Connecticut Real Estate Blog - Real Real Estate in CT

Repeat after me, Get it in writing. Again, Get it in writing.  And one more time, Get it in writing.

Here’s why:

My clients are in the process of buying a house.  After the inspections were completed, I issued a letter asking the seller to repair certain items that were identified in the inspection.  I received a call back from the listing agent and we began to haggle over the phone.  Back and forth we went for days and days eventually turned into a few weeks.  Luckily, I anticipated this and so built in plenty of time until the closing. 

This agent is hard to deal with so I never got a written acknowledgement back from him or his client agreeing to the inspection items - the parties had come to an oral agreement. I had asked for the written acknowledgement several times and finally got the “the attorney will draft it up” brush off.  Fine.

The attorney drafted the inspection agreement alright, leaving out two items the seller had agreed to verbally.  His omission caused my buyers to panic.  I had to call the buyers attorney and the listing agent, who eventually called me back to say that the attorney had made a mistake.  The seller is handling the repairs as we agreed, so there is no problem in the long run.  However, this incident smacked me back into reality - GET IT IN WRITING!  I will never again accept an oral agreement from a listing agent.

The Lesson for Buyers: Real estate purchase and sales contracts are not enforceable in Connecticut unless they are in writing.  This also applies to inspection agreements.  According to state real estate law:

An offer for the purchase of real estate must be in writing, contain all essential terms and conditions and be
communicated to the Seller or his agent in order for the agreement to be enforceable.
Regulation §20-328-2a(d) requires that no licensee shall submit a written offer unless it contains all the essential
terms and conditions including the manner in which the purchase is to be financed.