leasing with a commitment to buy

[suzetteTJ]

i moved to allentown, pa on august 26th 2001, into a home that we are leasing with a commitment to buy. the company that owns the house buys them from the city at a very low cost and is supposed to fix them and (in their own representatives words) make it liveable. the problems is that it is not liveable and for the condition that it is in it is not worth even half the price they want to charge. we did not sign anything more than a lease agreement with many clauses about how we could possibly fall into default. we have not done anything to try to puchase this house in terms of a mortgage and refuse to do so. we decided on the first day of occupancy when we walked in, and found carpet nails in the bare floors, a hole in the bathroom floor, broken windows, windows painted shut, doors not on hinges and as a result of the hole in the bathroom floor the kitchen ceiling is now about to fall in, there is a back porch upstairs, that has no railing and is infested with termites and there is trash including the old toilet in the back yard, that we would look for another home to buy in the conventional manner. today we informed the company that owns this house in allentown that we would be moving out by the 25th and would no longer pay them rent, which was due last friday. they told us that they would sue us for the cost of this house. i need to know if this is possible.

 

[happy&lucky]

Take LOTS of pictures maybe a video as you proof it is unhabitable.....

They will sue..... so have LOTS of pictures buy 3 or 4 of those disposable cameras and make another set to give to a judge.

 

[Cvillecpm]

You mention a lease....if it is for a specific term, then your notice would be ineffective for your lease obligation. If you are occupying until you can close on the purchase, then you need to give written notice as prescribed in PA state law to terminate your tenancy legally.

 

[Gene Gayda]

In many states, a “lease with option to buy” does not fall under landlord tenant laws. You will need to confirm with a PA lawyer.

If you are, in truth, “buying” the house, then the condition of the property you bought is part of the business decision you should have reviewed before entering the agreement. It is perfectly “legal” to sell a house with a hole in the bathroom, with broken windows or with doors that are off their hinges.

If your contract does not fall under PA L&T law, then your relationship will be guided solely by the words of the document you signed. Yes, they probably can sue you for the price of the house and the facts of how bad the conditions are will be meaningless in court.

You should have understood more clearly what the deal was before you jumped in.


Gene