There are several essential steps you must take before purchasing a property. One of them is conducting a thorough assessment of the house to ensure that it has no defects. Typically, the property owner should repair every damage before the day you plan to complete the deal. Unfortunately, some damages may occur after you've conducted the inspection, and you may only notice them just before closing. This might complicate the deal and create a dilemma. Therefore, it's prudent to instantly engage a real estate and land use lawyer when faced with such a situation. Here are some of the ideas they might suggest.
Proceed With the Deal
Some damages might be hazardous and may pose a danger, especially when unfavorable weather conditions like earthquakes or storms occur. In addition, such defects might be expensive to fix, and your lawyer may advise you to back out of the deal. However, if the defects do not pose significant risks to the building occupants, your legal advisor may suggest closing the deal as planned. In this case, you and the seller will discuss and agree on who will pay the repair costs. Again, the intervention of your lawyer is crucial when discussing this issue to ensure you don't pay more than you should.
Ask the Seller to Cover the Cost of the Destruction
Of course, several factors made you like the property in question over others listed in the market. For instance, it might be located in an ideal neighborhood that allows you access to different social amenities or essential services. The house could also be in a strategic location where it will grow drastically in value and fetch you a good price if you sell it in the future. So if you direly want to purchase the property, ask the owner to cover the cost of destruction. They can do it from pocket or through their insurer cover.
And if restoring the house to its original condition doesn't take long, you may consider continuing with the deal. In fact, you can add some costs to the closing deal if it improves the property to a better state. But before settling for any of these ideas, speak to your lawyer. They will assess the situation and recommend a suitable step. For instance, they might advise you not to repair the house until you become the legal owner. Doing this will shield you from losing money should a disagreement arise with the seller after you've already repaired the house.
Usually, damages that arise before closing a property sale transaction complicate the deal and often stall the purchase process. Therefore, you should consider hiring real estate and land use law services to guide and represent you in such a situation. They will help you finalize the deal and acquire the property within the shortest time possible.
