Foreclosure damages

[Stimpy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia
I hired a lawyer to foreclose on a rent to own property of mine after my tenant defaulted. It took almost ten months of my calling, emailing, and leaving messages for my lawyer to finally come through. Meanwhile I couldn't rent the property legally and I lost thousands of dollars in rental income. Now my lawyer is trying to charge me a bunch of money for handling this, even though he mishandled the case. What are my options? Am I wrong for feeling like he should be held accountable?
Thanks

 

[quincy]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Georgia
I hired a lawyer to foreclose on a rent to own property of mine after my tenant defaulted. It took almost ten months of my calling, emailing, and leaving messages for my lawyer to finally come through. Meanwhile I couldn't rent the property legally and I lost thousands of dollars in rental income. Now my lawyer is trying to charge me a bunch of money for handling this, even though he mishandled the case. What are my options? Am I wrong for feeling like he should be held accountable?
Thanks

Foreclosures take time, especially on a rent-to-own property. It is not necessarily a failing on the attorney's part that the process took a long time. The fact that the property was occupied meant that it could not be rented to anyone else. It was the fault of your non-paying tenant that you lost rental income.

I do not see offhand from what you have posted anything that indicates the attorney mishandled the matter - but you can have all facts personally reviewed by another attorney in your area who can determine this better.

 

[Stimpy]

Foreclosures take time, especially on a rent-to-own property. It is not necessarily a failing on the attorney's part that the process took a long time. The fact that the property was occupied meant that it could not be rented to anyone else. It was the fault of your non-paying tenant that you lost rental income.

I do not see offhand from what you have posted anything that indicates the attorney mishandled the matter - but you can have all facts personally reviewed by another attorney in your area who can determine this better.

The property was vacant the entire time. The tenant abandoned it. We had the last known address of my tenant and we sent two certified notices and waited the required time. It then took another 6 months or so to finish. The contract I had clearly stated that the property would revert to me. Just seems like it took a long time for just filing some paperwork and crying out on the courthouse steps.

 

[quincy]

The property was vacant the entire time. The tenant abandoned it. We had the last known address of my tenant and we sent two certified notices and waited the required time. It then took another 6 months or so to finish. The contract I had clearly stated that the property would revert to me. Just seems like it took a long time for just filing some paperwork and crying out on the courthouse steps.

Until required-by-law time periods pass, property can remain in a sort of limbo. Even when vacant, you are unable to rent it out to anyone else. That is just the way it is.

Ten months is a long time, and I understand your feeling that there must have been something that your attorney could have done to speed up the process. There are some things, however, that are out of the attorney's control.

If you really believe your attorney somehow mishandled the matter for you, you can have another attorney review all that was done and the time it took to do it. From what you have posted so far, though, nothing jumps out at me indicating that your attorney did anything wrong.

Good luck.