Closing snafu shows importance of legal help
Ilyce Glink and Samuel Tamkin
Q: The buyer for our home insisted on a closing date that was earlier than the one we had on our contract. We tried to reschedule the closing, but the broker could not be reached. We just needed four more hours to get everything out.
The buyer did their walk-through and saw what we had left in the home. I told the buyer that we would try our best but could not guarantee that everything would be out by our morning closing the next day.
We worked all night to move our possessions. We closed on the sale and stopped by after closing to finish. The buyer was irate and gave us only a short period of time to take out what we could.
We ended up leaving valuables in the home. Can she sue us? We tried to negotiate with the buyer before the closing to no avail.
A: When you entered into your contract with the buyer, you might have agreed to a specific closing date. For the buyer to change that date, you and the buyer would have to agree to the change. We understand that in some cases, realestate attorneys do not represent buyers or sellers in real-estate transactions. The attorney might be a closing attorney that prepares documents for the closing but does not represent either party by having a fiduciary duty to work for that specific party.
You probably were relying on your realestate broker for counsel, and the broker wasn't available when you needed advice. In the broker's absence it appears that you agreed to move up the closing and didn't make any specific arrangements on your personal property left at the home. Again, that was unfortunate.
Had you been represented by an attorney, the attorney might have been able to negotiate one of two possible solutions. One solution would be to insist on closing at a time that was convenient for you.
The other would have been to insist on the buyer allowing you to retain possession of the home for a day until you could remove all of your belongings. This understanding could have been agreed to by written document, and your post-closing possession agreement could have given you the right to stay in the home for a day or more as you and your buyer would have agreed.
Moving is stressful and hard. Dealing with negotiations in which you don't have someone to explain possible ramifications to you is also quite difficult.
We doubt the buyer will take any action against you, and we're sorry the buyer wasn't more understanding in allowing you enough time to move your things. But, a smooth closing comes down to how well you've planned your move ahead of time.
If your buyers do make a claim against you, you should discuss the situation with a real-estate attorney who can help you decide what your next step will be. Until then, we hope your move into your new home was less stressful than your move out of your old home.