A legal fight over a rent-to-buy real estate business that included the landlord hitting back and filing a counterclaim for defamation against the plaintiffs ended Friday with the parties reaching a settlement that, among other provisions, requires the defendants pay nearly $400,000 plus attorney fees.
The Indiana Supreme Court reviewed a dispute over a rent-to-own contract and determined the family who had been living in the home were renters, not buyers. The ruling in Rainbow Realty Group, Inc., et al. v. Katrina Carter and Quentin Lintner, might give families who enter rent-to-buy contracts some remedy to prevent their dreams of homeownership from becoming a nightmare.
An apartment tenant facing eviction who alleged his landlord failed to take keep the space safe, clean and habitable won favor from an appellate panel Tuesday.
Would-be homebuyers secured a partial victory from the Indiana Supreme Court against Rainbow Realty Group after it concluded the parties’ rent-to-buy agreement was not a land-sale contract. However, relief awarded to the tenants under Indiana’s Deceptive Consumer Sales Act was reversed.
A northwestern Indiana landlord wants the U.S. Supreme Court to wade into his dispute with the city of Hammond and overturn a city order directing him to remove five apartments that he’s leased to tenants in what was once a single-family home. Jose Andrade, who argues that Hammond’s order violates his constitutional rights, has filed a petition for review with the nation’s highest court.
A South Bend landlord is not entitled to double recovery or attorney’s fees from a former tenant’s security deposit, an appellate panel ruled Tuesday. The landlord had taken hundreds from the woman’s deposit to cover its legal fees in a suit it filed against her.
Officials and community organizations in Goshen are helping to get housing and services for homeless people in a northern Indiana city who formerly lived at a homeless camp that’s being emptied.
Brenda Davis and Franci Gartin know a home can be a place to rest from the struggles of daily living. The two Indianapolis women were settled into their houses, arranged and as welcoming as they each wanted. But then the struggles of the outside world invaded, and they found themselves in danger of losing their own domiciles.
A dispute that could have a far-reaching impact on the sizable rent-to-own housing market in the Hoosier state was presented to the Indiana Supreme Court on Thursday morning with attorneys arguing over the nature of the rent-to-own contract.
The city of Hammond may proceed with an ordinance violation act against a local landlord after the Indiana Court of Appeals rejected a trial court’s finding that it lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear the case in a trial de novo.
The Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the denial of a tenant’s motion for judgment against a landlord’s insurer after finding that the parties’ commercial leasing agreement unambiguously provided that the landlord would insure a building damaged in a fire.
Katrina Carter and Quentin Lintner are continuing to fight for their piece of the American dream even after the Indiana Court of Appeals closed the door on their attempt to get restitution from the company that put them in an uninhabitable home under a rent-to-own contract. They are not alone in litigation arising from such arrangements.
The Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a public works and safety board’s order that a man restore a property he uses as apartments back to a single-family dwelling after finding the home to be unsafe and sufficient evidence proved it was not a multi-family unit.
A Greensburg apartment complex and its property manager will no longer be considered in default after the Indiana Supreme Court reinstated a trial court ruling that found excusable neglect justified setting aside a default judgment.
A case before the Indiana Court of Appeals is at least the third pending suit involving Rainbow Realty and its rent-to-buy program. The Indiana Attorney General filed a complaint in Marion Superior Court in January 2013, and the Fair Housing Center of Central Indiana filed a class action in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana in May 2017.
The estate of a woman who was confined to a hospital bed and harassed by her landlord won a major victory last week in federal court that provided some rare Indiana case law on housing discrimination and, according to a fair housing advocate, will impact Hoosiers for years to come.
A property management company sued by one of its tenants argued in court that it charged less than all the costs it incurred, but the Court of Appeals ordered the landlord to pay up, as a small claims court ruled.
A federal judge is allowing residents of the East Chicago Housing Authority to seek contempt damages against the public housing agency over allegations it violated a court order by conducting illegal and warrantless searches of residents’ homes.
A small-claims judge who failed to swear in litigants in a small-change rent lawsuit drew a rebuke and a reversal from the Court of Appeals Friday, who found she not only improperly shifted the burden of proof to the plaintiff, but also belittled and disparaged her.
After concluding an Indiana trial court conducted a small claims landlord-tenant dispute too informally without considering testimony or evidence, the Indiana Court of Appeals has remanded the case for a “proper” evidentiary hearing.