A year ago I purchased a vehicle (Truck) from a private seller that I use in my business as a landscaper.

The private seller was in the auto body business and I paid 70% upfront with cash and a trade in value on an older truck I was using at the time. When registering the vehicle the seller was listed as lien holder.

The remainder of the loan was to be paid off in lawn care services for 8 months (mowing on a regular basis), clearing the property boundries, and finally installation of landscape items (Trees, Shrubs & Mulch) which the property owner agreed to purchase and I would just provide the labor for installation.

My obligations of mowing for 8 months and clearing the property boundries has been completed, and for the past few months I have repeatedly called the property owner explaining that he needed to purchase the landscape materials he planned on having installed so the title can be transferred over to me.

He kept putting me off with one excuse after another. Now, as of last week, he called and left a voice mail saying due to ecconomic times he cannot afford to buy the materials and has demanded the balance of which he and I have agreed verbally is $1300.00. He stated that if I do not remit this amount to him in full he will repo the vehicle.

I agree there is a balance owed since I have not done the landscape installation, but since he is now unwilling to purchase the materials I don't feel I should have to pay the balance in full within a two week period, which is what he is demanding. He stated he is not willing to take payments of any sort.

Just wondering what course of action I should take, first in order to hopefully prevent a repo because I feel that will only muddy the circumstances. (I think if I were to mention to him what penalties are involved for a lender who unlawfully repos a vehicle he might think twice before taking this action, but I don't know what they are)

Secondly if he does unlawfully repo the vehicle then what?

Thanks

Forgot to mention I am in Florida

You need to document, stop calling him and start writing him,
Second I would hope the agreement is in writing, if not, your word aganst his.

And you could see if he would agree to mowing this year in exchage for balance ( in writing)

If not you will have to sue in court to force completion of contract

Thanks for the response. As of January he was supposed to start paying for the monthly mowing, but when the end of the month came around is when he called and said he would need to halt services because he couldn't afford them and also when he mentioned about having to pay the balance in full.

I've done an hour or two of searching trying to locate possible penalties for unlawful repo, but haven't been able to run across the information... still looking..

I guess I may have to look into what you mentioned about forceful compliance..

Thanks again

If I were you I would just pay the man what he wants, get the title and then take him to court for whatever monies he owes you for lawn mowing. It does not matter to some people if they decide to repo a vehicle if it is legal or not to do. Do you really want to contend with that scenerio down the road to try and get your truck back? It will probably cost you well more than $1,300 to get it back and then he just might decide to strip the vehicle on top of that and all your landscaping tools are gone forever. Just pay him and take him to court.

Sorry, I forgot that he is a lien holder on the title. All you need to do is get a release of the lien from him.

Ok, here's your problem. Under Florida law the lienholder/creditor can repossess the vehicle without going to court or prior notice. He can even come onto your property to do so.

According to your contract, you are in default. The fact the default was caused by the creditor doesn't matter here. So, he is within his legal rights to repo the vehicle.

Therefore, you should pay the balance owed and get his release of the lien (in writing). Once you have that he can no longer repo the vehicle.

From there you need to decide whether you can sue him for his failure to hold up his end. I tend to doubt it, but its possible.