Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

You need to take all of the paperwork you have to an real estate attorney in your area immediately. Assuming you have an agreement in writing, you will probably need to file a lawsuit against the seller for quiet title. You WILL NOT be able to claim such agreement in an unlawful detainer action and if you do not have some type of lawsuit filed against the seller BEFORE the unlawful detainer trial you are likely to have the court enter judgment in the seller's favor. DO NOT DELAY in contacting an attorney as your failure to do so will likely result in your losing significant legal rights. While you may still be able to file a lawsuit against the seller to recover the money you have already spent, that may happen at the cost of losing possession of the house.

Mr. Hoffman is correct. You need a lawyer to look at all the papers you have and give you an opinion as to whether this is worth pursuing. If you would like to meet with me to decide whether you would like to hire me to do that for you, I would be happy to meet with you in my Walnut Creek office next week at no charge. If you would like to meet and get a preliminary opinion at the same time, please call me to discuss a modest flat-rate fee for that type of meeting.

It sounds like to me that you are in a classic installment land sale contract situation.

There are special rules that California courts have developed in land sale contracts. Although the vendor retains title, the courts treat the vendor's title as a security interest. The California Supreme Court has held that the vendor must foreclose, either by sale or a quiet title action. An unlawful detainer action by the vendor is inappropriate.

You need to speak to an attorney, who is familiar with this specialized area of law. You generally have a right of redemption, and if you redeem, may seek specific performance of a conveyance of title to you.

All of the above answers are correct, especially that you need to find a competent real estate attorney immediately, if just to find out what your actual right are. I presume that you live in the Bay Area and Mr. McCormick is very knowledgeable as to real estate matters and is within a reasonable range of were you reside.

You probably will need to sue to quiet title, enforce the written agreement, seek damages for trespass, breach of contract, etc. Change the locks and tel him why you have, go to your local courthouse and look up your name and his to see what suits have been filed is any, check the Records office for any liens on the property and who is listed as the owner, etc. You probably have run into someone who took a get rich real estate course who learned about rent/lease to own opportunities but did not fully understand them, estoppel, etc.

Good luck. You seem to have a good case.