Buyer pulls out a week before settlement with no penalty?

Hi all, bit of a strange one here.

I sold my property in February and it was due to settle next week. Then today I get an email from my solicitor saying that the buyers financier has revoked the loan approval therefore the Buyer has elected to terminate to Contract pursuant to the Covid-19 related condition on their finance approval.

And now all I am entitled to is the $1000 they put down in February. Now I’m stuck with a property in the middle of covid panic and will have to sell for a lot less now.

Am I out of options here or can I pursue legal action to at least?

Thanks again.

 

Does your contract have a finance clause in it? What’s the wording of it?

What’s your legal representative say about it?

Regards,

Jason

 

That doesn't seem right...

I would of thought you'd be entitled to the 10% deposit at least, regardless if it has been transferred.

 

Location of property?

 

Property is in Brisbane.

The finance clause finished last week but the bank apparently added in an extra covid clause so they have an opportunity to pull out before settlement.

will have more details tomorrow hopefully.

 

It’s Westpac

 

Dont understand what this means. How does the bank add a clause to the contract between you and the buyer?

Last week your legal representatives should have agreed that the contract had become unconditional?

 

The bank added a condition to the contract?

 

Didn’t they put down a 10% deposit? Or at least 5%?

 

A bank is not party to the contract of sale.

 

This all sounds very bizarre. What did your solicitor say? They should be providing advice.

 

It sounds like their bank has pulled their finance, if it settles next week you would surely be past the point of the contract being unconditional? It sounds to me like their solicitor is trying to word things in such a way that they are pulling out under the finance clause, which shouldn't be possible unless your contract gave them a very long time to sort out finance.

You need to get advice from your solicitor. Also it highlights the importance of getting a decent size deposit, $1000 is not enough to deter these type of shenanigans.

 

The buyer is claiming he lost his job / income so Westpac withdrew finance. The finance went unconditional last week but the Westpac included a clause giving them the option to pull funding.

 

Talk to your solicitor, but if the contract is unconditional, its unconditional. The fact that the buyer lost their job does not change this.

 

That letter doesn’t look legit

 

The letter is addressed to a trust?
What letter starts with ‘M’? Usually it would be ‘Dear’?
The grammar looks sus.

talk to your solicitor in detail.

 

That letter does not look real to me. And in any case how could have there been a COVID clause when the whole thing had not even hit us in February?

PS: Not sure if you've noted but you didn't redact that properly all the details can be read

 

This might be the common case of being legally entitled to 10% plus costs but you have to chase it in the courts

Edit: do property deals have # associated with it?, let alone using the term "deal"??

I interpreted it as "Mr"

 

It is “Mr Name Name”

Seems odd that is is “cancelation if loan offer - deal #103847299

Hmmm, I will dig into more details tomorrow morning and give update