Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Illinois
We put $1,000.00 earnest money down on a house we wanted to buy but were unable to make the purchase because our credit was not good enough. This was to be a short sale on a house that we were renting, the house has since been forclosed on. The realestate rep. for the owner has asked us to sign a release of the earnest money to the property owner because we were not able to make the purchase (we were told if we were not able to purchase the house our money would be refunded) he has also told us the property owner could take action against us because he lost the house because we did not purchase it. He has now offered to split the money 50/50. Why should we not get our $1,000.00 back and can this man take action against us because we were not able to purchase this house?
2 Answers from Attorneys
If you did all that you could do to obtain financing and the sale was contingent upon you obtaining financing, absent anything out of the ordinary in the agreement, you should be entitled to the entire amount.
I agree with Mr. Padove and if this is the seller's agent under a dual agency with you I would suggest you can contact his office manager and if they don't do the right thing consider a complaint to The Illinois Department of Professional Regulation.
Related Questions & Answers
Looking for something else?
10,200 active attorneys ready to answer your legal questions today.
Featured Attorneys
Earn additional revenue and grow your business.
