It was a real estate transaction gone wrong. One full of “poor communication,” “verbal agreements” and “heightened emotion,” real estate lawyers say — a recipe for disaster.
Typically disputes can be settled amicably, but some cases can go wayward and serve as a warning.
Such was the case in 2020, when a seller sold his Toronto property for $1.78 million to a couple living abroad at the time, in what started out as a seemingly innocuous transaction that would eventually lead to lawsuits and thousands in damages.
In this case, the seller agreed to sell the property if it could be leased back to him for a year, however “nothing formal was agreed upon,” a March court decision, said.
Months later the couple tendered and the seller refused to close the transaction.
Due to the pandemic, the couple had decided to move into the home and would not lease the property out to the seller.
The seller, in turn, said the couple had been 24 hours late with their $100,000 deposit and his realtors ought not to have accepted it as he gave instructions that the deposit not be accepted “beyond the deadline prescribed.”
The couple then sued the seller for the return of the $100,000 deposit and for damages for breach of contract.
The court ruled that, as the seller did not “immediately protest to the purchasers” or tell them that the agreement of sale “had lapsed or was void,” the couple were entitled to the return of their deposit and costs of $26,875.
But their troubles didn’t end there.
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