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My parents accidentally have two houses - legal options?
Mr Ray
Sarcasm sphereRegistered User regular
Sarcasm sphereRegistered User regular
I'll start off by saying I'm in Australia, so anybody attempting to give legal advice should bear that in mind.
I've just had a rather disturbing phone call. My parents have been looking for a new place for a while, and finally agreed to buy a place in Weribee a few weeks ago. They had already sold their house three weeks prior, so they were all set up to move two weeks from now. Except their house hadn't actually sold. The buyers had pulled out and the signature on the document belonged to the estate agent himself. He then went on sick leave for five weeks and has remained uncontactable ever since.
So now my parents have a new house to move into in two weeks (most of their stuff is already packed), which they can't pull out of without paying a $50,000 fine. They also have their old house and mortgage still very much in their possession. Obviously, they don't have the money on hand for the new house, or they wouldn't be selling the old one.
So... this is shit, basically. Obviously they're going to sue the crap out of this guy, but the reality is that that's likely going to be a long drawn out legal battle, and they need the money now. Their only real choice is to take out a big loan and pray that the legal proceedings go in their favor so they can recover everything later. And if the guy's skipped the country or something its not likely that they'll be getting anything out of him.
So this is a long shot, I guess, but does anyone know the ins and outs of Australian property law? I mean what the fuck do you even do in a situation like this?
I've just had a rather disturbing phone call. My parents have been looking for a new place for a while, and finally agreed to buy a place in Weribee a few weeks ago. They had already sold their house three weeks prior, so they were all set up to move two weeks from now. Except their house hadn't actually sold. The buyers had pulled out and the signature on the document belonged to the estate agent himself. He then went on sick leave for five weeks and has remained uncontactable ever since.
So now my parents have a new house to move into in two weeks (most of their stuff is already packed), which they can't pull out of without paying a $50,000 fine. They also have their old house and mortgage still very much in their possession. Obviously, they don't have the money on hand for the new house, or they wouldn't be selling the old one.
So... this is shit, basically. Obviously they're going to sue the crap out of this guy, but the reality is that that's likely going to be a long drawn out legal battle, and they need the money now. Their only real choice is to take out a big loan and pray that the legal proceedings go in their favor so they can recover everything later. And if the guy's skipped the country or something its not likely that they'll be getting anything out of him.
So this is a long shot, I guess, but does anyone know the ins and outs of Australian property law? I mean what the fuck do you even do in a situation like this?
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Also, any way you can rent the old house/new house? It will help offset their costs at the very least, even if you can't afford the full mortgage.
― Dr. Seuss, Oh, the Places You'll Go!
No. AFAIK they were told a down payment had been made but never actually got it, because of course the buyers pulled out so there never was one. Yes I know, lawyer up e.t.c, but they are moving in two weeks and need the money for the new house by then. In my experience, the legal system moves at a pace usually reserved for plate tectonics. Seems like they're going to need to take out a big loan either way; to pay for the new house, or to pay for the fine for not buying the new house.
The real problem here is I don't know whether the fact that the old house hadn't sold actually matters, legally speaking. As far as the sellers are concerned they either pay for the house on the date agreed or they pay a big fine; its my parent's job to make sure they have the money by then. They can sue the crap out of the estate agents, but they won't get the money now. And if the estate agents find some kind of legal loop hole or manage to pin it on my parents then they've got two houses, two mortgages to pay, a big loan and legal fees on top.
Shit be fucked up, basically.
I hope to GOD that your parents made their sale contract on the new house Conditional Upon Sale, because if they didn't, they done fucked up.
Contact the sellers of the house your parents are buying, let them know of the situation and if they won't let them back out, tell them to have fun getting money that doesn't exist, flip them all the birds and walk away while the lawyers handle it.
I am pretty bad at this, you should probably just contact a lawyer and see if the second part is okay.
Confirming they done fucked up; the offer was unconditional. Of course they made the unconditional offer on the basis that they'd seen a signed contract that said their house was sold, and that they would be paid a deposit. The deposit of course has not materialized. The point of contention is that nobody is admitting to having actually signed the contract. The original buyer is saying "no that's no my signature" and refusing to provide a specimen of her own signature which is extremely fucking suspicious. The guy who "sold" the house is nowhere to be found having been "off sick" for weeks.
The estate agency themselves are claiming they had no idea the house was supposed to have been sold, which flies in the face of the fact that we hadn't had a single call from them since March (when the "sale" was made) to say anybody wanted to look at the house. So for five months the house was not sold, yet nobody took any interest in the place? Despite numerous people just noticing the house while walking/driving past and asking us directly?
Its all dodgy as fuck from where we're sitting, but there seems to be no resolution that ends with them getting money now.
Your parents need to prepare for the very likely event that they will see absolutely no value from the failed "sale" of their old house. With sketchy mother fuckers like this, even if you do manage to sue them, it'll take years to collect anything, and it'll rarely be equal in value to all the time, effort and loss you dealt with.
Your parents need a lawyer. Like, right the fuck now. They need a lawyer who knows the ins and outs of this stuff, and that lawyer needs to be doing everything up to and including going before a judge to prevent the new house purchase. Because this could well end with your parents going from 2 houses to no houses when they default on a mortgage and get a lien placed on their other house.