Legal Question in Real Estate Law in California

Re: Short Sale Purchase

You would have to evict them (file an unlawful detainer lawsuit including a demand for the fair rental value). See a lawyer on Monday about having them served with a 3-day notice to quit (a preliminary step that is usually required before filing an unlawful detainer) on Thursday if they are still there. Too bad you agreed to this provision. If you can, have them agree in writing to the rental value and to pay your attorney fees if you have to evict them.

Re: Short Sale Purchase

First, are you buying the house to live in yourself? or is it an investment, and is it in foreclosure, i.e., a notice of default has been served and recorded? If in foreclosure and an investment, you probably come under the Home Equity Sales Contracts laws, Civil Code section 1695 et seq., which impose a lot of restrictions on the buyer and gives the seller a bundle of rights, including rescission. The contract must contain certain clauses and they must appear in a certain type size.

Having warned about that law, let me answer your questions.

If the seller doesn't get any special rights, once the deal closes the seller has no further right of possession, and you can begin eviction proceedings if necessary. This would start with a three-day notice to quit, and if they didn't obey the notice, then your remedy would be an unlawful detainer action. These can usually be accomplished, for service of process to eviction by the sheriff, in five or six weeks in most courts.

You can't have them vacate involuntarily before the close of escrow; to that point they have the right of possession and legal title.

You'd have a hard time holding the real estate agent hostage. You (or the seller, or both of you) have a contract or contracts with your agent(s) under which you have agreed to pay a commission upon the occurence of some event, and that event is not going to be the seller vacating the premises. Further, the agents will doubtless not want to modify their contracts!

Re: Short Sale Purchase

You can evict them. The time to work out other arrangements was before you signed the escrow instructions.