You know that 500 page document that you had to initial a hundred times and sign in a dozen places... that is where you need to look to see what the bank wanted/demanded from you when you bought the house. Further with this recent housing crash local laws (city, county, state) have been changing to deal with a growing problem of people ruining the property as they are being evicted. it would appear that a growing number of people being kicked out have been 'stripping' the house of stuff (including appliances, copper pipes, built in cabinets, etc) and selling the material. Our local rag that passes as a newspaper covered this 'rash of crime' that has started and locally the laws are being made to criminalize the behavior. Assuming that a real remodeling is being done, you most likely have receipts, a contract and over various paperwork to demonstrate to a court of law that you where in the process of remodeling and that 'bad timing' of the foreclosure is the problem, not a willful criminal act. Intent is the key to this, if you can demonstrate that there is no criminal intent (with documentation of the remodel) then most likely liability is not present. I say most likely because I do not know the contract you signed when you bought the house, the lender may have covered this detail in the fine print and can hold you liable even for an 'innocent' event such as this.