Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Massachusetts

Expired Purchase and Sale Agreement

Due to the seller being unable to provide all required documentation, the purchase and sale agreement expired. I received my closing date last week and now the seller is refusing to sell. There was also a fire in the home (I currently am a renter in this property) and it was after this that the seller decided against the sale. I believe the reason to be that he can get a higher price for the property (about $50,000) than agreed to and that he is going to use the insurance money to fix up the property and sell it at this higher price.


Asked on 8/14/00, 6:08 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Stuart Williams

Re: Expired Purchase and Sale Agreement

You should have hired a lawyer when this happened. Hopefully you did. This is nothing to fool around with on your own; a lawyer is short money against $50,000 value.

Sellers can't just "refuse to sell" on their own. They have to abide by the purchase and sale agreement. If, for example, a seller doesn't show up at a closing, the sale can still be forced through by the buyer. If the mortgage company or your attorney failed to extend the purchase and sale as they should have, they could be liable either for the value lost or at least for the legal expenses required to force the sale through (which, again, is short money).

Good luck. Write directly to me if you like at [email protected] or call me on the phone.

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Answered on 9/18/00, 10:08 am


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