seniorjudge said:
Educate me: what kind of cancellation do they have to sign and why?
They signed a release of contract requesting the deposit of $3000 be returned to them. They no longer want the property. In order for me to remarket the property or do anything else, they have to sign a release.
Here is more information which is the letter I wrote to their realtor as a reply to everyone who has replied (thank you very much)
by the way TDS is transfer disclosure statement.
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Your client has issues with information on the disclosures. If you will remember, we spoke on the phone regarding this property being a fixer. This property was listed in the MLS as a fixer. We did not attempt to hide this fact. I faxed the TDS as well as other documentation to you which your buyer initialed prior to making an offer. He was well aware that the house had problems with the roof (as we notated it does leak) and also had wood boring beetles. We also advised we no longer had a copy of the report done when we purchased the property, but that it was available thru Roseville Termite Company. I am assuming he never attempted to get a copy of the original report. When we purchased this property, we purchased it as is as a probate sale. No disclosures were made to us regarding the roof not being in compliance with building codes. We did not have a building inspector out to check the roof. As I am not a licensed contractor, I would not be knowledgeable in information regarding building codes, and would therefore not be aware of the flat roof portion of the roof not being in compliance with building codes. We bought the house with the roof being this way and have only patched the roof to deal with leaks. The roof is in full sight and I am left wondering why this is an issue over a month after the contract was signed. The buyer knew the roof was of a flat pitch when the offer was made!!! I am sure he did not put the offer on the home, sight unseen.
I am unsure as to how the buyer is coming up with a five day timeframe for disclosures, when the contract states the seller has seven days to deliver all disclosures. I had all the disclosures couriered to your office within that seven day timeframe. It is out of my control as to when they were delivered to your client. Not only that, as I have previously stated, the disclosures were faxed to you prior to the offer being made!! Also, it is not under my control as to when the termite company schedules inspections. We were provided with the first possible date – being 2/2/05. As soon as I received the report I faxed it to your office. Notwithstanding, the contract provides for scenarios in which disclosures are not received in a timely manner. Page 4, Section 14(B)(3) states: “ However, if the following inspections, reports or disclosures are not made within the time specified in 14A, then Buyer has 5 days after receipt of any such items, or the time specified in 14B(1) whichever is later, to remove the applicable contingency or cancel this Agreement in writing.” That was not done. The buyer waited much longer than 5 days to cancel the agreement. Signed disclosures were never received by my office, even though the contract states disclosures are to be returned within 17 days.
Furthermore, the buyer contradicts himself in this letter. He states in the first paragraph:” First and foremost, the timing that these disclosures were given to us 01/28/05, as I understand…” He then states later in the paragraph: “As you know, I received the disclosures and the pest inspection report three weeks after the acceptance- 02/07/05”. Which is it – 01/28/05 or 02/07/05?? The disclosures were couriered over prior to the pest inspection being faxed over. The buyer was in receipt of the disclosures before an offer was even accepted!! According to the purchase contract, the buyer has 17 days from date of acceptance to complete their inspections and to cancel contract if something does not meet to their specifications or satisfaction. As stated previously, the contract provides for scenarios in which inspections cannot be completed on time, in which the buyer has 5 days from receipt of said information to cancel purchase contract if they so desire.
Here is a timeline as it relates to the contract:
01/16/05-offer received, disclosures faxed
01/17/05- offer accepted
01/28/05- buyer states they received disclosures
02/02/05- pest inspection completed
02/03/05- 17 day time frame expires as given in paragraph 14B-1
02/08/05- buyer states they received pest inspection
02/13/05- 5 day time frame expires as given in paragraph 14B-3 (as it relates to buyer receiving pest inspection later)
The reason we had sent you the disclosures prior to your offer was because we wanted to make sure that we had a serious buyer. We believed your client was a serious buyer because the deposit was made non-refundable. Despite the fact that all the time periods have expired under normal circumstances, even if the deposit wasn’t non-refundable, we still wouldn’t be under obligation to return it because this cancellation was not done in a timely manner. Your buyer’s letter is dated February 22, 2005, a full nine days after his right to rescind the contract.
Because of the buyer tying up this property, I have rejected several better offers- two which were at least $10,000.00 over the asking price and many more interested buyers. For the buyers to demand a return of a non-refundable deposit outside of the timeframe provided for inspections allotted per the contract is simply preposterous! If they wanted their deposit back, they should’ve acted in a timely manner as provided for under the contract. I suggest they sign a release of contract immediately to enable us to place this home back on the market before they are liable for further costs
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