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I'm not getting any help from my realtor so I thought I'd reach out to you guys since I know there are some realtors and law professionals on this forum. Last fall we sold our house to a particularly anal buyer, during inspections we found some issues with the roof and with a 2 week window basically used the only licensed contractor I could find to make the repairs in such short notice. Well the repairs didn’t get done correctly and I didn’t see the report of work because it went directly to my realtor and the buyer’s realtor. Come closing the buyers had the option of walking due to the work not being complete so instead they came up with a long list of "issues" they wanted resolved by setting up an escrow account to pay for the repairs after they took possession, we had no option but to say yes or let the sale fall through.
When they made the purchase agreement, a gazebo I was building in the backyard was 99% complete, I ran out of stone and was waiting on more to come in which is why it wasn’t 100% done when we put it on the market. We didn’t think it would be a big deal but we got multiple offers the second day the home was on the market so we were a little caught off guard. Of course the buyer had an issue with some of the stonework he saw during walk through because it wasn’t up to his standard (remember this was a DIY project, I am no mason, and to be honest I thought it looked really good). So part of the addendum for the escrow was for repair of stone work on the gazebo. Yesterday I received a call from the title company asking if it was OK to pay a $1900 invoice for demolition and removal of the gazebo since it was not part of the addendum.
I don’t know why he decided to have it tore down but my hunch is he wants to put a shed back there instead and he is trying to get a way to pay for the demo and removal out of my pocket not his. So my questions are these: If the bid for stone repair came back at some huge number over $1900 and rather than repair he decided to tear it down instead, do I have a legal obligation to release the funds since demolition was outside the scope of work? Maybe I have a moral obligation but the work was almost complete when they made the purchase agreement and I thought the work looked good....it’s a fricken gazebo way in the back corner for crying out loud. The other scenario I can see is the contractor he had come in to look at the stone thought it wasn’t built right (even though it was built better than the playhouse I built that they have no issue with) and said it should be tore down. Since it was a DIY project, it was disclosed that I built it and no permits were required to be pulled and were pulled is it basically his problem not mine, or can I still be held liable for any issues after the sale (remember the structure was in place when he made the purchase agreement, it just needed a few pieces of stone and top caps)?
Sorry for the long post, thanks for any help.
When they made the purchase agreement, a gazebo I was building in the backyard was 99% complete, I ran out of stone and was waiting on more to come in which is why it wasn’t 100% done when we put it on the market. We didn’t think it would be a big deal but we got multiple offers the second day the home was on the market so we were a little caught off guard. Of course the buyer had an issue with some of the stonework he saw during walk through because it wasn’t up to his standard (remember this was a DIY project, I am no mason, and to be honest I thought it looked really good). So part of the addendum for the escrow was for repair of stone work on the gazebo. Yesterday I received a call from the title company asking if it was OK to pay a $1900 invoice for demolition and removal of the gazebo since it was not part of the addendum.
I don’t know why he decided to have it tore down but my hunch is he wants to put a shed back there instead and he is trying to get a way to pay for the demo and removal out of my pocket not his. So my questions are these: If the bid for stone repair came back at some huge number over $1900 and rather than repair he decided to tear it down instead, do I have a legal obligation to release the funds since demolition was outside the scope of work? Maybe I have a moral obligation but the work was almost complete when they made the purchase agreement and I thought the work looked good....it’s a fricken gazebo way in the back corner for crying out loud. The other scenario I can see is the contractor he had come in to look at the stone thought it wasn’t built right (even though it was built better than the playhouse I built that they have no issue with) and said it should be tore down. Since it was a DIY project, it was disclosed that I built it and no permits were required to be pulled and were pulled is it basically his problem not mine, or can I still be held liable for any issues after the sale (remember the structure was in place when he made the purchase agreement, it just needed a few pieces of stone and top caps)?
Sorry for the long post, thanks for any help.
