Legal Question in Real Estate Law in Pennsylvania
real estate contingency sales clause
I signed a sales agreement after completing a written amendment, i.e., a contingency clause in the presence of my realtor who signed the contingency as a witness. The provisions of the contingency are that I have a fully executed agreement of sale and satisfactory home inspections (on the home I plan to buy with the money from the sale of my house).
The contingency clause also stipulates my home is being sold in
''as is'' condition. It was my understanding the realtor would submit this contingency amendment to the buyers agent and a signed copy would be returned to me. Now 10 days later I still don't have the contingency amendment returned to me from the buyer (I have a copy of the original). The home inspections on the property I planned to buy were
unsatisfactory enough to terminate
my purchase agreement. There is no problem getting out of my purchase agreement, but my listing
agent seems to imply the contingency clauses in my sales contract are insufficient to break the deal on the sale of my home.
Obviously, I cannot move without a place to live. Can I be forced out of my own home? My listing agent refers to the contingency amendments as ''weasel clauses''.
I believe such amendments are necessary to protect my interests
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: real estate contingency sales clause
It's not entirely clear from your question what the issue is, but here's a try:
If you already had an agreement of sale signed by both you as seller and by the buyer, that governed the rights and obligations of both parties. If you later tried to add a contingency that would allow you to terminate the agreement if your were not able to buy your next house, it would have no effect unless the buyer also signed it.
Otherwise, a contract could be broken by one party by simply adding such a change after the contract was made, even if the other party doesn't agree. That's not the way contracts work. Both parties have to agree to all changes, or the changes have no effect.
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