I am in the process of purchasing an investment property (Sydney, NSW). I have signed the contract with my solicitor and paid .25% deposit to the agent. However nearly a week has passed and there is indication as to when the owner will sign the contract. The agent says that the he trying to get the owner to sign but the owner is busy with work. My conveyancer has suggested that I put a date to the offer - tell the agent that if the contract is not signed by a certain date next week, the offer expires. Can someone please tell me that it the offer expires and the owner has still not signed, will I get my .25% deposit money back ?
Owner not signing the contract
- Thread starter oneworld
- Start date
Always use an expiry date on the contract.
If the owner does not accept the offer (by signing the contrat), you should be entitled to get back any funds you've paid.
If the owner does not accept the offer (by signing the contrat), you should be entitled to get back any funds you've paid.
Likewise, there is nothing better for progressing a deal than taking the offer off the table.
There are 2 reasons for the owner not signing:
1) Agent is still shopping ie there is another purchaser in the wings who they are trying to drag above your offer (ie trying to have you gazumped) or
2) Agent is being truthful (what! unheard of!!! etc). Vendors often go missing in action when asked to sign the contract ie one of the owners isn't totally convinced that this is the best deal/the agent hasn't tried their hardest/agent is trying to close the deal with the first offer/owner is holding out for more.
If the vendor has not signed the contract, there is very little risk of losing any of your deposit (unless the agent does a runner).
There are 2 reasons for the owner not signing:
1) Agent is still shopping ie there is another purchaser in the wings who they are trying to drag above your offer (ie trying to have you gazumped) or
2) Agent is being truthful (what! unheard of!!! etc). Vendors often go missing in action when asked to sign the contract ie one of the owners isn't totally convinced that this is the best deal/the agent hasn't tried their hardest/agent is trying to close the deal with the first offer/owner is holding out for more.
If the vendor has not signed the contract, there is very little risk of losing any of your deposit (unless the agent does a runner).
In NSW you don't usually put expiry dates in the offer.
What happens is you each sign a contract and this is exchanged. The contract is not enforceable until you have their signed contract.
So what you can do is to tell the agent you withdraw your offer if the contract is not exchanged by 4pm tomorrow. That should get the agent worried about losing his commission and he should get the vendor to sign asap.
What happens is you each sign a contract and this is exchanged. The contract is not enforceable until you have their signed contract.
So what you can do is to tell the agent you withdraw your offer if the contract is not exchanged by 4pm tomorrow. That should get the agent worried about losing his commission and he should get the vendor to sign asap.
Not always - on our 2nd last purchase the vendors were campervanning across Canada and often out of email or phone range. Took around 2 weeks to track them down to sign after a few weeks of similar negotiation.
But yes - if the excuse is just that they are busy then I'd put a time limit on it. The contract can be emailed to the vendor and they can sign it (and scan/email back) after hours.
