Will We Need To Bring This To Mediation Or Arbitration?
In our Oregon sales agreement, there is an entire page just for explanation of how things will be handled should a 
buyer or seller feel that they weren't dealt with fairly during the sale or purchase of their home. In most cases, mediation and arbitration are their first recourse besides small claims court.
Of course when you enter into the sales agreement, the last thing you're thinking about are things going bad, but it does happen which is why a whole page is dedicated to this. Here are a few scenarios. What do you think? Some might seem like minor issues, but not so to these buyers and sellers.
Scenario one: The Seller's Property disclosures mention nothing about a leak in the master bedroom shower. The buyer moves in and hops in the remodeled shower and when stepping out notes that there is a huge puddle on the bathroom floor from water that seeped through the door. Not just a little puddle..a two towel soaker. There were other issues also noted that were not mentioned in the Seller's Disclosures, but the buyer thinks that the seller's should have at least been aware of the master shower leak. Seller also took the pump to the small water feature that was working when buyer purchased the home. Does the buyer have a reason to mediate costs of repairs and replacement for this and other items not mentioned...or is it buyer beware?
Scenario Two: Listing data sheet states that the HOA fees (Home owners association) are a certain amount each month and to include Sewer, Water, Cable, Management and commons. The sales agreement called for the seller to provide all HOA information which the listing 
agent received from the HOA representative to supply to the buyer and which the buyer read and signed off on.
Home closes and the Buyer receives mail stating that they need to pay for the cable over and above the HOA amount stated on the listing sheet. She contacts the HOA and submits the HOA documents received before purchase where it states that the cable is an expense of the HOA as well as a copy of the listing data sheet, but the representive sends her another document that states each homeowner is required to pay a certain amount above the listed HOA monthly amount which was never given to the listing agent nor buyer for review. The owner says the cable is included, but the HOA representative still insists that the buyer pay cable seperate.
Does this buyer need to go to mediation? Is the listing agent responsible or does the "Info deemed reliable but not guaranteed" written on the bottom of the MLS listing sheet cover her? Should the buyer's agent have put all of the listed HOA items on the listing sheet in the sales agreement?
Our goal as agents is to have our clients be happy when they buy or sell a home. Sometimes, things aren't apparent until after things close and your only option is to either except it as a loss and move on or you'll need to bring this to mediation or arbitration or take the other party to small claims court. Hopefully you won't ever need to go to this level, but with any legal and binding agreement, things can happen.
Comments(9)