A thought on this Archived Message
Posted by Riverbender  on June 30, 2019, 10:45 am, in reply to "Is Granite city intimidating landlords?"
Rent to own or rent with option or other creative name is really the same old Bond for Deed in a new wrapper. Quite often a landlord will approach someone seeking to rent a home and convince them that if they pay "rent" for X amount of years they will own the property. The rentee then signs an assortment of papers and dreams that they might someday own the property. As time passes on the now so called seller of the property computes a balance based upon the stated interest rate in the contract and charges taxes and insurance to the account as time goes on. The "buyer" realistically has no solid equity until the contract is fully paid and can walk , handed, at any time. Contracts like these are generally for lower income people and for homes that are often in less desirable areas. Those of you that have read "The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair will remember that many of t he houses are sold over and over after one person moves out after giving the home a quick coat of paint and cleaning out.
Now with all that being said certain Landlords often will will use transactions like this to avoid home inspections or City Code violations. Say for example there is a certain violation. WHen contacted the seller, who is still in title to the home will reply that the home is being purchased and to contact the buyer (tenant) of the home. Regarding future inspections similarly the seller (landlord) will simply say that the property is not being rented but has rather been sold. Hopefully I have written this in a manner all can understand and recognize how certain transactions are created like this.
I can not say if that is what happened in this particular situation but it night have meaning that the City may have a different "take" on the events described in the original post. It is too bad we don't hear the City's side on this but it may in fact have a valid point. I guess it will be for the courts to untangle and decide. Things are so complicated these days but to be fair to the City its side of the story must be heard too.
(One might read a summery of chapter 4 of Sinclair's "The Jungle" written in 1906 for a better look at how these transactions work
https://www.shmoop.com/the-jungle/chapter-4-summary.html)
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