When Tracie and Myles Albert purchased a beautiful four-bedroom house in Riverside, California they never realized that at the end of escrow the seller would suddenly refuse to give up the keys and leave, reports FOX 11.
"It’s just draining, emotionally and financially," says Tracie. On January 31, 2020, the couple purchased the home. More than a year later, they still haven’t been able get inside their property. Chris Taylor is the Real Estate Agent who sold the house to the Alberts from a man who wanted to sell immediately.
"He needed $560,000 from the sale of his house in two weeks and he called me on a Sunday, so in traditional real estate there's no way of doing that unless the buyer’s a cash buyer," says Taylor.
Since the house was free and clear and worth more than $560,000 the Alberts felt it was a great deal.
"It took us scrambling to get everything we had, our life savings put together and a hard money loan on top of it to make that happen," Myles stated.
During escrow they discovered there was a $30,000 tax lien on the house which slowed things down, but in the end, all parties signed on the dotted line and the sale was completed.
"We own the house, outright. That's our house and it's all in a contract, written, legal, done. He's been paid the money in his account. How could we have no rights to go into our home," asked Myles.
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The moratorium will end eventually, then they can sue for all that back "rent."
ReplyDeleteAlso, add a claim for fraud/misrepresentation, which gets you out of the Contract realm and into the Tort realm, and now you can claim more than just breach-of-contract damages, i.e. go for pain & suffering damages, e.g. emotional trauma, anxiety, loss of sleep and appetite, loss of consortium ("me and the wife can't make love no more"), physical ailments and other manifestations of harm arising from the anxiety and depression, etc. etc.
If memory serves me, that is, from my "Remedies" class in law school, lo some 20 years ago.
Somehow I doubt a money judgment would be worth much here, which is why most States have expedited court proceedings for the unlawful detainer of property.
DeleteI have a feeling not only will the buyers not get any remedies, but the seller will probably leave the house with massive damages.
DeleteYup, friends bought a house and allowed the owner to move out later because they were moving from out of state. Sadly, they found the house a mess, don't know how bad but enough to be surprised. Lessons learned is to require a security deposit large enough to cover thorough cleaning.
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