can a seller's agent sue the buyer for not buying a house?

[therealdeal]

After the home inspection, repairs were asked in writing as part of the contract to be done in the house. One of them was to replace all galvanized pipes under the home. They only replaced the pipes in the crawl space. I asked again in writing for all the pipes to be replaced and never got a response back from the seller. They mentioned that if I don't buy the house they will start legal action. Can they sue me even though they didn't comply with the requested repairs? Note: the buyer's agent broker is the seller's agent. Conflict of interest maybe. They might be working together to force this house on me?!?!

 

[army judge]

Never buy a home using the same agent as the seller.
Yeah, some say its cheaper, don't you believe that.
Unless it was in the contract to replace all pipes, the seller isn't required to do so.

Another warning sign, if you discover any discrepancies before buying the home, don't buy it.
That, my friend,is the tip of a massive iceberg.

If you don't want to consummate sale, which seems your best option, don't do it.
Consult a real estate attorney in your county and see what options exist for you.

It seems as if you haven't agreed todo anything.
You may lose a few dollars in earnest money, so what?
It's far better than being stuck with a decayed, dilapidated, rotted money pit!!!

They can't sue you for requesting repairs.
They can sue you for breaching a contract, which I hope for your sake, you don't have.

Good luck.

 

[therealdeal]

The whole issue of over the pipes. From start i requested all the pipes. My agent, which works for the sellers agent added the pipes "under the home" . After final inspection i saw there were still galvanized pipes in the house so i did write for all pipes to be replaced again. They never signed the last request and didn't replace the pipes, claiming that "under the home" means only the crawl space, which is the only place they did. They never once asked for clarification on replacement of the pipes.

 

[army judge]

The whole issue of over the pipes. From start i requested all the pipes. My agent, which works for the sellers agent added the pipes "under the home" . After final inspection i saw there were still galvanized pipes in the house so i did write for all pipes to be replaced again. They never signed the last request and didn't replace the pipes, claiming that "under the home" means only the crawl space, which is the only place they did. They never once asked for clarification on replacement of the pipes.

There was never a meeting of the minds.
One person thought one thing, the other person thought another thing.
In essence, there was never a contract.
As I said before, the seller and buyer shouldn't use the same agent.
An agent that serves BOTH masters, will serve the master where the most money can be made.
In the case of real estate, the seller is the impetus to get the buyer ot spend MONEY, lotsa money!!!

 

[Michael Wechsler]

The home inspection is usually performed to identify significant issues before you purchase a home. You don't want to get stuck with a home that will require a surprising number of significant repairs. What do you mean that fixing the pipes was "asked" in writing to the contract? Do you mean that it was a requirement in a rider to a contract of sale to purchase real estate? I agree with army judge but am not sure whether there was a request made pursuant to the inspection (and thus not written into any rider) or it was actually included within the rider as being required to be performed by the seller.

If the seller fails or refuses to agree, then you have a very strong response that what you see is the best you're going to get. If you've got this requirement written into the contract of sale then the seller may have breached the agreement and you may have a choice to make as to your remedies. But at this point I'm not sure what write means -- and it seems to be just a request in writing, which may not be covered under the contract of sale and rider, as army judge points out.