We live in Florida. My husband & I entered in to what we thought was a lease/option purchase. We needed property that was high & dry for horses. We were very clear about this to the realtor/property manager that was representing this property. She told us this property was perfect. Presented a Seller Disclouser statment & original plot layout of the entire subdivision. Stating that was the only survey the owners had. The disclouser statement read in all the areas that it was not in a flood zone & they did not have a current survey. So we signed a Contract for sale & lease agreement. There was to be a $750 unrefundable depost & we offered $50 more per month to be put in a interest bearing escrow account towards purchase of home. We waited 2 weeks to get copies of the signed documents. Finally she faxed me parts of them. ALong with an actual survey that had been done by the owners in 8/95. In big lettering stated property located in Flood Zone. We were told that since we had signed & made payment we were stuck with at least the lease agreement. It took almost 8 months to get copies of all the documents. I also found out that none of the $50 payments went in to an escrow, but back to the owner. We requested that we be given back our money & that we go back to the original agreed upon amount of $750 rent. We put in a letter that if they cash the check then they are agreeing to the new terms. This was sent with May's payment. Which was cashed. A few weeks later we get a letter from the owner stating they do not wish to amend the contract nor send us our money back. That if we do not pay them the $50 we are in breach of the contract. My question is since the whole decsion to get in to this arrangment was based on the documents provided by the realtor/owner. Which have turned out to be false. Is the contracts now void & the deposits refundable? I spoke to one attorney that said since we didn't want the property it shouldn't matter if the documents were false. We lose out on not only the money paid directly, but all the money we have spent on fencing & such. Any help is greatly appreciated. If anyone has another site that may be able to help let me know. Thanks Becky
Becky I don't have any advice but you may want to check out the site below, they have a real estate section and also a real estate law section. I have gotten very good advice there, but it may take a day or 2 for a reply. <www.askme.com>
God that sucks Becky...and people wonder why I don't trust people in the housing industry....nuff said
