Back Up Contract - Original contract conditions may not be met by due date

Hi,

We have a back up contract that has been accepted by the vendor. The REA put in a clause stating that the back up contract will take precedence if the original contract conditions are not met by a certain date. That date is approaching and we have had our contract sent back to us with a change to the date allowing another week for conditions to be met.

Not sure why there is any point in having a clause with a date etc, and then it can be changed....

Any one have any experience with this situation?

If our contract does not take effect at this point, then we will add a clause stating something along the lines of no further extensions can be made on the original contract.. Is that a good idea?

Thanks

Why do they wish to extend unless it is to their advantage to delay? Is the back up as good as the original contract?

I am opinionated. Take me at face value, read between the lines.

http://www.reao.com.au/forum/entry.php?80-How-bright-is-your-agent

Real estate agents are prohibited from adding clauses to contracts - in NSW they can only fill in the bits in the box on the front page. You should seek legal advice

Regards

Terryw

This is the type of situation where the legal eagles step in and earn their money.

If you want the contract to be dealt and finished by a certain date .. you can include that as matching termination conditions in most contracts regardless of what is stated on the paper in printed format. Its just a nice way of saying .. do it by this date or we go elsewhere. And thats totally ok in most states.

But the overall picture is .. once you start playing with extended deadlines or delays on either side .. something is shonky in the deal thats not being properly admitted. Tread with caution. Not always is the vendor honest about the events surrounding his ownership or rights to the property.

Seek legal advice where necessary. And if you really want to follow through with the deal at any cost .. stick with it. Some deals can be made sticky by joint ownership and unconsenting partners. If its still a good deal just run with it. However if you feel you are being mucked around with no potential for a finalising deadline .. apply a termination clause for any further dates rendered. It will get the deal settled one way or the other.

We'll get a conveyancer on Monday to have a look at the back up contract.

REA has told us the contract has now become unconditional.... shortly after the conditions in the contract have been extended....

Will look in to it further.

Thats a large risk. No lawyer and unconditional now!

Regards

Terryw

TerryW: A large risk for us? The original buyers contract has supposedly become unconditional. We are just going to get a conveyancer to have a look at the back up contract and confirm that the original contract is now unconditional.

Teds, I may have misunderstood your post. So you are not unconditional, but another buyer is? So you would have less risk than i imagned, but you have an offer in there without seeking legal advice on it. If your offer is accepted you will be locked in. You should really show what you have signed to a lawyer now to see if there are any issues. If there are you can withdraw your offer and resubmit with changes.

Regards

Terryw

We are happy with our current contract except for the fact the vendor has returned it to us with some changes and granted the original buyers an extension of 1 week to meet the conditions.
Our contract has a clause that says if the original contract is not unconditional by a certain date then our contract takes precedence.
Our issue is that we believe our contract should take effect in a few days if the conditions are not met by the date specified and now that we are asking questions we have been told the original contract is now unconditional....we are not sure if we are being told the truth.
Thanks for any help.