Hi all,
I am a first time homebuyer and I desperately need some advice. I live in Wisconsin (Ozaukee County) and I purchased a house with a closing date of 2/27 and I gave the sellers two weeks of free post close occupancy as part of the contract. Per the contract, the seller is required to vacate the property by 11:59 PM tonight. I texted the seller this morning seeing if they vacated already and he said that he needed an extra day. So I contacted my realtor and he reached out the the selling agent and she said that my seller still hasn't moved anything. They have an above ground pool that is full of frozen ice that they'll need to move later and that they'll "try" to be out of the house tomorrow.
I contacted my aunt who is in Oklahoma. She was a real estate agent for a long time and she told me to contact the Broker and tell them that I am going to report them to the real estate commission if the property is not vacated by noon tomorrow and that I can going to sue the realtor, broker and seller if they are not moved out within 24 hours.
Is this something I can actually do?
HELP! I am supposed to move into my house tomorrow morning and the seller has not vacated.
byu/Jaoush29 inRealEstate
Posted by Jaoush29
17 Comments
Threatening to make an official complaint or file a lawsuit are absolutely things you can do anytime. And I think in this situation, it’s very appropriate.
Threatening to make an official complaint or file a lawsuit are absolutely things you can do anytime. And I think in this situation, it’s very appropriate. You are being taken advantage of by everybody involved in this deal. A good agent would’ve recommended that you do not do a leaseback agreement with the seller. So give them all hell.
What is your leverage? Did you have $20,000 of the sellers’ funds held in escrow until their departure?
Take possession of the house tomorrow, as planned. Simply show up and start moving your stuff in.
The house is yours.
I was in a somewhat similar situation, without the rent back agreement. The sellers didn’t empty the house, they even left their dog there. I called friends and family and they all came to the house to help me start moving our stuff in. We “helped” the sellers by moving their stuff out into the garage.
Having the house full of strangers got the sellers out of there immediately.
But learn a lesson from this. Hire an attorney for your next house purchase. They’ll steer you clear of this kind of mess.
You will threaten huge charges to the money you had held back from the sale proceeds. That is your biggest leverage.
How much was held back?
You need to call the most bad ass real estate attorney you can find.
Makes me appreciate my realtor. I had a vacancy clause in my contract that every day after the move out date they stayed past they owed $250.
Too little too late, you offered free rent. I hope you put some clause in their that is financially damaging if they do not move out.
I would not sleep on this, you agreed to a tenant at $0/M you cannot even evict for lack of payment.
this is why if you do post-occupancy, you should ALWAYS require a few things —
1) escrow / holdback of significant funds
2) a per day penalty for overstaying
3) keys at closing
At this point, you can and should file a complaint once they have passed the time, but it also won’t do a ton since the realtor / broker don’t know their client was going to overstay. If you used an attorney for the deal, the attorney should be sending a letter to them and threatening eviction along with lawsuit for costs related to the eviction.
You also need to respond to the seller that you do not agree to any extension and that per the contract, you will be taking possession tomorrow and retain all rights.
No free rent backs, ever.
Does the contract specify an amount of rent that is due each day that the seller has not vacated? They owe you money.
Start moving in tomorrow.
Talk to your lawyer and your agent.
Hi! Ct realtor here. This is what would happen here, assuming everyone played by the rules. The takeaway advice is, contact your attorney.
Morning of closing, you do the walk through. The home should be free of chattel and “broom-swept.” You arrive, and the seller is there, with all their stuff. Not just a few items which might be planned for day-of moving, but nothing has changed since you saw the place. Immediately head to your lawyers office, which is likely where the closing was going to take place. Tell your attorney. They’ll call the opposing counsel. The two attorneys will come to an understanding as to why the train is off the rails and come to terms, which your lawyer will explain to you. You can accept their advice or decline it and take your own path. It usually starts with why the seller hasn’t packed before determining the optimal way to get them packed.
I hope this helps, friend.
I think you might actually own anything in the house at this point. If there is anything a value, it might be yours now. …but if it’s all junk you’ll have pay to get a dumpster or everything moved out. I suppose you can then sue to get reimbursed???
Congrats, you now have tenants!
I don’t understand why folks agree on a rent back and then get on here shocked when folks haven’t vacated.
A quick search before agreeing and you will see that, it’s so problematic and can lead to soooo many issues
Show up like normal, they may end up leaving same day. When I bought my house in 2006 the previous owners showed up and were still taking things out. They were nice older people. Hopefully with your situation they are simply staying until last moment and still getting their stuff out. Some people are stuck with zero help. So be careful but be patient with them too.