[mandisd]

In need of advice.. My husband and I Rented to own a house in July of 2011. We signed a warranty deed and a deed of trust.. There is nothing written it the warranty deed except the valuation of the land. The deed of trust just states how much we owe and when it is to be paid. Now it its march of 2012 my husband went to pay our land taxes and homestead the house.. We were informed by the tax acsser that the property taxes were behind for three years now and we could not pay our taxes until the back taxes were paid also the house would be seized by August of this year if the taxes were not paid.. We don't have the money to pay the back taxes and neither does the landlord, then we found out that the title to the land is not clear.. So that means she Breached the Warranty deed right? We want to tell her that we are not paying anything else until ALL the back taxes our paid and The lien that she has on the house is paid, can we do that?

[ScottGem]

A warranty deed states that the grantor grants title and warrants that title is clear. If title is not clear (and you should have checked both title and the state of property taxes BEFORE signing) then the warranty deed is invalid.

However, if this was a "rent to own" deal, then there was no reason for a deed at all. So, either this wasn't a rent to own or it is and the title issue is immaterial. Did you sign a contract? If so you need to read that contract to see what it says about the owner's obligations and your's.

More importantly is the property taxes being in arrears. This could allow you to sue the seller/owner depending on the terms of your contract.

I suggest you do now, what you should have done before entering into this deal and that's get an attorney to get you out of this mess. If you had an attorney when you entered the deal I doubt if you would have gone into it.