<prompt> Human: First off, first time poster so Im really sorry if this is the wrong spot for this. Heres my story. I have been renting a house with 2 roommates for almost 5 years now. One of the roommates is a personal friend of the dude who owns the house moved away for work. The house has no mortgage on it, he owns it outright. We were recently visited by a police officer looking for the owner because he has not paid his property taxes in a really long time and now owes 11K or the city will be seizing the property in about a month. My roommate has tried to get in contact with the owner but we are not having any luck reaching him. Do we have any recourse considering weve lived there for so long? All the research weve done makes it seem like it will have to go to an auction or something like that. My boyfriend and I are super interested in purchasing the house if all it would take is to pay the past due property taxes, but that seems way too easy. Any help would be appreciated!We live in South Dakota if that makes any difference, Im sure it can vary state to state. Thanks!EDIT: sorry if the roommate part was confusing, the roommate didnt move away, the owner of the house did.Thanks for all your info everyone! I am just going to jump ship and start looking for a new place.  <response>: While rent laws are local, you in general do not acquire any interest in a property simply by renting it for an extended period of time. If you have a lease, then there are various things that happen, depending whether it is fixed-term or month-to-month, but the bottom line is you could be required to move out at some point, whether or not the property changes hands. You would have some notice in any event. 