"Bought" a trailer, now there's problems?

[Knidbalski]

Ohio - My mother bought a trailer from a private seller one year ago. No contract was signed, its only an oral agreement. My mom pays rent/lease payment to the seller, and lot rent to the park its in. So far she has payed over $2500 towards the trailer out of the agreed upon $5000. Turns out there are a lot of structural, cosmetic and expensive issues that will cost thousands to have repaired. The seller insists its my moms responsibility. If the seller still the owner, isnt she responsible for anything?

 

[Just Blue]

Ohio - My mother bought a trailer from a private seller one year ago. No contract was signed, its only an oral agreement. My mom pays rent/lease payment to the seller, and lot rent to the park its in. So far she has payed over $2500 towards the trailer out of the agreed upon $5000. Turns out there are a lot of structural, cosmetic and expensive issues that will cost thousands to have repaired. The seller insists its my moms responsibility. If the seller still the owner, isnt she responsible for anything?

Please have your mother, the legal party, join and ask her own questions. Thank You for you anticipated understanding. Blue...

 

[PayrollHRGuy]

Make up your mind did she buy the trailer or is she renting/leasing it?

If she bought it the problems are hers.

 

[xylene]

Your mom should move and cut her losses. she is going to get even more screwed.

Never, never, never NEVER do an oral deal for property!!!

 

[xylene]

If she assert ownership, yes she owes for repairs!

It may be impossible to establish her ownership.

She was scammed!

 

[Knidbalski]

My mom is reading everything here.

The seller says my mom leasing it "as is," as a lease to own. The deed, insurance, tax stuff and whatever else is in the owner's name. The utilities are in my mom's name and she has a written lease with the park for the lot, but nothing for the trailer itself. If there's nothing that says she owns it and there's no written contract stating that she's leasing it; then I would think she's legally a renter/tenant. The owner issued a late fee for any late payments - that's normal with renting, but is it for leasing? There's a pattern of behavior for paying the owner every month, but I'm not sure if that really helps us or hurts us in determining who's responsible for major repairs. If she was to cut her losses and leave, could she be sued?

 

[LdiJ]

She just needs to walk away from the whole deal and find somewhere else to live.

 

[adjusterjack]

If she was to cut her losses and leave, could she be sued?

Sure. Anybody can sue anybody for anything. Chances are, however, that the seller of the trailer won't bother. He'll just find somebody else foolish enough to make the same deal.

Her problem is going to be with the park owners if she breaks her lease. The park owners are more likely to come after her for that. When does her current lease expire?

 

[FarmerJ]

She should stop paying and move out in order to cut her losses only AFTER she calls your city , county building inspections desk and lets them write work orders on it and send them to the landlord , why do that , well then it would make sure no one else ends up in that spot again. Rent to own is a joke, many sellers think it lets them get rid of a property as is and if the so called buyer stops paying you can damn well bet the owner is going to scream they want that rent money or they will evict And they would likely get away with it too because the buyer in this case doesn't have a written agreement. So your mother doesn't have a written recorded agreement so she is still a tenant. If inspections condemns it then LL wont win a civil suit for unpaid rent if a governmental agency has said no one can live in it. If Inspections wrote work orders in the end they will go after the landlord to force repairs or condemn. in real estate matters such as buying and selling if there is no written agreement then how would a buyer prove they had a agreement to buy ?

 

[NeilTheCop]

"The seller says my mom leasing it "as is," as a lease to own"
By your own admission it was leased 'as is'. Just like a car it's up to the buyer to perform some due diligence and check out the potential purchase if it's a car or trailer for obvious faults.
The only possible drawback to simply walking away is that the site rent seems to be a separate financial arrangement, and if you do walk away the site owners may want you to take the trailer with you. And if you don't; well check the site rental agreement and see what it says first.

 

[FarmerJ]

the mobile home park management cant make this posters mom move a home that she doesn't own and doesn't have any kind of written purchase agreement for .

 

[NeilTheCop]

the mobile home park management cant make this posters mom move a home that she doesn't own and doesn't have any kind of written purchase agreement for .

But it may be in the parks agreement for renting the lot that when the mother goes she takes the trailer with her irrespective of who owns it.
That's why I asked about the site rental agreement.