Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Lease with option to purchase

Almost certainly, No!

Read your contract carefully, but usually, you will have forfeited your deposit if you don't go through with the purchase.

Re: Lease with option to purchase

Money paid to obtain an option to buy property in the future is usually not a "deposit" at all; it is usually a FEE charged the option holder for the privilege of having an option. Having said that, I hasten to add that option agreements written by amateurs may treat money paid for an option in any number of non-traditional ways, including ways that characterize it as a "deposit;" and if so, there may also be a requirement that said "deposit" be placed in an interest-bearing account.

So, your question invokes a comparison of what is usual with what is possible. Contracting parties are free to write and sign contracts that are unfavorable to themselves. They will be enforced by a court alongside contracts that are fair all around. If someone has shot themselves in the foot by allowing the fee for an option to be characterized as a "deposit," and have further compromised their rights by obliging themselves to pay interest on it, a court will probably enforce it. However, getting an option to buy anything (real estate, pork bellies, stock futures) is a privilege and the usual practice is for the grantor of the option to get a non-refundable, up-front FEE from the grantee or potential beneficiary of the option.

This analysis may be unfair in your circumstances' the deal may be fair all around, and one cannot know without reading the entire agreement and knowing what the future may hold.

Still, look at giving an option as the grant of a valuable privilege, for which the grantor should get a price from the grantee.