Rent To Own: Fill & Download for Free

What happens if I have a rent-to-own agreement and we are paid up and the landlord hires a broker to sell the home without bringing up the lease or giving us notice in California?If you’re in a rent-to-own contract, then surely your attorney told you what to do to ensure your contract is recognized.Give him a call and tell him what’s going on. He’ll advise you on the next steps.

Being poor in America is expensive. In my area, it costs $7 to cash your paycheck without a bank account. Most of the poor never have enough money saved to open an account. It costs them $4 to get a cashier’s check to pay one bill. If they have to get a check to pay power bill, garbage bill, electric bill, water bill and sewer, that is $20. Some have a credit card they can pre-pay in order to pay bills. That costs a $5 fee and the bank may charge a similar fee for every transaction.If they got their furniture at a rent to own center, they are paying over 50% interest on a sofa marked up by 100%. The poor never have enough money or enough on their pre-paid credit card buy furniture outright. A television that costs $400 at Walmart is $800 at a rent to own. That is before interest.Every minor bump in the the road is catastrophic when you are poor. A sick child can tip the family into crisis mode. If they stay home with the child, they don’t get paid and might be fired. If they get a sitter, it might be more than they make in a day, but they need to keep their job. Add in generic cough medicine and ibuprofen at $10 and the budget is broken beyond repair. The family will now have to fight hard to get back on their feet. This was just a child’s flu and three days of a babysitter. Imagine if they had to pay a co-pay for a doctor visit or miss two weeks of work.When some people see a poor person buying an expensive food item, they immediately think they are taking advantage of the system. That steak and decorated cake may be the only gifts a child gets for their birthday. Do we really want to make an issue of a small splurge? When the middle class splurge and put thousands on their credit cards, nobody asks if they should be spending on a treat. Only the poor, even the working poor, are required to justify their every transaction. It’s a strong prejudice that is ignored.

I bought a house with lease to own, but didn’t receive the title. Now I’m a menace to be evicted. What should I do?You need to take a copy of your contract and all related documents to an attorney. NOW.In a lease-to-own situation, you would either have the property transferred into your name with the seller holding a primary lien, or the seller retains ownership until you have paid a specified amount of the principal and interest.This should all be spelled out in your rent-to-own contract.