{"id":412,"date":"2010-07-12T19:17:08","date_gmt":"2010-07-12T19:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=412"},"modified":"2010-07-12T19:17:08","modified_gmt":"2010-07-12T19:17:08","slug":"acts-of-god-between-the-signing-of-a-purchase-and-sale-agreement-and-the-closing-the-buyer-really-doesnt-have-a-lot-of-remedies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=412","title":{"rendered":"Acts of God Between the Signing of A Purchase and Sale Agreement and the Closing–The Buyer Really Doesn’t have a Lot of Remedies"},"content":{"rendered":"

It happened last evening in a bedroom community north of Boston<\/strong>. The tenant who had rented the home my clients are purchasing had vacated the dwelling on January 31, 2010\u00a0and informed all affected utilities,including the electric company.\u00a0For reason still unknown, the electric company immediately\u00a0shut off the electricity. The pipes froze, and there is rather severe damage to the interior of the dwelling including a flooded basement.<\/p>\n

The closing was scheduled for this afternoon. \u00a0It has been postponed until Thursday afternoon. The Lender’s rate commitment runs out on Friday. The more the parties look at the damage, the more certain we all are that the repairs and replacements will not be done for at least a week. My clients, the Buyers, have requested an extension of their mortgage interest rate. They are likely to receive same, but at a cost.<\/p>\n

I protected my client from this eventuality in the purchase and sale agreement by saying that if for any reason, the Seller was not able to deliver the premises in\u00a0substantially the same condition as they were in at the time of signing the purchase and sale agreement\u00a0on the agreed upon closing date, and my client could not extend their interest rate at no charge, we could terminate the deal and receive our deposit back. This is not what my client wants to do. They want the house, and they are willing to pay for a thirty day extension. I had asked, in the course of the negotiations, for the Seller to agree to pay for this extension, but that request was not agreed to.<\/p>\n

In any event, we are now at that miserable state of affairs where in the middle of winter, the house which my clients have dreamed of owning has “clay feet” What is worse, with the exception of withdrawing from the purchase, there are no real remedies under Massachusetts law which protect my Buyer.<\/p>\n

The event was not the fault of the Seller, at least it would be hard to attribute NStar’s negligence to the Seller in a court of law. Realistically, the Seller is suffering here as well, as the Seller struggles to assess the damage and fix what went wrong, all , at least initially, out of their pockets.<\/p>\n

When the dmage is substantially rectified, and we close, I am anticipating requesting the following from the\u00a0 Seller in connection with the home purchase:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 1. An assignment of insurance claims which the Seller may have with respect to the damage to the extent that same have not been paid to the Seller by the time of the closing date, as well as an affirmative covenant to assist my client with any subsequent claims.<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 2. An assignment of any claims against NStar, if any, for shutting down the electricity without consent of the Owner and without\u00a0contemplating the effect of such an action.<\/p>\n

I would be very interested in hearing from any of you, either lawyers or other\u00a0real estate\u00a0professionals about any other ways I\u00a0can protect\u00a0my clients in this unfortunate situation. Perhaps, there is something obvious which I am missing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It happened last evening in a bedroom community north of Boston. The tenant who had rented the home my clients are purchasing had vacated the dwelling on January 31, 2010\u00a0and informed all affected utilities,including the electric company.\u00a0For reason still unknown, the electric company immediately\u00a0shut off the electricity. The pipes froze, and there is rather severe … Continue reading Acts of God Between the Signing of A Purchase and Sale Agreement and the Closing–The Buyer Really Doesn’t have a Lot of Remedies<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[40,1],"tags":[274,275,276],"class_list":["post-412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-closing","category-uncategorized","tag-acts-of-god-preclosing","tag-damage","tag-remedies-of-the-buyer"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":397,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=397","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":0},"title":"Saving Deals and Saving Time–Use and Occupancy Agreements Are “All-Purpose Solutions”","date":"July 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In Massachusetts, where I practice real estate law, lenders and developers often do not live up to their promises. That Unit which, for sure, is going to be ready by the end of the month, still has requires major finish work. \"On my God, your loan got stuck in underwriting,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Customer Service"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":419,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=419","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":1},"title":"Thinking Ahead–I will not permit any kind of utility “shut-offs” on my watch as BUYER’s Attorney, if I can Possibly Avoid Them","date":"July 13, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, I wrote a post about the problems I encountered when a client of mine had serious closing problems because, by mistake, the dwelling in question had its electricity shut down, pipes froze and there was ensuing damage. Fortunately, for all concerned I had a financially viable SELLER who was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"condition of the premises\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":224,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=224","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":2},"title":"Helping your customer purchase an REO–Some important observations which may help you walk through this minefield.","date":"June 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"One of the areas which my law firm, Topkins & Bevans, with offices in Boston, Waltham and Braintree, Massachusetts, has recently become extremely active is real estate owned by banks and other financial institutions after foreclosure (generally known as \"REOS\"). REO purchases are not for the meek, and I thought\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "closing"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":389,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=389","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":3},"title":"Dealing with Home Inspection Results–Health, Safety and that old Stand-by “Bargaining Power”","date":"July 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In Massachusetts, we have a rather archaic practice regarding agreements for the purchase and sale of real estate. There is an Offer to Purchase (usually signed by both parties without the benefit of counsel). After the Offer is signed, there is an hiatus where the Buyer causes a home inspection\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"buyers agent bargaining power\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":209,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=209","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":4},"title":"Seller’s attending closings–Very little to gain: Perhaps a lot to lose","date":"June 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"In my over 40 years of conducting real estate closings in New England, I wouldn't say I have seen everything. I would say, however, that\u00a0I have seen enough to reach the conclusion that having the Seller present at a real estate closing is rarely a positive experience, and in some\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "closing"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":222,"url":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/?p=222","url_meta":{"origin":412,"position":5},"title":"Closing really means Final, Final!!! Things a realtor can do at a closing that REALLY matter","date":"June 29, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Recently, I conducted a real estate closing in Massachusetts that came together in less than two(2) weeks from Offer to Closing. After the closing was completed, but before I had disbursed funds to the Seller, my Buyer discovered that a closing cost credit that was clearly set for in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "closing"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=412"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/412\/revisions\/847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.topbev.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}