I am a first time homebuyer in California who has been looking for a home for a year and a half. Never been in escrow before as I was always priced out. But finally got my offer accepted but ran into this issue. Seller had done the pest inspection through a company which quoted him $8500 for pest work. Report was on MLS. We read this inspection report and knew that if we buy the home we won't be going with this pest company as their quote was very expensive.We bid on the home and our offer was highest. Seller countered saying that the house will be sold "As is" and he verbally told us that he will not do pest work. We said ok and we signed the contract. Now I am in the 17 day contingency period. We did home inspection and found lots of small issues....nothing really big. Sellers agent emails us saying that the company that gave pest quote was scheduled to do the work next week and asked us if we want to go ahead with the pest work through that company. We told him no and that we want our own pest inspector to give us a new quote as we are paying for it anyways. Two days later the sellers agent replies that the pest work is already done. The company went ahead and did the work without his knowledge. The seller knew about it but the agent didn't. Now the agent says we have to pay fully to the pest company as we said in the contract that seller won't pay for the pest. But the contract says the home is being sold as is plus we have email proof that we were trying to get better quotes while the original company was doing the work without our knowledge. The seller already has a higher offer on the house which he received after he accepted our offer. So I am sure he will try to back out if we don't pay the pest guy. Can he back out of this sale ? What if he is unwilling to close the escrow until I pay the pest company ? What are my options ? If you know a lawyer who can advise me on this issue please let me know.

That's good advice from J Scott, and I'll add another suggestion. If you can get an idea of what YOUR pest company would have charged, you might offer to increase your offer price by that amount. You were going to pay for the pest work anyways, and by having the work done there is added value in the deal (and better yet you can now add the cost into your financing if it appraises high enough). That, coupled with the possibility of a lawsuit or buyers agent commission obligation if they violate the contract and back out, might convince them to cut their losses and eat the balance of their mistake.

I'm not a lawyer, but here's what I'd do... First, I don't believe you have any obligation to pay for the pest control, and the seller doesn't have any right to back out of the deal because of it. Second, you may have some recourse if the seller tries to back out, but that will depend on the contract. But there's likely an easier way... Assuming you have an agent, your agent is almost certainly entitled to his commission on this deal; in my state, if a seller backs out, it's very easy for the buyer's agent to get a judgement against the seller for their commission. Which means that if the seller backs out, they'll still be on the hook for the agent's commission; if this house is in CA, it's quite likely that the commission is more than $8500 (the amount of the pest control). I'd have your agent remind the listing agent that their client will be on the hook for the buyer's agent commission, plus also may face other action from you. It's quite possible just the idea of having to pay the extra commission will be enough to get the seller to do the right thing. If that doesn't work, the next step is to go to the listing agent's broker and see if the broker can talk some sense into his agent and the seller. If neither of those work, get a lawyer...

Wait, your agent told the seller to move forward with the pest control knowing you didn't want them to, and then told you your only options were to pay for it or back out of the deal?!?!? Not only would I fire my agent,I'd sue him or her to get my money back that I spent on the deal... Then I would file an ethics complaint with the RE commission... But again, I'm spiteful...

"As is" DOES NOT mean no negotiation. It means the seller won't fix anything. If you found something during your inspection you can certainly go back to the seller and try to renegotiate a repair credit or price reduction. As is means they aren't going to make repairs, that's all.

I was about to say that, but K. Marie beat me to it, as usual... :) I would actually make sure your agent provides this information about the asbestos in writing to both the listing agent and the listing agent's broker, so everyone is on notice that if it turns out the information is not disclosed to the next buyer, someone could lose their license. Do that, and the seller may realize that it's easier to just negotiate with you than to encourage you to continue to try to screw him over for his unethical ways... :)

I'm spiteful too but try to act like I'm not. Trying to take the high road and all that. However, I'm with you on this one. If there is something in writing where the buyer's agent approved pest work without his permission, I'd ask the agent/brokerage for every dollar spent on the deal and I'd spend money on filing an action action against them if they didn't pay.

The seller is trying to screw over the buyer by *FORCING* him (with the threat of losing the deal) to pay for a service the buyer clearly wasn't interested in. The property may have needed pest work done, but I can't imagine what $8500 in pest remediation entails. Most likely, the seller is friends with or otherwise working with the pest control company -- and is trying to use the buyer to generate some business. I could be wrong about that, but if the OP's side of the story is accurate, that's what it sounds like to me. So, if the seller is trying to screw over the buyer, I see nothing wrong with the buyer doing the same thing FOR THE SOLE PURPOSE of trying to keep the deal alive. If the buyer needs to do spiteful things to force the seller to follow through on the deal, he should do it. Just my $.02... I don't like people who try to take advantage of other people.

I assume the pest control work had to be done prior to, or soon after closing, for your financing, so you were going to pay cash out of pocket. Offer the amount of whatever legitimate quote you get, as additional cash at the closing. That with the real possibilty of you suing for breach/specific performance, and commissions being due should make him come around. Are you sure your contract doesn't specifically address the pest work, or in some fashion(ie. lender required repairs, etc)?

Can seller backout of contract PLEASE HELP

Gaurav S.

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Homeowner · los angeles, CA · Member since 2011 · 57 posts · 1 vote

Can seller backout of contract PLEASE HELP

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