Wholesaling: Who is responsible for paying liens/fines/judgements, the buyer or the seller?

[Account Closed]

When wholesaling a house, who is responsible for paying the liens on the property? I am in talks with a seller who wants $9,000 for his house, but says he owes around $3,000 in fines. Is the seller responsible for paying the fines before I can put it under contract, or is it my end-buyer's responsibility to pay the fines off?

And how does this affect how my offer when I put it under contract? Does my offer have to be $12,000 instead ($9K ask + $3K fines) or do I have to factor that into my asking price when I assign the contract? The spread on the deal is marginal as it is, and I'm trying to see if this one is worth pursuing. Obviously, there is more information needed to make an informed decision, but any advice would be appreciated, thanks.

[Ned Carey]

It is whatever you can negotiate. 

The contract should spell this out. Ultimately it doesn't make much difference. If the seller wants $9K NET and he sticks with that, then it doesn't matter if you pay $9k and you pay the fines or $12K and he pays the fines. 

You may want to write it up in a way that limits how much you pay. Until a title search is don' the exact amount of back taxes and judgements won't be known and may be more than the expected $3K