Under state law, California tenants have no rights. State law allows the new
owner (if someone buys the building) or the lender to evict almost all tenants
by serving them with a 30-days' notice to vacate the property. Lenders
generally don't want to become landlords and will usually force any tenants to
vacate the building promptly. It's possible that, as the foreclosure crisis
deepens, lenders may want tenants to stay, if only to protect the building from
squatters, vandals and the deterioration that comes with long-term vacancy. At
this point, as in your case, the lender will served you with a 30-days'
notice to vacate your home.

The lease is voided by the foreclosure, and the lender need only give you a 30-days' notice.

But in a very small number of cases, a lender may be forced to allow a tenant
to stay until the expiration of the lease. If, and only if, you signed your
lease before the landlord took out the mortgage on which she or he defaulted,
the lender must allow you to stay for the entire lease period. Because
foreclosure in California takes so long, even if your lease was signed before
your landlord took out the mortgage, it's unlikely that you'll have more than a
couple of months left on the lease, and it may not be worth the trouble to
enforce your rights here. But if you do decide to try to stay through the end
of your lease, you should contact a lawyer specializing in tenants' rights
immediately. Don't expect to just tell the lender that you're "first in time,
first in right" without having legal muscle to back you up.

[The "first in time, first in right" issue may be more trouble than it's worth.
You may have to have recorded the lease prior to the time the landlord took out
the loan. In most cases that wouldn't be worth the trouble.]

Did you sign your lease before the landlord purchased the property?