‘good faith and fair dealing covenant’ Multiple offers on multiple properties at the same time.Is that legal?
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‘good faith and fair dealing covenant’ Multiple offers on multiple properties at the same time.Is that legal?
I have a house for sale for 493,500. I received an offer for 488,000. I said I
would look at it and had other offers coming in and the people giving the offer
increased there offer the same day to 493,000. I accepted the offer but it said
there was multiple offers on multiple houses. The people then took a couple days
to make a decision and said they decided to purchase a different house. Based on
the ‘good faith and fair dealing covenant’ are there any legal ramifications I
could pursue?
Asked on December 27, 2017 under Real Estate Law, California
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 6 years ago | Contributor
People may offer on more than one home, BUT if an offer is accepted before it is withdrawn, the buyer is bound to it and must go through wit the sale. You indicate that you accepted the $493k offer (i.e. they did not withdraw it first, before you had the chance to accept). Therefore, they were in a contract with you to buy the home and you could sue them (them, not their agent) for breach of contract to for any provable losses you incur (e.g. if don't get any other offeres over $488k, you could take one and sue them for the extra $5k their refusal to buy cost you). On the other hand, if you don't suffer any actual loss--e.g. you sell the home for $493k or higher--there's no point in suing; the law only gives you compensation for actual costs or losses you suffer, and not just to punish the other side for acting improperly.
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