Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: lease option one day late to close

Well, first of all, the unlawful detainer court did not have subject matter jurisdiction to grant the unlawful detiner judgment when title was in issue. You should have consolodated the actions and filed a lis pendens before the unlawful detainer trial. Nevertheless, sounds like the owners' attorney has done a big run around on you. If it has been less than 30 days since the unl. det. judgment, I would probably recommend an immediate appeal.--If it has been more than 30 days, then you would need to at least file a lis pendens to lock the property up. The owner could lease the property but would not be able to sell it to a buyer who needs to obtain financing. You need to act quickly. If I may be of any further assistance, feel free to call my office.

Re: lease option one day late to close

Have you been represented by an attorney at any stage? You seem to have made more than one tactical mistake, first allowing the option deadline to pass then going through an unlawful detainer procedure where the court's jurisdiction was questionable.

In my opinion, filing a lis pendens could also be a tactical error. Maybe, maybe not. What you need to look at is whether you may end up being liable to the owner for damages for improperly tying up his property.

In any event, a party in pro. per. cannot sign and file a lis pendens without prior court approval. See Code of Civil Procedure section 405.21.

Because of the short time frames involved and the relatively large stakes, I recommend that you retain competent, local real estate counsel at once. After checking where you stand on deadlines, that attorney's first job should be to see whether he can negotiate a better deal for you with the owner and owner's attorney. This will be better for all concerned than litigating.