Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Indiana

I have a peculiar situation. I have for years paid someone $1000 a month for what i believed was house payments on a house that was badly in need of major work in order for someone to live in it. It took 30 months to get it there. Now there is a dispute in which the person I have paid $37,ooo to claims it was all for rent. Can I in this case get my money back for all the 'rent' paid for the months I can prove the house was not inhabitable by county standards.? I can back it up with official paperwork from county inspectors passing it a full 2 years after we entered into an agreement. I understand you cannot legally rent a house that is uninhabitable, so under this rule am I entitled to my money back? There is a contract he wrote up himself, which as it turns out, does say in heavily coded terms that I was renting from him. The situation is about to go to court.


Asked on 12/09/11, 1:00 pm

3 Answers from Attorneys

Jay Rigdon Rockhill Pinnick LLP

Take your agreement to an attorney immediately and get an opinion. No responsible attorney can give an opinion on these facts without reading the contract.

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Answered on 12/09/11, 1:36 pm
Burton Padove Indiana and Illinois Lawyer, Burton A. Padove

Jay took the words out of my mouth.

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Answered on 12/10/11, 5:04 pm
Voyle A. Glover Attorney at Law

If you are headed to court, waiting until the last minute and then posting here is not the way to proceed. If you have a lawyer, talk to the attorney. If you do not, you need to hire one. As has already been mentioned by wise counsel, we cannot give you any kind of legal opinion based on what you have said here. Too many unknowns, particularly about the contract, about how it is worded, and other circumstances and facts which might have a bearing on the case. Sometimes, a case will turn on one little fact, or one little thing in a contract.

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Answered on 12/12/11, 10:33 am


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