Greedy Landlord Stealing Lease Option Deposit

[CommonLAW]

For the record... amounts were varried and changed throughout ON PURPOSE. Since this was a pending matter, I felt I would be smart to never pin exact dates and figures.

Regarding the final settlment, we recieved all (but) $18,000 back.

Good day at the track as far as I am concerned, even if I thought I would win, we're okay with taking that hit and moving on.

Looking for advice?

WRITING, WRITING, WRITING - GET EVERY THOUGHT AND/OR CHANGE IN WRITING.

No matter how 'rude' you feel you are being, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you or the other party 'feel' - Go home, type it up and bring it back for a signature.

We would have got it ALL back if I had just done what I LOVE to do... WRITE!

CommonLAw

Exactly commonlaw. As I have said on this and other forums, document everything. Never accept verbal agreements. They can come up and bite you in the... well, you know where! ;-) Verbal agreements can be brought up and agreements shown in court to change contracts, but the problem with your situation was that it was a SALES contract and not a rental agreement. Most state laws say that real estate sales contract MUST be in writing. Rental agreements can be verbal. If the judge wanted to put that to the test, the outcome could be different.

Judges are funny sometimes. One could hold a grudge against a former LL, or a bad sales agent who lost a house for him. They have all sorts of personal bias that (although they aren't supposed to show) ends up influencing their rulings. Seen it many times. Judges sometimes go against what the law says just because they don't like one party in the lawsuit. An appeal is lengthy and costly to get the case ruled upon correctly. It happens moe often that one might think.

Glad to hear that your case turned out well.