Has anyone gone down the rent to own route when buying a property? Pros and cons? Horror stories?

It can be doable - get the contract checked by a lawyer. Don't jump at the first one.

I did it. Had no problems at all. I didn't want to spend our savings on the down payment so it worked for us. Like triumphguy says make sure you read the small print and you should be OK.

The biggest problem with rent to own is if you decide not to buy you don't get back the bit of the rent that was going to "buy".

This is all covered in that all important contract (as mentioned above) DO NOT SIGN this without having it explained, clause by clause, by YOUR lawyer.

Unclear why anyone would want to complicate things like this ... if you want to rent, rent. And if you want to own, you should just arrange the finance to buy.

As in my previous post I didn't want to use my spare cash as a down payment.

As far as I can see, you are committing yourself to buying a house in 12 months for what it is worth now. That doesn't sound like a good idea in a declining market!

Not all markets are declining.

The house price is fixed, just as if you bought it at that time.

Its not the best way to buy a house, but it does work for some people.