What rights do I have as a house seller, if the buyer refuses to close?
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What rights do I have as a house seller, if the buyer refuses to close?
The buyer will not close because replacement windows were not installed at the
time of walk-through. It takes about six weeks for the window provider to finish
the project. The buyer wanted them immediately, and refused to close.
Asked on April 7, 2018 under Real Estate Law, Minnesota
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
It depends: when were the windows supposed to be installed? If there was an agreement that they could be installed after closing, then the buyer breached the agreement by not closing on time and you could sue them for that breach, to get monetary compensation related to their failure to close.
However, in the absence of an agreement that the windows could be installed post-closing, the windows should have installed by or before closing--without an agreement to the contrary, any agreed-upon upgrades, repairs, renovations, etc. have to be done before closing. In this case, you would be in breach of the contract or agreement by not having the work completed in time (it does not matter *why* it took longer in this case--only that it did). Your breach would entitle them to not go through with the transaction and close.
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