Very Much a new Help

[chadnz]

Hi Guys,

I'm after a little bit of direction please. My self and my partners have gone unconditional on our house, We have done it Privately through home sell. Well we are in the process of waiting to settle. but we have had a little bump.

The people that are purchasing the property asked to come around on Sunday to have a look through the kitchen to see where everything will go. The problem is that they thought that a rubbish bin which is screwed in to one of the cupboards is going with the house. but the plan was to always take this with us. he has said that thats house the house was marketed.

There is a also a couple small marks where something has scraped off a little wall paper in the lounge that they did see before hand, but with no mention of us fixing these.

The buyer has rung me tonight and asked that we fix these issues. or he will have to get a quote and deduct this off settlement, and that there is a clause for that.. don't recall seeing one.

My question is what are the sellers wrights when there has been no verbal agreement to fix these issues before or after going unconditional. and whats stopping him going through a property after going unconditional and demanding we fix issues that he finds at his leisure.

Thanks in advance for your replies

Regards
Nathan

[eri]

your question is still a bit too open for a clear answer

has the buyer signed the sales document?

what are the conditions on the agreement?

do you have a lawyer doing your side of the legal work? they should know best

[Bob Kane]

I would have thought you leave the rubbish bin screwed into the cupboard.
I wouldn't think you need to do the repairs and the buyer can't deduct anything off the settlement.
Let his lawyer talk to your lawyer.

[chadnz]

Thanks for the replies guys.

They have signed the purchase and sale agreement.the only terms with that is.

This agreement is conditional upon the purchaser being satisfied, in the judgement of the purchaser after taking such advise as the purchaser may wish, that the property is in all respects suitable for the purchaser. the purchaser should notify the vendor or the vendors solicitor not later than 4pm, 10 working days after the date of this agreement that this condition has been fulfilled or this agreement will be at an end and any deposit will be repaid to the purchaser. this condition is for the sole benefit of the purchaser...

the purchase and sale agreement is dated 5 of June. around 30 days ago. but settlement date is dated the 3rd of august.

I can't really see that this would mean that you could purchase a house and decide within 10 days you where not happy with it.

Regards
Nathan

[Tan]

Just do it, it is a fraction of the cost of the property. Make sure they don't want anything else by having them sign a paper that they will be happy if you do a, b & c.

If you want to be picky, the bin is screwed in so should be left, and it was their fault for not seeing the scrape - but how much will it cost you to lose the sale?

[flyernzl]

Agree with Tan.
Anything affixed to the house should go with it unless specifically excluded in writing in the agreement.
The condition of the house is the condition they saw it in at the time of the agreement unless any repair work is included in writing in the agreement.
Any later damage prior to settlement should, of course, be rectified.

[mrsaneperson]

A little bit of goodwill always helps. On my last purchase there were quite a few things that the vendor could have done better like clearing the weeds & bush that totally obscured the postbox.I took this up with him shortly before the final transaction & his reply was,he would take a look at it.Later after the final monies had transferred i asked him again & his reply was that was how it was on the purchase day & if i wanted him to do anything about it i should talk to his lawyer & all further email correspondence should be directed their. I certainly wasn't going to bother to do that.
The vendor showed a lack of compromise & goodwill that another buyer may have tackled him on.

[Tan]

But you bought the place.

[eri]

my first real estate was a scrub section

there were 2 problems

1. the agent could only show me 1 of the 4 survey pegs and even though the sales agreement said the seller needed to show all 4, they weren't going to pay to get it resurveyed

2. the original price on the lot was what the seller wanted. so a previous buyer had pulled out when the price went up to include the agents commission.

but faults and all, it seemed a good deal so i bought it

17 years later it sold for 14 times the purchase price

and instead of having something that cost me rates each year

i had something that paid me a rental each week

so don't tube the deal on minor details

this game is bigger than that

[Ivan McIntosh]

Thanks for the replies guys.

They have signed the purchase and sale agreement.the only terms with that is.

This agreement is conditional upon the purchaser being satisfied, in the judgement of the purchaser after taking such advise as the purchaser may wish, that the property is in all respects suitable for the purchaser. the purchaser should notify the vendor or the vendors solicitor not later than 4pm, 10 working days after the date of this agreement that this condition has been fulfilled or this agreement will be at an end and any deposit will be repaid to the purchaser. this condition is for the sole benefit of the purchaser...

the purchase and sale agreement is dated 5 of June. around 30 days ago. but settlement date is dated the 3rd of august.

I can't really see that this would mean that you could purchase a house and decide within 10 days you where not happy with it.

Regards
Nathan

You have described a "due diligence" clause here. I presume the buyer gave written notice within 10 working days prior to 4pm that the clause was satisfied, as if they didn't you no longer have an agreement.

Assuming they did go unconditional, Bob Kane has it pretty much right. If the rubbish bin is fastened into the building then it is more likely than not that it should stay. There can be legal arguments both ways but why go there? The scrapes aren't your problem....if that was the condition of the house when they agreed to buy it, then end of story in legal terms. The clause they're thinking of covers damage in between the agreement and settlement.

You can avoid conflict should you wish, but if your lawyer pushes back firmly on the scrapes, pointing out they had already seen them when doing their due diligence adn that they aren't deductible from the settlement price, and that penalty interest will follow if the full purchase price isn't paid, then I would be very surprised if they don't back off.

[spaceman]

Ummmm......doesn't "unconditional" mean unconditional?????

I think you should leave the bin.....but tell him that you double dog dare him to try and withhold any money for the wallpaper off of the settlement

If he does it should provide you with much amusement and enrichen the lawyers at his expense....Think of those poor old lawyers they need all the money they can get, they have wives and kids too

Cheers
spaceman

[TheLiberalLeft]

It's not screwed down - good point.

[Ivan McIntosh]

Ummmm......doesn't "unconditional" mean unconditional?????
....
Cheers
spaceman

Yes but the OP firstly says it has been sold unconditionally, then lists a due diligence condition...so can't rule out that we're talking about unconditional only from the sellers point of view.

[spaceman]

^ but since 10 days has well and truly passed, the agreement is either unconditional or there isn't one n'est-ca pas??????

Cheers
Spaceman

[Ivan McIntosh]

Exactly, but it wouldn't be the first transaction where the parties concerned have simply carried on negotiating, bringing up items such as in the original post, and then agreeing by exchange of email that the agreement is reinstated on the same terms plus the agreed changes.

It's important from the point of view of leverage...can the purchaser simply walk away because the agreement has technically ended, or are they locked in unconditional. Its a matter of looking at all the detail, which is a lawyers job really.