Q. We recently entered into an Agreement of Purchase and Sale to buy a fairly expensive home and when our lawyer did his due diligence on the property, it was found that there were a number of problems with the title all involving large amounts of outstanding money. Our lawyer later said the bank wanted the price upped by $75,000.00. How can this be when we had a binding contract with the vendor?
A. You have a contract with the vendor but not with their bank. You have no recourse against the bank by refusing to not provide clear title when you purchase.
Basically, they are telling you that they will not provide clear title to the property at the agreed upon price and are fishing around for more money. If the vendor is so indebted to the bank, then maybe by waiting for the bank to finally walk in and institute power of sale proceedings would be a good idea. Power of sale proceedings lead to a lower sale price. It could be worth it to wait this one out.
– Jeffrey Cowan is the principal with Cowan Taylor and McGee, Barristers & Solicitors. The information in this article should not be relied upon as legal advice.
