Who negotiates contract changes?

Discussion in 'The Buying & Selling Process' started by PurpleTurtle, 18th Dec, 2019.

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  1. PurpleTurtle

    PurpleTurtle Well-Known Member

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    Forgive me if this is a stupid question but we’re new to this and getting conflicting stories from a real estate agent and lawyer.

    Property is in Victoria. We put in an offer subject to satisfactory building & pest. Offer was accepted and contract signed.

    Inspection took place and identified a couple of major issues. We felt that we would like to have them fixed before settlement, reduce the price, or pull out. We let the real estate agent and our solicitor know this.

    The real estate agent said it’s now up to the lawyers to negotiate these changes.

    Our lawyer said it’s not up to him to negotiate anything, we should just pull out of the contract due to B&P and then the agent can renegotiate with us and the vendor.

    We have followed our lawyer’s advice and he has notified the vendor’s solicitor and the agent that we are ending the contract.

    Given they are both saying their way is they way it’s usually done, I’m just curious what is the normal process in this sort of situation?
     
  2. Terry_w

    Terry_w Lawyer, Tax Adviser and Mortgage broker in Sydney Business Member

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    either way. Usually you would negotiate and tell the lawyer what you want and they will word it and put in the contract.
     
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  3. Lindsay_W

    Lindsay_W Well-Known Member

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    So does that mean you've terminated the contract already or are you hoping the vendor comes back to you to renegotiate?
     
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  4. PurpleTurtle

    PurpleTurtle Well-Known Member

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    Thanks Terry
     
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  5. PurpleTurtle

    PurpleTurtle Well-Known Member

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    We’ve terminated. The agent wouldn’t discuss things with the vendor and we were running out of time with the building clause.

    We’ve made a new offer to the agent.
     
  6. Dan Wood

    Dan Wood Well-Known Member

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    What a rubbish agent, not looking after the interests of their client... It's a bit odd not passing on something so critical and getting a contract ... Terminated....

    I wish you all the best.
     
  7. PurpleTurtle

    PurpleTurtle Well-Known Member

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    It was certainly a frustrating situation with agent and vendor both saying it was the other’s responsibility. But things are moving again today so it looks like we may go ahead after all.
     
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  8. PurpleTurtle

    PurpleTurtle Well-Known Member

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    I’ve just discovered another oddity (or frustration) in this process. We cancelled the contract quickly because our lawyer pointed out that we only had 3 days to do so under the building inspection clause, not the 7 days we thought we had. So I assumed I’d misread something.

    Just went back to look. Our original offer was on a contract that said 7 days for the building inspection. After some negotiation we agreed to a higher price and signed a new contract without checking everything was the same. This one only allowed 3 days.

    Obviously we should have been more careful. Lesson learned.

    I’m going to give the vendor and agent the benefit of the doubt and assume this was unintentional.