Several years ago, your landlord made you an offer, but before you accepted that offer, it was withdrawn. This is classic contract law. In order to have a binding contract, three elements are required: (l) an offer, (2) an acceptance, and (3) consideration. The latter is usually met by the earnest money good faith deposit which a purchaser puts up when a contract is signed, but consideration can be something other than money. The courts have held that if the seller, for example, takes the property off of the market in anticipation that you will go to settlement, that would be sufficient and adequate consideration to ensure that there is a binding contract.

However, unless there is language in an offer spelling out the conditions and the limitations of the offer (ie. “unless this offer is accepted by 5 p.m on Saturday, December 21, this offer will become null and void) an offer can be withdrawn at any time before there is an acceptance. And that is what happened to you several years ago. You apparently waited too long, and your landlord withdrew his offer.

Perhaps if you tell your landlord that if you cannot buy his house, you will be moving out within the next few months, he will change his mind. While the housing sales market remains vibrant and strong, the rental market has slowed down, and your landlord may not want to be stuck with a vacant property.

Alternatively, if you are in the buying mode, you should start looking around – whether or not you are able to convince your landlord to sell you his property. You may find other properties equally as good, and properties which will not require you to spend a lot of money on repairs.

In law school, we were taught that “real estate is unique”. Having been out in the real world for some period of time, however, I am not sure that our law professors were correct. I am sure that you will find some other property that will suit your needs – and your budget, especially now when interest rates are so low.