Hi, I am hoping that someone can help.
We purchased an investment property in Vic, we were due to settle on April 5. We were notified by our solicitor that settlement would be delayed due to the vendors bank not being ready for settlement (mind you settlement was 90 days). We were originally relaxed about this and let it ride.
3 weeks eventually passed and with little contact from our solicitor, we got to the bottom of the situation, the vendor (who is coincidently a mortgage broker) had a small business loan ($80K) using the property we purchased as security, so the bank needed to do valuations on his other 5 properties to find equity elsewhere as security.
This whole time the only advice we have been given by our solicitor is that we can issue a notice of completion and rescind on the contract if the vendor fails to comply.
The main issue with this is that we do not want to rescind on the contract.
Needless to say 4 weeks down the track with no sign of settling and the same advice from my solicitor I am very frustrated.
I would appreciate greatly any advice on our rights as a purchaser, clearly if the shoe was to be on the other foot, we would have lost our deposit. How can a contract be called "unconditional" if the purchaser can really just stuff around (deliberately) and keep the property.
I keenly await any advice…
Consider the following 2 options:
1 – Serve notice to complete, get the solicitor to sue for specific performance if the vendor does not comply. It is not your problem if the vendor has insufficient assets to cover his liabilities (assuming that the vendor has sufficient coverage at the moment, how does selling this property affect that balance?)
2 – Serve notice to complete and recind the contract on the condition that you have the first right of refusal to purchase should the property be offered to the market. If the property goes back onto the market it may be at a lower price and you could negotiate at this price before any other prospective purchaser.
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