Offer to purchase home has lapsed - What legal obligations do I have

[Bernadette Conradie]

I have signed a OPT to purchase a property on the 28th of March 2016. It was found that my husband has a problem with a judgment on his name and this delayed the process of submitting the offer to the banks for approval. This was sorted out after two weeks and now new bank statements was required and also new pay slips.

I have been out to do audits and preparing for audits and have not gotten round to getting the new information for the submission and the offer has since lapsed.

On the OTP it does say an automatic additional 14 days is added to the offer even after the 30 days has lapsed. but the section that states when the date is the offer lapses is empty. The agent has indicated in a mail to me that it is an additional 30 days that is added, contravening the 14 days mentioned in a clause that she never explained when we signed the contract.

There is now 2 days left on this 14 days and even if I get the documents for them now approvals will not be obtained before the laps on the extended 14 days.

Should I now continue on the purchase and resign a new OTP or how do we handle the matter at hand?

I have not had any communication from the agent for the last 2 - 3 weeks and am now being hounded by her, saying she has been unable to reach me and do not know what to tell the seller due to my neglect to furnish them with the needed documentation.

I feel that the agent is trying to show that we have been delaying proceedings from our side and this is the reason for the finance that has not yet been obtained.

I did tell the agent from the beginning that we are very busy during this time due to preparations at work and that if the property is sold before I have had the time to attend to all my affairs I will just move on, but the agent was adamant to have it signed and that we could work on the rest as soon as pre approval was obtained.

I am now feeling forced to purchase a property with this agent - that I do not trust - or pay brokerage fees - that is not disclosed on the offer - to the realtor if I do not continue with the purchase.

What should I do? I do not feel the need to go through this at this stage - as stated before to the agent. Am I now forced to continue or can I at this stage move on with out capital legibility towards the agent?

 

[ToxicBunny]

I have signed a OPT to purchase a property on the 28th of March 2016. It was found that my husband has a problem with a judgment on his name and this delayed the process of submitting the offer to the banks for approval. This was sorted out after two weeks and now new bank statements was required and also new pay slips.

I have been out to do audits and preparing for audits and have not gotten round to getting the new information for the submission and the offer has since lapsed.

On the OTP it does say an automatic additional 14 days is added to the offer even after the 30 days has lapsed. but the section that states when the date is the offer lapses is empty. The agent has indicated in a mail to me that it is an additional 30 days that is added, contravening the 14 days mentioned in a clause that she never explained when we signed the contract.

There is now 2 days left on this 14 days and even if I get the documents for them now approvals will not be obtained before the laps on the extended 14 days.

Should I now continue on the purchase and resign a new OTP or how do we handle the matter at hand?

I have not had any communication from the agent for the last 2 - 3 weeks and am now being hounded by her, saying she has been unable to reach me and do not know what to tell the seller due to my neglect to furnish them with the needed documentation.

I feel that the agent is trying to show that we have been delaying proceedings from our side and this is the reason for the finance that has not yet been obtained.

I did tell the agent from the beginning that we are very busy during this time due to preparations at work and that if the property is sold before I have had the time to attend to all my affairs I will just move on, but the agent was adamant to have it signed and that we could work on the rest as soon as pre approval was obtained.

I am now feeling forced to purchase a property with this agent - that I do not trust - or pay brokerage fees - that is not disclosed on the offer - to the realtor if I do not continue with the purchase.

What should I do? I do not feel the need to go through this at this stage - as stated before to the agent. Am I now forced to continue or can I at this stage move on with out capital legibility towards the agent?

Then let the time limits on the OTP lapse....

I am guessing the OTP has a clause about you needing to get a bond... you don't have it, therefore move on... agent has no recourse against you.

 

[$m@Rt@$$]

If it lapses it lapses. Then you can make another offer or ask for extension by amending the original offer.

 

[ToxicBunny]

As an addition to my original post..

Ignore EVERYTHING the agent tells you in relation to time limits, penalties etc etc..
Read your OTP and follows those. Agents are usually less than clueless about the law.

 

[Kosmik]

Unless there is a penalty clause, just let it lapse. Costs are normally only raised once lawyers get involved but the whole pre-approval bond is normally done with no consequence. You can write a letter to them ( yes old school, registered mail or hand-deliver ) stating that as per the signed agreement, you deem the offer to have lapsed as you could not raise a sufficient bond in that time due to complications with your husbands finances.

They'll back off quickly once you say that there were financing issues and seek another buyer.

 

[Batista]

We saw about 15 houses before we finally found one.I just hope its that easy for you'll to do again.Obviously you like the house, do you really want to do all of this over again?

 

[Bernadette Conradie]

Thank you for the advice

 

[hellfire]

Thank you for the advice

Also, commission rates should be on the OTP.
It's not something to negotiate afterwards...

 

[Lupus]

Also, commission rates should be on the OTP.
It's not something to negotiate afterwards...

Also not something the buyer pays.

 

[Devinity]

When I was looking to buy, I put in an offer to purchase. The agent then informed me that her client accepted a slightly higher offer but that it was dependent on the other person obtaining a bond.

A few days later the agent came back to me and said that the other party was not able to secure a bond and then offered the property to me again....but I was no longer interested.

Based on my experience, the agent can't hold you to the agreement if you did manage to secure a bond and can't charge you anything as all commission comes off the selling price (seller pays this).

This doesn't sound like a good agent and someone to be weary of.

 

[Kosmik]

When I was looking to buy, I put in an offer to purchase. The agent then informed me that her client accepted a slightly higher offer but that it was dependent on the other person obtaining a bond.

A few days later the agent came back to me and said that the other party was not able to secure a bond and then offered the property to me again....but I was no longer interested.

Based on my experience, the agent can't hold you to the agreement if you did manage to secure a bond and can't charge you anything as all commission comes off the selling price (seller pays this).

This doesn't sound like a good agent and someone to be weary of.

There is normally a very short time window for an OTP to be accepted by the seller ( 24 to 48hrs ). This window is different from the whole buyers requirement for bond approval etc which is normally around 21 Days.