LEASE OPTION- LANLORD SAYS IT IS NULL & VOID

[florence]

I signed a lease with option to buy a house, 1 yr. ago. 5 months into lease I had a personal problem & did not pay rent for 30 days. The lease says "if I am 7 days late, I will be notified in writing& terms of the lease option will be terminated & lease will revert to a month to month rental agreement"."Lease option states that out of my rent, $100.00 goes into the option every month". I was given a 3 day notice & eviction papers & went before the court. Lanlord agreed to let me stay if I paid all court costs & rent with late fee, which I did. I would like to exercise my right to the lease option & buy house, however lanlord says since I broke lease, I can no longer exercise my option. Lanlord says I am paying all rent now & $100.00 is not going to my option. Help? Is this legal???

 

[HomeGuru]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by florence:
I signed a lease with option to buy a house, 1 yr. ago. 5 months into lease I had a personal problem & did not pay rent for 30 days. The lease says "if I am 7 days late, I will be notified in writing& terms of the lease option will be terminated & lease will revert to a month to month rental agreement"."Lease option states that out of my rent, $100.00 goes into the option every month". I was given a 3 day notice & eviction papers & went before the court. Lanlord agreed to let me stay if I paid all court costs & rent with late fee, which I did. I would like to exercise my right to the lease option & buy house, however lanlord says since I broke lease, I can no longer exercise my option. Lanlord says I am paying all rent now & $100.00 is not going to my option. Help? Is this legal??? <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes. One of the conditions of the lease option was to pay rent on time. Since you defaulted, the option was cancelled and you have only a L/T lease with no option to purchase. Therefore, there is no option to exercise.