It Doesn't Matter What You Think, The Written Contract Has Final Say

It Doesn't Matter What You Think, The Written Contract Has Final Say

In Tennessee after a home inspection has been completed, a Repair/Replacement Proposal is sent to the seller. This document stipulates that all inspections have been done and makes the buyer's repair/replacement requests known to the seller.

In our current market, buyers should expect that sellers will counter to their repair requests. As a matter of fact, buyers and sellers may go back and forth several times before they come to a final resolution regarding repairs.

Once all parties have agreed to what the seller is going to fix or replace, a Repair/Replacement Amendment is added to the contract. In essence, this becomes part of the original contract. Therefore, all items agreed to in this document should be looked at in the same way as any other part of the written contract.

Next week, one of my clients is closing on a condo purchase. All repairs were agreed upon and the appropriate amendment was signed and added to the contract. We requested that all repairs be made by licensed contractors and invoices be provided to the buyer. The seller agreed to these terms and it is written into the Repair/Replacement Amendment.

I received several invoices yesterday and realized a couple of items were missing. I emailed the listing agent requesting the invoices for the missing repairs. I received a response from him stating that those repairs were completed by the HOA and they had no invoices for the work. I simply responded asking that the seller get copies of those invoices from the HOA.

A few hours later, I received a call from a very angry listing agent. He stated that if I wanted the invoices, I should contact the HOA directly. I reminded him that wasn't my job. It was his seller's job to provide us with all invoices per the contract.

He went on to tell me that obviously, I didn't know how these things worked. Many times homeowner associations use handymen that are on their payroll to make these repairs. No invoice is ever produced because the work is completed by an in-house person. My response, "Are you telling me the repair wasn't completed by a licensed contractor? Because your client agreed to our request that all repairs would be made by a licensed contractor."

He went on to say he didn't know if a licensed contractor had been hired or not but that we should be happy that the repair had been made and not worry about documentation proving it. I explained that my client is a first-time home buyer. She's not going to just take someone's word for it. She wants to be able to go back to the licensed contractor should something go wrong with the repair which is the reason she asked for documentation to begin with.

He argued that his client had gone above and beyond our requests and felt he didn't need to do more. Obviously, since I don't know what I'm doing I should speak with my broker about the way these things work. I responded, "It doesn't matter what you think, the written contract has the final say and it states that all repairs are to be completed by licensed contractors and invoices for that work be submitted to the buyer no later than 3 days prior to closing. You have several days to either do the work, if not already done, and provide the invoice. I suggest you do that."

This is just another reason why buyer's should use their own agent. Listing agents work for the seller and may try to push you around. It is my job, whether I'm working for a buyer or a seller, to protect my client's interests. This includes making sure that all parts of the written contract are adhered to. It doesn't matter what I think or the other agent thinks, the written contract has final say and should be enforced.