Recently my townhouse was on the market and I was approached by someone interested in renting to own. After careful thought and advise from friends and family, I decided to proceed. The person listed terms, that were all agreeable to me, so I bought a contract online and which we completed together and signed an 18 month lease-option at the end of Sept. She gave a portion of the option money at the signing (there was no security deposit) and was to give the rest upon moving in. The tenant was to move in Nov. 1st. During the next 30 days, I bought a home warranty, which was part of the contract, packed up and put most of my things into storage, and got a temporary housing 60 miles away. I attempted several times to contact the tenant to keep her informed of what I was doing to comply with the contract. She was suppose to get the house inspected so I could correct anything prior to her move in. She never responded to my emails or phone calls. I began to think she was backing out and contacted a Real Estate Agent in case I had to put it back on the market. But on Oct. 27th, I finally got a hold of the tenant, who apologized profusely for not getting back with me.. and confirmed that she would be moving in. We arranged to meet on Nov 1st at 7PM to exchanges keys and rent. I had someone come in a clean, but still had a few things in the townhouse that I needed to remove. On Oct 31st I called and emailed the tenant to let her know that I had some things to still take out of the garage and wondered if we could change the date to Nov 2nd, so I could complete this task. She didn't respond. On Nov. 1st, I contacted her at work and she told me she could wait until the weekend to get the keys, because she wouldn't be moving in until the second week of Nov. Once again we confirmed a date and time (Nov. 4th at noon) to meet.

A few hours later, I get an email from her stating that she her "ex-husband is filing for custody and she is going to have to fork out alot of money for attorneys so she wouldn't be able to do in ...Sorry"

I've finally got a someone elsemoving in Jan 1st. Can I hold the contract breaking tenant responsible for 2 months rent where the place was empty? What about the money I put out for home warranty?

What is her responsibility? What is mine?

She is responsible for exactly what she signed for in the lease. That is your contract and you needed to write it up for your protection and expect her to move out and not fulfill it, Most rent to own always end up with them moving.

So what ever you obligated her to in the lease is what you can sue her for.