Rick Otton and his students go to great lengths to show how “rent to buy” strategies are accepted – even supported – by Government, the Courts and the banks.

Most of these claims are probably inconsequential in their own right, but it appears that they aim to build up a picture of strategies that are ‘mainstream’ and safe.  The risk is that some people confidently put these strategies into action, and find out too late that some aspects of the practices have not been fully tested in the Courts and are open to challenge.

Here is just another example where Otton claims in 2013 that the Government put his book “How to Buy a House for $1″  in all libraries, and says “they appreciate progress”.   Replies to his post on Facebook include “Awesome”, “fantastic Rick, great success”, and “outstanding”.

Admittedly, the Trove service is created and maintained by the National Library (an Australian Government institution), but that is where Government involvement ends.

According to the Trove website it “provides access to more than 380 million resources” with a link to Australia including books, newspapers, journals and websites.

I probably don’t need to go any further to suggest that it would be physically impossible for Government to make a value judgement on each of the 380 million resources on Trove, which as well as Otton’s book include books supporting Scientology, Creationism, and 9/11 conspiracy theories!

Otton is correct however, in noting that his book is available to borrow from some public libraries.