Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Indiana

I have a house I am selling to a person rent to own. So I believe it's a land contract, in the contract the tennant is responsible for mowing the yard and maintaining the property and paying the taxes on the house. We are selling her the house for 25k and she put down 5k and was supposed to pay 500 a month until the house was paid. For the first two months she paid on time. But every month after that she's been late. There is a 75 dollar penalty for every late month. She moved in 02/01/2016 as of 09/01/2016 she is now 2 months late on rent. Has made one partial payment of 220. They have violated the contract by being late on multiple occasions. I relied on that payment as an income so I had no option but to accept the late amount. But now that she hasn't paid these two months. I can't continue to allow her to take advantage of me like this. I've tried to be nice and understanding. But it's come to my attention she doesn't have a reliable source of income. Hasn't maintained the property either. The City had to cut the grass because she refused to. They sent me a copy of this violation in the mail. How can I evict her and get my house back? This problem is beyond a head ache that I'm no longer able to handle.

I was also going to put the house under my daughters name and do a quick claim feed and she was going to send her notification that she is late and requires payment in full by October 3 otherwise she will move for eviction. Is that an option?

She has also had the house at risk of tax sale. She paid partial tax at the last minute but still owe 400 by November or it will still go on tax sale. Please any help would be greatly appreciated


Asked on 9/13/16, 6:24 am

1 Answer from Attorneys

Kenneth Wilk Rubino Ruman Crosmer & Polen

You must evict to take back the house. Your rights are determined by the land contract. If you had a lawyer draw it up, it's probably favorable and you'll have no problem. If your contract was a do-it-yourself project, you are probably toast.

If a lawyer drew up the contract, it should have a provision that the purchaser loses any equity rights or refund rights for monies paid. If not, you have a problem, because you'll need to refund some of the payments. The eviction is something that needs to be done by an attorney.

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Answered on 9/15/16, 5:16 pm


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