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Can I get my money back from a lease option?
I had signed into a lease option a year ago and a few months ago decided not to exercise the option. Now, I've been going back through the contract and no purchase agreement was ever signed or presented to me and no sale price was ever frozen. After signing the lease option, we were told that the sale price was the "appraised value" so we went and got the property appraised. When we presented the appraised value to the owners they said the appraised price was what they had paid for the property a year before we moved in. After we had already signed the agreement, we then had the home inspected and major termite damage was found and all the electrical was unsafe and needed to be re-done. When that was presented to the owner they said we were buying it "as-is". My question then is since no price was ever determined or listed or even agreed upon, is the lease option agreement still valid or can I get back my security deposit which was originally part of the down payment?
Public Comments
- You would do better to ask a lawyer that specializes in Real Estate law than those of us on the site. Who wrote the agreement ? Is it a legal agreement ? These two questions have to be answered first.
- It sounds like there was nothing agreed upon as to a purchase price or what would happen to the deposit if a purchase was not consummated. So one could argue that there is no contract. You may want to bring this to their attention to see if you can work this out. If not get an attorney.
- A lease option is the option to purchase the property at a future date. This basically means that the landlord will not sell the property during the period you have an option for. You are the only one who can buy it during that time. Options are usually for 1 or 2 years. the price is not always negotiated at the start of the option. Sometimes it is done when the option is exercised. A lease purchase is where you negotiate the purchase price, etc for a property and begin paying for it. Some of your money goes to the price for the house and some goes to the rent. Be sure what you have, is it a lease-option where you COULD purchase the property or a lease-purchase where you DID purchase the property? Generally if you choose not to exercise the option in a lease-option the money is not refunded. The money is paid to keep the property off the market. If the landlord kept the property off the market he kept his/her end of the deal. The other answerer had it right that you need a lawyer here....you should have had the agreement reviewed by a lawyer prior to entering it. Good Luck!
