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New House Problems

NancyJ's picture
NancyJ

The owners of the house we bought just phoned. they want their house back!!! We have worked with realtors - thank goodness - but about two years ago there was a big news story in our local news about how the owners of a house that was sold refused to move out, even though all legal documents were signed etc....this house was sold and bought through realtors and there was absolutely nothing that could be done except a lengthy and expensive court battle.

what should we do? I am not interested in going to court or having lawyer fees go through the roof.
We need to be out of our house by July 31.
I can not believe I can even form sentences I am shaking so bad!

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LASS's picture
LASS

Enjoy the summer and your new home. It has worked out!!!! Now to get to the bottom of things " What colour are you painting the bedrooms:rolleyes:. LOL

nana24's picture
nana24

I'm really pleased that you & your family are now living in your new home. I guess that house was just waiting to be owned by you & it seems the neighbours were waiting for you also. Best of luck, now relax & enjoy your summer.

sweetpea3's picture
sweetpea3

Glad everything turned out positive for you Nancy...It sounds like a wonderful neighbourhood .Have fun making all those decorating decisions...You know there is alot of free expert advice here from your H&H friends:)

reno-vator's picture
reno-vator

NancyJ;232965 wrote:
. . . DH thinks it is great cause I can't spend so much time looking for ideas - apparently I have to many of them and his head is spinning:rolleyes:

so, if he's like mine, you've actually mentioned 3 of them, maybe 4?? Doesn't take too much to sspin them when it comes to decorating:laugh:

So happy you actually made it, I have been here over 2 months now, still no sign of my easement coming through, but they have120 days, then I am entitled to get the holdback back

dustbunnydiva's picture
dustbunnydiva

After all that stress, I'm glad it's working out and it sounds like you have some very nice neighbours when they welcome you like that. Now exhale and enjoy.

itsjustme's picture
itsjustme

Thank Goodness it all worked out!
Congrats on getting your new home! A huge relief. Now all the fun can begin.

We moved into our new home last week too. We went through an awful time to trying to get a chain of houses sold, so we could all move. The agents even had to give up some commission! Unheard of! We had to wait for 4 months, and then we were without a house for a week. A nightmare, but here we are, and now its painting and catching up with the gardening.

PaintbrushPatty's picture
PaintbrushPatty

NancyJ;232965 wrote:
we have spent three nights in our new house (sleeping on an air mattress).
we hosted a Nothing but People Party the first night we were here - that was fun to meet up with our old friends!
DH is busy painting bedrooms b4 furniture arrives on the 16th
I have been busy cleaning - it is officially the dirtiest house we have ever moved into.
We love the house, the yard and have met some fabulous neighbors, had cookies left on the door step from a family that have 6 kids (1 kid plus quintuplets) haven't met them yet but my kids will be looking for some more of those homemade cookies I can guarantee! AND one of our neighbors is the head coach of the unversity team of football, after DH met him there was an extra spring in his step - DH loves football and is an amateur coach himself.

I am on dial up internet until the 17th and that stinks. DH thinks it is great cause I can't spend so much time looking for ideas - apparently I have to many of them and his head is spinning:rolleyes:

Congratulations on your new house! I, too, am relieved that everything worked out for you!!! I can't imagine quints! I think you're in for an interesting time in your neighbourhood. So far, so good!:)

anrol's picture
anrol

Glad to hear that you are enjoying your new home after all of the problems that you have had. Sounds like you have great neighbours! I'll bet you will be glad when the furniture comes. I'm happy for you--you're on your way to making it home!

Inglewood's picture
Inglewood

Woo hoo! you got your house...congratulations!

Northern Miner's picture
Northern Miner

Congrats Nancy on finally being there. What a relief. Now take your time and don't go too fast with the changes - If DH is like me - time heals all surprises!:rolleyes:

We will sitback now and wait to see how your world unfolds - with baited breath of course.:D

NancyJ's picture
NancyJ

we have spent three nights in our new house (sleeping on an air mattress).
we hosted a Nothing but People Party the first night we were here - that was fun to meet up with our old friends!
DH is busy painting bedrooms b4 furniture arrives on the 16th
I have been busy cleaning - it is officially the dirtiest house we have ever moved into.
We love the house, the yard and have met some fabulous neighbors, had cookies left on the door step from a family that have 6 kids (1 kid plus quintuplets) haven't met them yet but my kids will be looking for some more of those homemade cookies I can guarantee! AND one of our neighbors is the head coach of the unversity team of football, after DH met him there was an extra spring in his step - DH loves football and is an amateur coach himself.

I am on dial up internet until the 17th and that stinks. DH thinks it is great cause I can't spend so much time looking for ideas - apparently I have to many of them and his head is spinning:rolleyes:

NancyJ's picture
NancyJ

Inglewood, it is two weeks today when we find out the fate of either owning a new home or being homeless.

After the intitial shock and anger wore off, I have become completely non chalant about it. It is something that I can not control - wish I could but I can't.
I have decided to waste my energy on trying to decide whether or not to paint kitchen cabinets or leave them as the oak, as discussed in some other post(s)....

Inglewood's picture
Inglewood

It's been some time ....how is your situation looking? Will they give the house to you?

janetc's picture
janetc

Oh my gosh girl, im shocked to read this, im glad you are trying to keep yourself together, darn i would be pulling my hair out. I wish you all the best and i sure hope everything works out in your favour.
smiles
janet

Inglewood's picture
Inglewood

Fees to track:
-initial deposit plus interest
-home inspection fees plus interest
-packing container costs
-storage facility costs plus interest
-legal fees
-rental fees
-aggravation costs
I would be all over your realtor. Call them constantly. Ask for copies of the "anicipatory breach of contract" that was delivered to the sellers. Make your realtor give you a definite answer asap. Also you tell them you want your monies returned as set above before 'closing date'. You can't be left high and dry after this date or you will be waiting forever for your money. If the couple in question is in financial difficulty, which I hope they are not, could declare bankruptcy and then they are off the hook.

PaintbrushPatty's picture
PaintbrushPatty

I am simply in awe of your resiliance. We bought our first home last April 2008 and if I had to go through what you are going through now, I think I'd be in dire straits.

I hope it all works out for you and that you are fully reimbursed. Those sellers should be ever grateful for your attitude.

NancyJ's picture
NancyJ

You are right Wolfbaby - we have an entire month of wondering whether we will have a place to live. My rational side of me realizes that compared to other people's life situations this really is quite minor in the grand scheme of life- just one big pain in the a**, especially considering we went through 4 attempted purchases b4 this one.
The realtors are telling us not to be worried - the seller does not seem to be stable b/c of her situation and that they will not be walking away from the deal. Not only does that rile me up even more, it definitely does not instill confidence that we will have a house as of July 3. It also does not instill confidence that the realtors have shared our offer and conditions of the 'anticipatory breach of contract' with the sellers. (I could go through my lawyer but I am not willing to pay additional fees to the lawyer to have the sellers tell me later on that they will hand over the keys. If the sellers initiate the lawyers b/c they accept our breach of contract offer, they essentially have to pay for the unexpected additional fees for the lawyers.)

We have to now pack completely differently. Stuff that goes into storage and stuff that will be needed b/c we have decided that if July 3 roles around and we don't get the house we will rent and wait to find a house instead of buying a house in desperation.

We will be keeping track of every single additional expenditure and will be "charging" them (the way my DH keeps expenditure records is ritual like and will be very difficult to dispute in a court of law!).

Boy will I ever be happy when this whole move is over! Usually I get quite excited and pumped prior to moving into a new house and visualize, arrange, paint, repaint, decorate, etc a multitude of times b4 our things actually land in the house. This time around - I just want it all over with the swipe of wand:mad:.

Wolfbaby's picture
Wolfbaby

I'm shocked. I didn't even know this was a possibility. I don't know what to say except I'm thinking of you and hoping for the best.

I think you should be well compensated though, for actual costs and for the stress of facing being homeless, and the inconvenience of having to deal with so much at the last minute. You obviously arranged to move out a month after getting possession so you could move and fix up the new house without too much pressure.

Now I'm sure you can't even begin to deal with the situation because you aren't sure what the situation is? What if you do buy another house, and these people say oh, ok, you can have this one? Now you have two? Can they sue you for breach of contract? What if you can't find anything you like in time? Do they have to pay for your living expenses in a tropical paradise while your real estate agent sources the perfect house?

So I guess you have to wait - but your deadline just gets closer. I'm so sorry.

Inglewood's picture
Inglewood

HUH!?!?!.....wow I would be pissed! Well you definitely better get the good end of this deal. They better give you a whack of cash for breach of contract. I wouldn't go lightly on this one.
I feel for you ..hang in there

nana24's picture
nana24

This must be very upsetting and stressful for you & your family. I hope your agents & lawyers find a legal detail that forces these people to honour their commitment. Wishing you the best.

Jeep's picture
Jeep

My first thing is you need a lawyer I am not sure if the Real Estate Agents are qualified to handle this kind of thing. Most Lawyers first visit is free ask that and then make an appointment right away. Don't speak with them again tell them it is in the hands of a lawyer and they will have to speak with them. Anything you say can be used against you and if they want it bad enough they will get a lawyer and he will use it. I would also contact my agent and ask then what they are doing about it. The costs you will have should be paid solely by the seller that changed their mind. My Mom changed her mind on moving into a place they had bought and my Dad was willing to lose his deposit but becasue it had only been about 2 days the agent was able to get it back for them. The seller was willing as not much time had gone on and they hadn't found a place to move into so they were happy it gave them more time and they sold it the next day.

NancyJ's picture
NancyJ

Thank you everyone for listening! I am right ripped off. The realtors and my lawyer are now involved and are going to be dealing with it.

Our lawyer has said that there are three things that can happen:
a) the contract will go ahead as planned
b) it doesn't go ahead and we go to court - which will take 12-18 months to be sorted out.
c) we can walk away and claim damages through an "anticipatory breech of contract"

In essence what we have learned is that contract is really there to protect the sellers and not the buyers.

We have told our realtor to relay they may have their house back through an anticipatory breech of contract and give us a substantial sum of cash within the next week or it will be as is(we hope). If they are willing to do this then their lawyer is to contact our lawyer with the documents.
Based on what it will cost them - I doubt very much they will accept the deal. However, I am certain I won't have a clear conscience until July 3!

dustbunnydiva's picture
dustbunnydiva

Oh crap. What a thing to find out and you must be stressed right out.

If I were you I'd be on the phone to a lawyer. The rules vary between provinces so it's hard to say if what happens here happens there and your lawyer (hopefully local to where the house is) should know the rules (and even the Realtor should have some clue).

One thing you might want to consider is what this will do to your attitude towards the house if you are able to compel them to go through with the deal. I say this because of Ebony (my dog). When I got her, her previous owners bought her then changed their mind and put her up for sale 2 weeks later. Then they changed their minds, then they changed their minds again and were calling me with the 'can we have her back?', 'you keep her', 'no, we want her back' crap.

It just put a real damper on what would have otherwise been me just getting a new puppy and feeling free to fall in love with her because one minute they were happy to part with her and the next made me feel guilty for having her, There was no way I was giving her back after a few days knowing what fickle people they were and how they said they had treated her when they had her as that would have just been cruel to put her back in that situation.

Anyway, it put a little cloud over this dog and I and still bothers me every once in a while when people ask about where I got her because all that stress and worry was involved. Just some negative energy associated with it all now that it's hard for me to forget and it's too bad. In addition to just having that negative bit when it comes to the house you may also have to deal with neighbours who know the story and wanted the other folks to stay. You never know what kind of additional feelings this could bring out (or maybe they will be glad to be rid of them if they are a couple who are having trouble getting along).

If you do decide to back out, see what it's worth to them and insist on at least getting compensated for the extra travel and expenses you'll incur over this. They should be willing to pay your full deposit, for the inspection, lawyer costs so far, and any other money you are out because of not having a house to move into on time, or go after them. The Realtors can deal with their own issues with it but you may be able to get them on board to force the deal through given they probably lose their commissions if it doesn't go through.

Arizona's picture
Arizona

OMG, they sound like a couple of dopes and I can't even believe their real estate agent and lawyer would even take this matter seriously. I just re-read your post and the sellers called you, so they probably are using that as a last resort to guilt you out of moving into their treasured family home. Any real estate agent would be frothing at the mouth if they got wind of this going down.
You know what you could do just to explore one option? Offer to sell the house back to them at an inflated price to cover your costs, commissions, what ever and a little profit on top of that for your troubles and see what they have to say. Enough that you could quickly move into another price bracket even. They cannot expect anyone to just forget the entire transaction took place, that is very childish.

NancyJ's picture
NancyJ

[QUOTE=Northern Miner;231270]There must be a reason for the reversal - something so important that they would want to incur the extra costs?
QUOTE]

they have decided not to get divorced now and would like to keep their family home for all the future special occassions!

lessismore's picture
lessismore

OMG Nancy!!! I feel for you. Are they crazy??
I have never heard of that before. Obviously you should not even have to incur any costs since you are not the ones wanting to turn on the deal.
Your realtors must be able to help, what are they saying?

Northern Miner's picture
Northern Miner

Holy Crappola. I don't know what you can do, but if they really want to stay, it could be a long messy fight - you are right about that. And they will also have to hire legal people so it will cost them a pretty penny too.

There must be a reason for the reversal - something so important that they would want to incur the extra costs?

And you are hung up in never never land having to move regardless. You have every right to be an unhappy camper, but maybe something good will come of all this.. Crossing my fingers for you.:mad:

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