Legal Question in Civil Litigation in Massachusetts
Can I get my offer to purchase deposit back?
We gave a $400 deposit with our offer to purchase. We had a home inspection on August 1. We had until August 5 to let the sellers know whether we would buy the house. On August 5, we informed our realtor that we were not going to buy the house. Our realtor, however, didn't let the seller's realtor know by email until 9:00pm that night (Friday). Questions: 1) Does email constitute written notice? 2) If the Offer doesn't specify a time, does it mean 11:59pm on August 5? Or is it implied to be 5:00pm?
We did not sign a P&S. As far as we know the property was never taken off the market. The sign in front of the house never said ''under agreement'' nor was it taken down.
We were told that the sellers saw an attorney who told them that they did not have to give us back the money. I am not sure why. I requested a copy of the letter but was told THAT I WAS NOT ENTITLED TO IT NOR WERE THEY OBLIGATED to give it to me. The sellers' real estate company is holding the money in escrow but is planning on releasing to the sellers.
Can we get the money back? All we signed was an Offer. I know we waited until the last day to tell the sellers, but we were given until 8/5 (the day we told them). Help! Thanks.
2 Answers from Attorneys
Re: Can I get my offer to purchase deposit back?
I can't tell if the seller is saying that your notice was late, that it was not in proper form, or both. Since you haven't said that the offer referenced any specific deadline other than "August 5th," it looks to me that you had until 11:59 p.m. to notify the sellers. With respect to the form of notice required, the offer sheet you signed may contain specifics, so you should read that language carefully. If it does not specify (and particularly if other correspondence had previously been transmitted between the parties by e-mail), then I think e-mail would be fine. (All of these other issues notwithstanding, if you gave your agent timely notice, then this should really be his/her problem and not yours, as it was his/her obligation to forward that information in timely fashion to the seller. Not that you should immediately demand that your agent pay you the $400, particularly since it looks like he/she made a good faith effort to do the right thing. But this is something that you should keep in mind if this drags out for an extended period of time.)
Re: Can I get my offer to purchase deposit back?
You state that all you signed was an offer? What does the signed offer state, in regards to your deposit? Feel free to email me with your reply at [email protected]. Sincerely, Maria Murber
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