Contract....legal advice for a house sale????

Question

I intend to buy a house of a gentleman who will not be leaving the country until March of next year, however we have agreed on a price of 110k. How would I draw up a legally binding document so I know that the gentleman cannot go back on his word of letting me have the house for that price, as he is wiling to sign such an agreement?

Thanks x

ps i live in the UK!!!

Answer 1

You need a purchase agreement, which is a binding contract. If you live in the U.S., these are forms that can be purchased at a copy shop or stationary store. They're available on-line, also. If the terms of your agreement are straight forward and simple, you could fill in the blanks yourself. If you not in the U.S., see what's on-line in your country. No matter where you live, you can reduce your agreement to writing and tie him to the sales terms.

Answer 2

Whilst it is possible to do it without professional solicitors / conveyancers advice I would not advise it. Essentially any contract needs to be quite clear who the parties are, what the subject of the contract is, the consideration ie. price and that it is the intention of the parties to make a legally binding agreement. In English law a contract for the sale of land is one of the few contracts that has to be evidenced in writing, hence the need to do it properly, especially bearing in mind the fairly long time in the future when you intend to complete and don't forget, this is as binding upon you as it is upon the vendor, a lot can happen to the housing market between now and then. If you have a binding contract, should you drop out you could be sued for the expenses of the vendor having to sell to someone else including any loss should there be a slump, you for your part could sue for 'specific performance' of the contract on the basis that since houses are unique monetary compensation would not be an adequate remedy. Again you would probably need professional help to do the conveyancing so the fact that completion is not intended until next year should not appreciably alter the solicitor's costs that you would normally incur for a sale being completed earlier.
This has come up on Yahoo Uk site so my answer is for English law, I know 'realtors' ( estate agents ) have a slightly different role in Canada as opposed to England but the legal principles of a binding contract and completion date still apply, just different people take a cut for professional fees. .

Answer 3

You both work out the details of the agreement between you - purchase price, date that the sale will take place, when the seller will vacate the property, when the buyer can take possession, how much rent will be paid if the seller is in the house after the date of sale, what items stay with the house, what work or maintenance will be done or paid for by the seller prior to the sale, whether you will have the property inspected by a competent/licensed inspector before the sale takes place (and you better, if you have any brains at all), and any other things you can think of.

Then go find a mortgage broker or lender, get your mortgage application started and approved, and have that ready to go.

Since you already have a buyer, a seller, and a property for the deal, you may want to hire a realtor to help with all of this. But negotiate the commission with the realtor, since they won't have any advertising costs, etc. at all. You should still have all of the paperwork reviewed by a lawyer - it's (relatively) cheap insurance.

Answer 4

I take it you will not actually be completing the purchase of the house until March 2007 of next year when he leaves the UK. What i would suggest is that you go to a solicitor and start the purchase. Ask the solicitor to draw up the standard purchase contract for the purchase. (the seller will also need a solicitor). Ask your solicitor to exchange contracts immediately. Once contracts are exchanged both the seller and purchaser are bound. Once contracts have been exchanged completion does not need to take place straight away - it can take place in March 2008. Get to the exchange stage of the conveyancing transaction asap and you will be safe.

all the best x

Answer 5

Your contract would need to have the purchase price stated ($110,00) and an amount that the buyer will pay the seller as a down payment or earnest money (this makes the contract legal). There also needs to be a date of closing stated and a date on which you as the buyer would take possession stated. It would be a good idea to also state in the contract that for every day that the buyer cannot take possession past the agreed upon date of possession, the seller has to pay the buyer liquidated damages or rent at a rate of $_____ per day. Good luck!

Answer 6

I endorse the comments of Emma above (because she's right).

Until exchange of contracts, either party can lawfully withdraw from the transaction without penalty (this is unique to property and land transactions).
You should therefore begin the purchase process in the normal way, get to exchange of contracts (with a nominal deposit) and agree to defer completion until March.
After exchange, you are obliged to complete or forfeit your deposit; he is obliged to complete or be forced to do so by the court.
Other that this route you have no protection at all.
Don't even think of drawing up the contract yourself unless you have a template from a conveyancing solicitor.

Answer 7

either party can back out until contracts have been exchanged. if you wish to have a contract stating that this man will let you have this house for that price you will ahve to get a solicitor to draw it up which will cost and it will be messy if he does back out. for example house prices may sour or they may drop so you may want to back out to...have a good think before you do this.

Answer 8

You can get free legal advice on websites like LawGuru, FindLaw. Check this out for more info http://www.uelp.org/freelegal.html

Answer 9

id ask your solicitor to do one, that way you can't go wrong...