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threatened with forfeiture of collateral but seller also violated contract

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0.fred.0

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? missouri
so, I'm not sure which forum to put this in: mortgage and foreclosure or landlord /tenant issues. I have no objection to a moderator moving this to the appropriate forum as neccessary.
my question:
last week I get find notice taped to the door of the property I was buying.
I was about 10 days over the 45 day default period on my payments for two months consecutive (my bad, hadn't read the contract in quite a while and thought I had 60 days instead of the actual 45). the seller freaked out about my not living on the property over the winter (thought the water was on or something like that, they said) and issued me a 'you're in default, get out in 14 days' notice. I'm not required by contract to live there.
ok, well, for the notice they quote a part of the contract which allows them to default me if I go over 45 days. sure, they're right about the delinquency, but...
first: they state they never recieved the Nov. 1 payment, when in fact they deposited it days before mailing the notice. I can prove it with a bank statement, but too bad I didn't send it certified because the postmark was almost a week earlier than the deposit.
second: later in the contract is specified that I as the buyer am entitled to 10 days after being delivered notice to clear any default conditions without my getting kicked out. never got that, just the straight up 'eviction and we're taking your collateral' notice, and in fact, after their lawyer advised them to return my phone calls they refused to accept the December payment (or any further payments at all) a full week before it's 45 days grace period expired.
so, I sent 'em a letter certified with the keys on the 14 day mark after clearing out what I could of my stuff, and dropped a copies of that letter and their notice with their lawyer. told him I wanted the contract voided and both properties revert to their original owners (in which case I'll pay reasonable damages to the trailer) both because their notice cheats me of my right to clear default under contract and because they lied about nonpayment as the sole reason to claim default in addition to refusing further payments under contract. the letter I sent is the best I could cobble together without legal training, but I point out their misstatement about not recieving payment and quote the contract lines about being required ten days notice to correct default. if anyone with training wants to help me evaluate my chances of success with some more details (I'd settle for partial success, retaining some equity instead of my 20 acres collateral, as I have about $13k in principal paid currently on the $31k note,) I can scan the notice of default and my reply...
if anyone has simple questions I can answer here on the forum I will do that as well to try to get some more info.
Thanks!
 


FarmerJ

Senior Member
If you had kept possession of the property and sent them out a notice re the lack of ten day notice you were to get and pointed out to them that they might have to explain to a court the error about the november payment and why they cashed it but declined the december and also any attempted Jan contract installment , I would have laid odds the court might not have allowed the claim to proceed But doing what you have done I dont think you can undo it so easily now. Your certainly free to do what you should have done back when the November payment was cashed which would have been to see a real estate atty.
 

0.fred.0

Junior Member
so, moving my stuff out could cause problems, eh? I didn't want my possessions to hit the street. I sent them a notice of not giving me my proper notice with the keys (after moveout), including mention of the verifiably false claim of non-payment, cc their lawyer. I say that since they were in default of contract by evicting me without my 10 days notice (and that since they also refused further payments (payment offered to seller on the phone directly and to seller via their lawyer's office by phone as well) I requested both parties being in default should void the contract.
hmm, I didn't consider I'd have to risk the sheriff tossing my stuff out to fight.
more details:
unable to live in trailer over winter due to high utility bills. water turned off at main to avoid freezing pipes. power turned off in July due to bills being unpayable. picking up mail and checking on trailer once per week. got notice 7 days late because of this.
told their lawyer i'd settle for both parties keeping their original properties and i'd pay reasonable damages on the trailer in that case, otherwise i want it to go to court. even if i'm gonna lose anyway, at least it'll be as much of an emotional inconvenience for them as losing my collateral is for me.
also, if i could afford any kind of lawyer i wouldn't have been late on payments! november payment was cashed 10 days before i got notice due to late mail-pickup, check deposited the day of mailing of notice (day before its postmark), payment was postmarked week earlier than that.
<edit> also, forgot to mention, contract doesn't say anywhere that i had to be living there.
 
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0.fred.0

Junior Member
so, that's all you guys have got? since i moved my stuff in addition to telling them they also defaulted the contract then I'm SOL bacause I've never been able to afford a lawyer? stupid f***ing legal system, you've gotta personally face off the sherrif to fight for your contract rights or fork over at least a year's savings to a lawyer to do it for you? what a bunch of sh**. wow, I knew things were messed up in the laws anymore, but that's utterly ridiculous. good thing I was ready to walk away from my collateral BEFORE figuring out they violated my contract rights (and never really got my hopes up too far even after that since I assumed the law was rarely on the side of the poor,) or I'd be extra upset. at least I left such a mess that they backed off somewhat and gave me until March to clean up my stuff, that'll hopefully protect my collateral long enough for me to get some of my stored possessions from there as well. if they do try to take the quit-claim deed early, at least it should take a court order (I hope,) since I filed paper dispute over the contract violation with their lawyer as well as them directly.
any other words of wisdom that don't sum up to 'pay a lawyer????'
 

0.fred.0

Junior Member
update

so, I'm under the impression that there must be something to my claim of landlord defaulting on contract as well...
I was approached by their lawyer with photos that they took before giving me notice, which photos couldn't have been taken without physically breaking into my property. They stated that they could use said photos against me without even going to court. Said photos are dated by the developer, well before the demanded move-out date on the notice of contract void they sent me.
I assume that if they felt they had a winning case they wouldn't have stooped to attempted blackmail. The date on the photos seems to open them up to prosecution or criminal charges for breaking and entering... there is no clause in the purchase contract which gives them any right to enter the property for any reason.
Anyone got some advice other than to find a lawyer?
I've talked to four civil liberties lawyers, they won't touch me 'cause I don't have enough money.
 

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