Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Expected Completion Date
I entered into a contract on a new home and placed 2% deposit payable to the builder as of January 2006. Under the contract the expected home completion date is listed as May/June. Today I learned that the home may not be completed by Aug 2006 and this date may continue to move forward.

Do I have any rights: A) Get my deposit back if I find the lack of solid expected date? B) Enforcement of the schedule? C) Other, pls specify.

Asked on 5/17/06, 9:20 pm

2 Answers from Attorneys

Bryan Whipple Bryan R. R. Whipple, Attorney at Law

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Re: Expected Completion Date

You can't "enforce" the schedule. Whether you have a right to a refund of your deposit (and for rescission of your contract) depends upon the specific terminology of the contract, but I would guess that you have a pretty good chance to be able to get out of the contract based upon an "expected" completion in May or June that falls back into August or later. While an expected date is not a commitment, it is at least a target, and a substantial fallback would be a ground for rescission (or damages) in at least some cases.

Again, a lawyer would have to read the exact language of your contract to see how firm a commitment was implied.

Answered on 5/18/06, 12:02 am

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