Attorneys At Law Protecting Your Interest

The Attorneys at The Darvish Firm, APC have successfully handled and litigated many of these issues that arise in Real Estate Transactions. This provides us the experience and expertise to resolve your matter.

The Los Angeles Attorneys at The Darvish Firm, APC handle a wide variety of disputes that arise from real estate purchase and sale transactions. They include;

• Non-disclosure cases
• Disputes concerning broker and agent representation during the purchase and sale of property
• Specific Performance Cases (both commercial and residential)
• Disputes concerning escrow deposits
• Disputes concerning liquidated damages provisions in purchase and sale agreements
• Disputes over the removal of tax liens and rights of redemption as part of a purchase and sale agreement
• Disputes involving banking problems caused during escrow

As a Buyer, what can you do if the seller wants to backs out of the sale:

When a seller refuses to close escrow, the Seller has breached the agreement. They have failed to perform under the terms of the agreement without a legal excuse. The first step when a Seller fails to perform is always to provide the Seller with a notice to perform.

In some circumstances, cases have held that either the seller or the buyer may back out of the sale and each of these cases are fact-specific.

The most common case when a Seller refuses to close is that the Seller no longer wishes to sell or has found a better and higher offer. If the seller communicates to the buyer that they will not go through with the sale, this may be a breach of contract.

A seller may not back out of a sale just because they do not wish to move forward with the transaction or because they receive another offer that is better than what you offered.  In some situations, a buyer may attempt to file a lawsuit for specific performance and try to enforce the purchase agreement.

A lawsuit for specific performance is a suit where the buyer asks the court to order the seller to sell the property pursuant to the terms of the agreement. In an action for Specific Performance, the buyer will ask the seller to pay for their attorney’s fees, costs, and any damages sustained by the buyer’s out-of-pocket expenses.

As a Seller, What if the Buyer wants to back out of the Sale.

When a buyer refuses to close escrow after releasing all their contingencies, the seller’s first step is to attempt to resolve the matter informally by sending a cancelation form where the buyer retains the earnest money deposit. If the buyer refuses to sign the cancellation form, the Seller MUST MUST MUST, send a notice to the buyer with a demand to mediate. Simultaneously, the attorneys at The Darvish Firm, APC will also send a demand to arbitrate. If the Buyer does not respond, then the Seller has no alternative than to file a lawsuit.

The seller always has a duty to mitigate which means that the seller must try to limit their damages and any losses by doing everything they can to sell the property in an amount or close to the amount that was originally offered. Most often, because damages are difficult to ascertain, most Purchase Agreements have a liquidated damages provision that limits the amount of damages to three percent of the purchase price. Residential and commercial agreements do differ. This specific dollar amount (Liquidated Damages) is the seller’s maximum amount of damages the seller may obtain from the buyer for the buyer’s breach of the contract

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