Hi guys
I am in the process of selling my first ever house. Look to make a nice profit, bought for 80k sold for 340K. However, as the final settlement date nears, about 7 days away, its starting to look like the buyers are having trouble getting the funds together, they have paid their deposit and the cooling off period is over etc, but where does this leave me if they cant secure funds ? Hope someone can help.
cheers
Depends on what stage of the settlement process you were up to.
Best advice is to ring your conveyancer/solicitor and get them to advise you. They have seen the contract and are legally qualified to tell you what your options/obligations are.
you can probably keep their deposit and sue them for any shortfall on a subsequent sale. Whether you get anymore money out of them will depend if they have any assets.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
Well my fears have been realized. Four days out from the final settlement date the buyer says she cant secure funds and needs more time. I have already organised a rental property to live in, paid the bond (big $$$), organised removalists (big $$$), put heaps of my stuff in storage(big $$$) so I'm down to my last $100 for the week and to make matters worse their solicitor won't release the deposit for use. NOT HAPPY!!……..looks like rice and beans for the time being lol
You may need to get your conveyancer to write a letter stating that you are prepared to extend another 4 weeks to them on the proviso that they release the deposit to you so you can make use of it to find accomodation. I believe that if they default that you either keep 2% of total sale price or the full deposit.
Have a look on your section 32 or the contract of sale. It should have the information on it. I believe that it refers to reasonable costs.
I believe that you may be able to get them to pay costs associated with obtain bridging finance if you were looking to buy another property.
Any interest on the property from the due settlement date on any mortgage you have for the property.
Accomodation expenses incurred by you.
Additional costs incurred by you for further contact between you and your conveyancer.
Costs incurred by a 3rd party for any delay in the completion of a vendors (your) purchase.
There may also be a fee for allowing them extra time on each extension offered to them.Your section 32 may be different. Check with your conveyancer.
The time for completion has expired, your conveyancer must write to the purchaser's lawyers for notice to complete. Seek further advice as to the situation should they default upon this time but repudiation may be in order.
Was the settlement process past the unconditional stage?
Im unaware what the unconditional stage means, the 5 day cooling off period passed about 5 weeks agao and the final settlement days was to be this Wednesday. Apparantly the woman who is buying is awaiting retirement funds to come through, maybe she should have organised a bridging loan or something.
The lady failing to get her retirement fund and putting you in a bad shape. I am sure she did not anticipate it to happen, neither have you. I do agree with you that she should have had an alternative to make your payment.
I would agree with the advice by deeplead and Scott.
Hope things end up well for you.
This is why it is a good reason to use a lawyer rather than a conveyancer. I would probably issue a notice to complete within 14 days and then wait and see what happens. You may have to put it back on the market and keep their deposit and sue for damages.
Terryw | Structuring Lawyers Pty Ltd / Loan Structuring Pty Ltd
http://www.Structuring.com.au
Email MeLawyer, Mortgage Broker and Tax Advisor (Sydney based but advising Aust wide) http://www.Structuring.com.au
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