In any case, there is no clear title there, so your option to buy goes behind the lienholder and property owner. A financial institution owns the house.
What? None of that makes sense.
A - Police don't go around offering legal advice door to door.
B - It isn't true that a lien holder, other then the one in first mortgage position, can use a lien to gain ownership.
If he couldn't pay his taxes etc.you are unlikely to get any money out of him even if you get a judgement. I would consider it a lesson learned. In hindsight since you have an interest in the house due diligence on the part of the party paying is to insure the seller has clear title.And even that can change if the owner stops paying taxes or mtg.Some states you can pay a service that will notify you if back taxes are due or the mortgage is in default but you pay for it. Mortg companies routinely do this regarding prop taxes so they can be the first ones to bid and pay them off which secures their mtg. Lesson learned.
We can't tell whether it's fraud, but it certainly sounds like it, unless your landlord has some plan for paying off the lien before they lose title that they promised to you.
In some states you get "equitable title" rights once you have paid a certain part of the "lease to purchase" price. Have your attorney check into that for you.
start looking for a better place to live. maybe work out a deal with the new owner of the house until you can. pay them rent or say you'll be gone by a certain date
what did you do...you bought the house on a contract for deed without a realtor...what didn't you do....you didn't do a title search....what did you do...signed a contract to pay money to live there..what didn't you do...qualify for a traditional mortgage....probably because of bad credit....white hime a letter...tell him you are withholding monthly payments and paying his back taxes..either you are paying a mortgage or paying rent...look at it as rent...you really aren't out anything...maybe a small downpayment...it's your own fault anyway
That a breach of the lease, so perhaps you can get your money back, sue for damages, or workout an understandable arrangement with the new owner.
I would start looking for another place to live. Because that landlord is in financial trouble it may mean that is something happens and you need to have them repair something they do not have the money and it may cause issues for you later.
Most rent to own deals screw over the tenant/buyer. Rent to own almost never works out. Not much you can do about it.
Not much you can do. They could lose the house, and then you'll be dealing with the new owner, who could terminate your lease.
A month and a half ago, I had a police officer knock on my door to tell me that my landlord may not still own the house that I was renting to own.
It turns out that he had owed a bunch of back taxes and that there was a lien on the house before we signed the contract! He knew this beforehand! Now, the the person who holds the lien may get the house if the back taxes aren't paid before October. I am at a total loss on what to do here. Help!
If you had done the contract properly and had a title search done you would have found that in the beginning.
