Also known as: installment land sale contract · installment land sales contract · installment land sales contracts · land contract · contract for deed
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
An agreement for the purchase of real property under which the buyer pays the purchase price in periodic installments while the seller retains legal title as security until full payment is made. The buyer receives equitable title and possession upon execution. Upon default the seller may pursue forfeiture or foreclosure remedies depending on state law.
Ian Iverson orally agreed to buy a parcel from Imperial Motors for $200,000 payable in monthly installments over five years. Ian took possession and began payments but Imperial Motors later refused to convey title. Ian sued for specific performance but the court dismissed the claim because no signed writing existed.
Igor Ito entered an installment land contract to purchase land from Island Manufacturing and paid half the price before discovering an unrecorded prior claimant. The court awarded Igor equitable title to the extent of his payments and granted the prior claimant a lien for the remaining balance owed under the contract.
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Irene Ingalls purchased property from Innovate Pharmaceuticals under an installment land contract and took possession while making payments. When Irene defaulted the seller sought forfeiture but the court required foreclosure proceedings instead because the contract functioned as a mortgage under state law.
Ivan Ivanov paid one-third of the purchase price under an installment land contract before a prior unrecorded interest holder appeared. The court awarded the land to the prior holder but imposed a lien in Ivan's favor for the amount already paid.
Yes. An installment land contract is a contract for the sale of an interest in land and therefore falls within the land contract provision of the Statute of Frauds. Without a signed writing that reasonably identifies the property and essential terms the agreement is unenforceable.
The seller may pursue forfeiture in some jurisdictions or foreclosure in others. Many states treat the contract as a mortgage and require foreclosure proceedings rather than strict forfeiture.
Courts may protect the purchaser to the extent of payments made by awarding a lien or recognizing equitable title while balancing the interests of prior unrecorded claimants through liens for unpaid balances.
Yes. The seller retains legal title only as security for payment and the buyer acquires equitable title. State law often imposes mortgage-like foreclosure protections upon default.
…(1938), as authority for its holding in Miles. To the extent Miles and Kravitz uphold the validity of forfeiture clauses in installment land sale contracts, they are overruled. The seller’s remedy for breach of the contract is to obtain a judicial sale of the property. The judgment of the trial court and the opinion of the Court of Appeals…