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Seller has a lien on the title
Atlanta, GA
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Posted about 1 month ago in Contracts / Agreements
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We put in an offer on a house. Shortly thereafter the seller's agent called out agent to say that there was a title issue and it was a personal matter and that he was giving us notice. I called the courthouse to discover that the owner owes more than 100K in Federal tax liens. When he was finally ready to tell us about his personal matter- he said that he had hired an attorney to get this title cleared and the lien was put on his property in error. He claims that he never owed the money.
He will be in Breach of contract on 2 weeks. What are our options? Is he responsible for paying real estate commissions? Can we sue him? We have lost several prospective tenants - as we were actively advertising our current home for rental. Please help
Additional information
Yes- we did put good faith money. We also had an inspection done on the house. When we were told that there was an issue with the title- we postponed the appraisel. Answers (5)
John Gage Breakfield
This attorney is licensed in Georgia.
Posted about 1 month ago.
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Did you put an earnest money down?
j_ivaturi
Posted about 1 month ago.
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Yes- we did put good faith money. We also had an inspection done on the house.
When we were told that there was an issue with the title- we postponed the appraisel.
John Gage Breakfield
This attorney is licensed in Georgia.
Posted about 1 month ago.
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Sorry to keep asking questions, but what are they willing to do with the earnest money? In regards to the commissions, that would probably not be your issue, but that of your realtor. If you are still in your home, I am not clear how you would have lost tenants. On the lien, you have to make sure that is taken care of or it can be on you. You should seriously consider hiring a lawyer.
Michael Duane Cross Jr.
This attorney is licensed in Georgia and 1 other state.
Posted about 1 month ago.
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Your options are (1) to have the seller return your earnest money, (2) to buy the house and require the seller to satisfy the outstanding liens from the proceeds, (3) to buy the house, pay the tax liens if the proceeds are not sufficient, and sue the seller for any additional amounts for the liens (and perhaps fora ttorneys' fees as well).
FYI -- I'm not your lawyer, and this isn't legal advice. This is merely general information designed to allow you better to undersand the legal issues before you. You'll need to hire an attorney on this one. poptart7899
Posted about 1 month ago.
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This is exactly the scenario we are in right now. The seller has about 570K worth of liens on the house and we're buying it for much, much less than what he owes. He will breach contract in 15 days. Seller won't answer calls from title or from the realtor so nobody knows what is going on or if any of the liens are legitimate. He hasn't lived there for 20 years so apparently just stopped paying taxes and assessments.
Our problem is we're first time buyers and want the tax credit that expires November 30th... if we wait for him to get his act together, we probably lose $8,000 (there were two other houses we liked, both still listed for sale and are not under contract). The realtor won't get back to us now either so we're in limbo. If we cancel the contract, we lose the earnest deposit since we don't have the right to back out (contract signed 31 days ago). Hope everything goes well for you, because it does not look very good for us. |
