could want to impact your decision to stay or move.

foreclosure is irrelevant to renters. you owe rent if you occupy the dwelling; that rent might be the only chance the owner has to stave off foreclosure.

Just because the owner is not making payments does not mean you get to live rent-free.