As far as I could tell, the landlord wasn't claiming to be entirely blindsided, but blindsided by the actual foreclosure and auction when he'd been in communica

As far as I could tell, the landlord wasn't claiming to be entirely blindsided, but blindsided by the actual foreclosure and auction when he'd been in communication with the bank seeking a modification. He absolutely should have told the tenant what was going on sooner, but I have no reason to doubt, and plenty of reason to believe, that the landlord was trying to fix it and wasn't expecting an immediate foreclosure when it happened.