Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Washington

Re: Rent to Buy

Very, very carefully. It is usually called a lease/purchase agreement.

I have seen at least 100 cases where the parties downloaded forms off the internet to save money, and the resulting chaos lost them the house.

I'd caution you not to do that.

Washington has a residential landlord tenant act. When you do a lease option agreement you *can* exempt yourself from the provisions of the RLTA if you do it correctly, which arguably requires you to have counsel review and approve the agreement, in writing, BEFORE you enter into it.

I promise this is for your protection. The Consumer Protection Act does not apply to contracts for housing, so you don't have that recourse.

The issue is this: If you enter into a purchase and sale (REPSA) agreement with a normal lender, and you can't make payments and something happens, you still have equity and you can sell the place.

With a private real estate contract, if you make one mis-step, such as a late payment, the owner can declare a breach, reclaim the house, and you will owe him even more money plus attorney fees.

There are lenders who will tell you that you can "lease purchase" a house for two years, and then re-finanace with lower costs.

They are lying. They will charge you inflated rent, wait until you cannot make a payment, evict you, and start over with the next starry-eyed renter.

Be highly cautious. If what you need is a landlord's verification of rents, just wait until you have two solid years of rental history and then go find a mortgage broker.

Hope this helps you sort it out - Elizabeth Powell