Legal Question in Real Estate Law in New Jersey
Attorney not returning monies left in escrow.
Prior to closing the buyer's attorney had made some requests for repairs in addition to an upgrade on the electrical. we made the repairs but did not agree to the electrical upgrade as we could not afford it and we were losing money on the house any way. we closed on Dec 26 2000. a few days after the closing we were notified that the buyer's attorney was not releasing the monies left in escrow to cover a pending water bill because the electrical upgrade was not done.we never agreed to doing this an communicated this to our attorney. it's been 6 months since the closing and the money in escrow has not been returned. I understand that it is not a great deal of money, however we are constantly receiving letters from the buyer's attorney stating that he is not releasing the commission to the sales agent as he wants to use that money for the electrical upgrade. we have not agreed to this at all. in the meantime our attorney is advising us to forget the matter and lose the money. the sales agent has yet to receive his commission and we are tired of the constant threatening letters from the attorney. our attorney is not pursuing the matter. we just want this matter resolved. Any advice is greatly appreciated.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Attorney not returning monies left in escrow.
Unfortunately, I think you will need to commence an action against the attorney holding the monies in escrow. It appears that nothing else you have tried has worked.