Equitable Mortgage Defense Invoked In Lease-Purchase Agreement; Judge Denies Tenant Eviction, Says Foreclosure Is Required To Boot Renter

In Sarasota, Florida, local real estate attorney Jefferson F. Riddell writes in the Bradenton Herald on the fear (for a landlord) that a court will not allow a property owner to evict a tenant under a lease-purchase arrangement:

• [T]he fear was realized recently when the seller under a lease purchase type document went to county court in Sarasota to evict the tenant for failure to make monthly payments. The judge scrutinized the document, concluded that it was an agreement for deed and required the seller to foreclose it in circuit court like a mortgage.

• Cost to the seller for the foreclosure was about $2,000 instead of the nominal cost of a tenant eviction, and the buyer was able to stay in the property rent free for months while the foreclosure was being completed.

Source: Watch out for lease purchase agreements.