Expert: Jessica Bryan - 5/1/2005

Question
I have paid for an inspection and an appraisal on a house. The seller has now decided that they no longer want to sell their house.  Do they have to return my money?  The paperwork that I signed with them says contingent on when my house sells my house has not sold yet but do they have the right to just say oops sorry we don't want to sell our house now?

Answer
Dear Terie;
To answer this question I would have to see the exact wording in the contract.  Most contracts state that inspections and appraisals are done at the Buyer's expense and don't have any mention of the Buyer getting their money back in the event that the deal doesn't go through.  By having a contingency on the sale of your home, the seller was able to back out without any risk of having to return any money other than your earnest money deposit.  It seems to me that unless you were able to get the seller to agree to reimbursing you for money spent on the appraisal and inspection you don't have any recourse.  Most contingencies allow for the seller to give you notice that they are "calling" the contingency.  If, however,they are not or have not followed the contingency agreement procedures then you do have recourse and can request all of your expenses to be reimbursed to you.  This would be under the conditions that they have not given a certain amount (usually 48 hours) of notice to you to drop the contingency.  This is usually in writing and there are signatures that have to be obtained as well to make it a legal agreement.  If the Sellers simply decided that they no longer want to sell their home then you are within your rights to ask for a reimbursement for your costs.  If they don't choose to reimburse you you may have to take the matter to an attorney for some resolution.  I hope that it doesn't come to that since it would be more costly than the actual costs of the inspection and appraisal!

Good luck and best wishes.
Jessica Bryan
Managing Broker
House to Home Realty Services