Need some help.. I need a lease purchase agreement for my NC buyer? is there such a form, or must an attorney draw it up, as i have been told? thanks again!

There might be; but I doubt it.

As simple as the name implies, Lease Purchase Agreements are actually more complicated than either a Simple Lease Agreement or a Purchase and Sales Agreement. Maybe it's more complicated than the two combined. I don't think all of the variables can be understood and reduced to just one simple "Fill in the Blanks" Form.

I've drafted them; but I also realize that whoever produces the Document is going to write it for the benefit of either the proposed Tenant/Buyer or for the proposed LandLord/Seller. I don't think there is an equitable way of writing them; and they are un-common enough that there is no Ususal and Customary "Standard".

Issues such as Option Price; Insurance; Responsibility for Property Taxes and Utilities; Application of Rents toward Purchase (if any); Setting of a Purchase Price . . . . and so forth, all require definition that is often beyond the patience of these Actors and well beyond the capacity of a Simple Form.

We discussed some of this last year under "Lease Option" or "Rent to Own". Remember, the person who wants to rent the property already has the Option to Buy. What they typically want is to REMOVE that Option from everyone else, so they can rent and enjoy the property without the threat of having it bought out from under them by someone else. You will discover that few of these Prospective Tenant/Buyers will agree to pay a sizeable and NON-Refundable Price upfront for the Right to Exercise the Option to Purchase. They want the "Option"; but don't want to pay for it! Often they have no money; otherwise they'd be Buyers already.

Less than one out of ten such "Agreements" results in the transfer of Real Estate (maybe even fewer!). Most die a slow and painful death with all Parties becoming enemies.

But Good Luck down there. Probably, even in North Carolina, the Party who pays an Attorney to prepare the Agreement, is the one whose interests will be best represented in the Agreement. And that Attorney will earn his Fee.

And please let us know IF you find such a Form ! I've always had to create them from scratch . . . . and I've been very lucky to have not been sued over these carefully drafted documents.

Here's a link to one of our prior discussions:

Rent to Own Contracts/Lease Purchase Agreements

brokerlady01, not sure where you are located but I PM'd you with the name of an attorney that has done this before from the Raleigh area.

Good advice from everyone - very kind of you Oli - as NAR, NCAR, & NCREC have all preached the perils of these for decades. But if you search the forms on the NCAR site after you log on - you can download the whole package. Everything you need to hang yourself and have some left over.

Thanks for all this great info! No, we did not go through with this. Buyer backed out, at last minute, in the spring. If I should get involved in another one, in the future, I will definitely seek an attorney to draw it up. Thanks again. Lots of wisdom on this site, and great contributors!