RentToOwn-HouseFinder.com - What are my options when I was lured into signing a lease when we were suppose to be renting to own?

What are my options when I was lured into signing a lease when we were suppose to be renting to own?

One year ago this month we were lured into signing a lease on a property that was suppose to rent to own. I was told that we had to be in a lease a year before transfering it over to rent to own I was also told that the $6500 we have paid in rent would be counted torward the rent to own. However none of this has happened and I recently found out that the person that rented it to me is a real estate broker and he does not even own the house. What are my options Please Help! The only reason we signed the lease is because we were lied into it. I have documentation proving this.

Public Comments

Translation--- It looked too good to be true and it was. Perhaps now it's time to see an attorney initial consultation free, but $ 200.00 an hour after. Good luck,
you right rent to own goes for 1 or 2 years all depending on if you can get a loan the first year..that person ripped you off you need to go to the newspaper and they can put it on the news and you can contact http://welcome.bbb.org/ if you have proof it was rent to own you can get a lawyer
unless you have proof, not just you say, he says, then there is little you can do. An attorney will be needed if you wish to pursue this matter.
And the reason that you didn't have an attorney review the contract first was...??? ALWAYS have an attorney review any contracts BEFORE you sign!
I don't know what state you are in, but there should be a state wide organizational body of Realtor laws etc. In Texas ours is TREC which stands for the Texas Real Estate Commission. You can write a formal complaint and send it,. All states should have a similar type organizational group. If the broker has an office with a national company like Keller Williams, or Century 21, I would go to his office and file a complaint with the head broker or office manager. However, he is probably independant as those people tend to be more unscrupulous than the realtors who work for bigger firms.
Looks like a job for PrePaid Legal! (-: Seriously though you can take the alternative and pay the $200 an hour for an attorney or you can have a top rated law firm on your side to deal with it for less than the cup of coffee a day... www.prepaidlegal.com/hub/ ewalker803
You have documentation that you were lied to? Someone signed a documetn saying "I lied"? Doubtful. Let's stick with rational facts. You signed a contract, and it specified the temrs you could live in the property. It probably has a clause that says the contract is the sole understanding between the parties regardless of any verbal representations by either party, or something like that. Almost every contract has that, and any contract I sign that doesn't have that gets extra scrutiny from me to find out why. The reason for that clause is to prevent the situation you seem to be describing. Enforcing verbal cotnracts, while possible, is very messy indeed. No one wants to get into that situation when they could just have it in writing inthe first place. In any case, the documet(s) that all parties signed described the terms of the deal. You were not "lured" into the contract, assuming youwere 18 or older at the time. You were presented the information, given time to revierw it, ask questions, show it to an attorney if youwanted to, and generally decide to negotiate it or sign it as is, or walk away. the other party had the same options. You each decided, idenpendently to enter into the contract as signed. So the important thing is what does the contract say? Does it say something different then the review copy you had? That would be a problem, but is unlikely to occur in real life. A court would look a the contract in this way and decide what is what. As for him being a broker and not the owner, I am guessing that the contract if the contract sasys anything about rent to own at all, it says something about who the owner is, and that the broker is entitled to represent the owner. Leases are signe d by brokers or managers as representatives of the owner routinely, I live in such a place. What you really need is an attorney for legal advice. I think you know that. You should know that nothing you get here is going to be valid legal advice or even worth the paper itis printed on unless you run it by a lawyer yourself, as you already have decided you are not going to be able to negotiate this one yourself. good luck!
It sounds like your broker negotiated a purchase option with the legal owner, which gives him the "right" to buy the house for a predetermined price for a specified period of time. He then gave you a Lease Option on the house ("rent to own"). He's probably been using your payments to make his payments to the legal owner. I would take the following action: 1st: Sit down and calmly talk with the broker, presenting all your evidence. Give him a chance to explain his view. If you can't work things out, then... 2nd: Take your documentation to a lawyer for a consultation. It'll cost you some money. If you can't afford it, then... 3rd: Sue the broker in small claims court. In California you can sue for up to $7,500 in small claims. Not sure about your state. option to buy the property and has the legal right to col