Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Seller has made Buyers suggested safety repairs that were identified in Inspection report. Buyers decided to back out (after safety repairs were made), but were still within contingency period.
Are buyers liable to pay for suggested repairs made to Seller if they cancelled within the contengy period?
Sellers are requesting that the paid repair amt be deducted from the Escrow deposit.

Asked on 3/30/10, 6:02 pm

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By making repairs without them being a condition of contingency removal, Sellers acted as mere volunteers, obligating Buyers to nothing. I have never heard of Sellers doing work found on the inspection reports without negotiating it as part of the contingency removals, particularly since as often as not the Buyers will ask for a credit for the cost of the work , rather than asking that it be done before close of escrow. In addition, Sellers are the beneficiaries of the work, since they must disclose the inspection information to the next Buyers who would again require the work to be done. So there is no reason they are entitled to have the work done for free at the former Buyers' expense. If I were the Sellers, however, I would be really angry with my agent for not advising them to wait for the contingency removals before doing any work.

Answered on 4/04/10, 6:20 pm

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