Going to court with the seller?

I'm not a lawyer and don't know much about the legalities, but:
1) Did the original contract have an expiration? (I can't recall if mine did, I don't think it did.)
2) It sounds like they were stalling so they could close at a later date.
3) Shouldn't your lawyer know all this? Perhaps your broker/attorneys team were not good choices as they are not advising you well.
4) I would think that you'll be losing your downpayment.

Thank you for your response...
1. Yes it did and we still hadnt gotten a call from mgmt for the interview.
2. Apparently they lost our board application and mgmt said it was their fault (via phone so no emails stating this)
3. I guess I'm just nervous because we werent' able to go into this on Friday in detail. I have to wait until Tue now for more info!
4. I spoke with a real estate developer friend who lives and works in Miami. He seems to think that we should get our money back. He said its extremely difficult for them to keep our money unless we straight out defaulted on something. He also said most people make mistakes in the process which they definitely did so it maybe be 5k in lawyers fee's to expect but that we should get our $ back.

Do you know of people who haven't gotten their downpayment back? How can such a large sum of money just be kept by the seller's attorney? I'm hoping they will see our case when we present it to them and they will back down.

Thank you so much for your response...

First off, where the hell is your NYC real estate attorney? They should be able to answer this in two seconds. And if you DON'T have a hotshot real estate attorney I STRONGLY suggest you get one ASAP!

Yes, so far our attorney has done an excellent job but if you know of any others that have excellent track records in this kind of thing, please let me know. Again, thank you for your posts. It is just the holiday weekend and I'm finding it a real drag to have to wait until Tue for any answers.

First of all you need to relax & put this situation in Divine Order where miracles routinely happen. It sounds like you should get your money back, based on your version of the events, but the sellers could make you fight for it if they want to be assholes. It seems that the board is really at fault here if they lost your application package - it really is an amazing system when cooperative buildings have nincompoops in charge of a multi-million dollar enterprise! Before you get feedback on this situation DO NOT sign the offering plan on the new place; you've already got a mess on your hands. Relax until Tuesday. You say that your attorney has done an excellent job but I guess it couldn't hurt to get another opinion. There may also be some websites with this sort of info. Good luck! I AM NOT AN ATTORNEY OR REAL ESTATE PROFESSIONAL.

Let's take a look at the facts.

How did you find out that they want to take you to court to keep your escrow money? From the seller, from someone on the board, or from your or their attorney? If from your (good) attorney, you should also have received an answer to your question immediately, so I suspect you heard it from some other source.

Anybody can sue about anything, I think that's a good thing, but summary judgments also happen--meaning the judge throws the case out, or forces a settlement, or does certain other things to keep the court system moving and dumb cases out of it.

You had a contract with an expiration date. The contract expired. Your attorney went the extra mile with a 30 day notice about the expiration, further strenthening your position.

Your money is in escrow. Money in escrow has a lot of protection, and attorneys who want to stay licensed treat it with respect.

This probably won't help, but if I were you, if you presented the facts accurately, I would try to relax and enjoy this lovely weekend. I think you will get your money back in full, although you may have to pay your attorney a little more than you originally planned for this deal. Or, maybe not.

The other thing I would do to calm my nerves is to hop onto a lawyer's discussion board (does Craig's List have one?) and post your question, and perhaps a lawyer will respond.

Like #6 I am not a lawyer.

Just my opinion but I highly doubt that the seller is going to go through the expense to take you to court. He's probably just pissed off right now but when he starts smelling the costs that are involved with legal proceeding he'll start backing off. As far as the sellers attorny--- Screwing aroung with someone's escrow money is a sure way to get disbarred, so I'm sure this is all scare tactics.Once agin just my opinion but is there a broker involved here. If so the broker sure dropped the ball on this one

#2 here. Agree with #8. Buyer's lawyer should be communicating more clearly and better with the buyer. Seller's broker (actually both) should have been pushing the deal/paperwork through.

Reason number 2437 why coops suck!

Hope the weekend wasn't TOO arduous. You'll certainly speak to your attorney ASAP (already?) & will hopefully have good news. Let us know what's happening!

Please update us on your situation...

Yes, please update! I am in contract and I haven't heard anything from the board yet, and neither has the seller's broker, and the contractual theoretical closing date is June 15.

to #13 - closing date is one thing - but do you have a date when your contract would be ineffective?

Most of the time closing dates can change and that would not change your obligation.

I would be hesitant to buy into any building that would lose my personal financial info. So if you get out of this one (which it sounds as if you would) consider it a blessing in disguise.

There is a closing date in the contract. 30 days after the closing date and there is no board approval, either side can cancel a contract. Please confirm with your lawyer.

seller sounds like a colossal turd. countersue for twice as much.

Go to the coop board meeting without showering for a week, drunk as hell and as a bonus pay a homeless person to come along with you as your "friend".

With the rejection letter in hand from the coop seller returns your deposit and you can avoid any more legal rumblings.

Basically we've gotten to the point where our attorneys are sending past emails back and forth saying each other acted in "bad faith". Our contract didn't have an expiration date in the contract but our attorney did send a 30-day notice. We did stall in the end when they were asking for financials for a 3rd party person (boyfriend who will be living w me but not a buyer) one week before our expiration. Our minds were changed at this point and we were complying with the management company but not exactly in the most hurried manner. We are trying to settle this out of court. Is it fair for me to offer 1 month's holding costs to the seller? They can rent it out or sell it easily since it's in a great downtown location, etc. I wish they'd stop fighting us!!!! Any other ideas to placate these whiny bastards? J/K, but not really!!!

You need to be talking to your attorney but it would seem that if you offer them money you're admitting some guilt. It may just be time to let the legal pros duke it out.

#2 again. 1 month holding costs doesn't sound like nearly enough.
- You have a signed contract.
- You gave 30 day notice (which I incidentally think means nothing).
- You stalled during your own 30 day notice.
- You said its been 3 months now... perhaps 4.
- They/you took the apt off the market during peak season and now its slowing down a bit.

If I were the seller, I'd try to make you buy it since we have a contract. I'm not a lawyer but a contract is not something to be taken lightly.

Don't forget to go to church on Sunday morning! Almighty God knows the outcome of your coop deal. Miracle does happen!

#16 here. You said there is no expiration date on the contract. This is typical. What you have in a contract is a closing date. If you do not have a board approval 30 days after the closing date, either side can cancel the contract. Therefore, I do not know what the issue. Second, why did you mentioned about bf living in the apartment? By law, he can live there without any issue. Since you mentioned it, you can not withhold reasonable request for information. There is where you went wrong. Third, let your attorney work this out. Coming on this board will only bring you problems. What if the seller is reading this?

Boards have a right to ask for additional information. Ignore the advice (joke I presume) of the one saying don't shower for a week and go to the board interview - intentional intent to have the board reject you sets you up for the seller to fight for their 10%.

Speak to your attorney. Bottom line - it's a legal issue and comes down to what was in the contract. The 30 day rule is NOT WRITTEN into the contract - all parties bandy that date about because it is based on case law (I am not an attorney - am a broker).

After 9/11 I had a customer who wanted to get out of their contract, because the board was being really difficult. They ended up losing their 10%. I agree with previous poster who indicated that you shouldn't be putting this on line - you run the risk that your seller or board member sees it and knows you stalled.

If you were to have your bf living with you but not paying - and didn't need the money to pay - then should have left off - if they were paying, then you needed them as part of the package. I don't think it's 'by law' as someone stated that your bf can live automatically with you - again each coop has house rules that govern it - it's almost always ok. Was you bf on your contract? IF so, then his numbers had to be in the package - their asking you for more information means they are not completely secure with your financial picture.

RE them losing the package - I cannot believe that your attorney did not send the other attorney or managing agent a note at the time they lost your package to 'confirm' in writing that they had indeed lost the package - adn that that was delaying the process. Even if they had not lost it, some boards can take up to SIX weeks ore more to process packages - someone should have been gently nudging the board through the managing agent to let them know you were losing your rate lock. In most cases, those kind of comments with a 'please can you speed it up' because my lease is expiring or my rate lock is expiring, usually speeds things up.

Closing date - did it pass already?

Issue I see is that you have a contract to buy an apartment subject to board approval and you are to comply wtih the board's request for information. Since your attorney did not put in a time within which the approval was to be effective (no one ever does) then lack of board approval seems to be the only way to get out of the contract, unless the parties did not perform. The seller did not not perform his portion of the contract - in their view, you most likely are doing so by stalling and trying to walk -despite the time.

Definitely not clear cut here.
Good luck

The board has turned us down with no reason given. We can only speculate that it was because of our financials. The seller and us do not want to go to court though they are still threatening to do so. We are trying to settle out of court. It says in the contract if we are turned down, we get our money back. Are we still responsible to give the seller a settlement because of this? We don't think so, they do.

to #25 girlygirl : how are your financials, I'm surprised the seller accepted the offer if they were questionable..

If the board turned you down you get your money back. The seller would have to prove you purposely tried to be turned down for you to owe them anything.

When the board asked for my BF's financials we submitted the truth. His situation had changed from making over 100k a year to 0. (He's working for a start-up company now.) Also, he does have to pay his parents back for college making that total to be over 100k in "debt". The seller is claiming we did this on purpose to get turned down. I had written an email to the seller saying that we wanted out of the contract awhile ago and that our situation had changed and we couldn't afford it anymore. He is now using that against us. (i know stupid to write this) He claimes we acted in bad faith and did do this on purpose. Are we at fault? Now we are negotiating a settlement to stay out of court. His number is close to our deposit and ours is a few thousand. I never even had a meeting with the board and my financials and my mother (co-purchaser) are pretty solid but I am freelance so it's always a bit uncertain. Looks as if we might have to go to court on this and our attorney seems confident that we'd win based on the situation.

if the board turns you down, you get your money back, period. Dont negotiate anything. Tell your lawyer you want your money back from escrow and move on. Stop talking to the seller via email or any other way. You are fine. The board turned you down.

This broad is an idiot. She needs to change her medication or something. She has an attorney but does she deal with him? No, better to get on streeteasy & spread your nonsense there & take advice from WHO KNOWS? Meanwhile, of course, someone on the other side of her real estate fiasco may be monitoring this thread & throw it at her at the hearing. Ha Ha!