Legal Question in Administrative Law in California

Is the lease in writing? How long a lease? An "option" is not consistent with a promise or commitment to buy - an option means you have a choice to buy, or not buy. Was the purchase price specified?

If the lease-with-option is lacking too many details, and nothing has been reported to the DMV, I think a judge would rule the whole deal void and would order the car returned to the owner and the $900 paid so far forfeited as rent.

I don't think you can get your money back.......have you checked what it costs to rent a car for a month?

I have never heard of the one-year rule you mention. More likely, if the only term missing in a well-written and otherwise complete lease-option was the expiration date of the option, a court would say the option expired at the same time as the lease expired, i.e., that the holder of the option could exercise it at any time within the duration of the lease.

I sens that you are mixing the concept of a lease-with-option with a conditional sale, where the buyer can make lease-like monthly payments for a while, but eventually must buy. If you must buy at any time, the deal is not a lease-option, it is a conditional sale (installment sale).