Can seller backout of contract PLEASE HELP

[Gaurav S.]

I am a first time homebuyer in California who has been looking for a home for a year and a half. Never been in escrow before as I was always priced out. But finally got my offer accepted but ran into this issue.

Seller had done the pest inspection through a company which quoted him $8500 for pest work. Report was on MLS. We read this inspection report and knew that if we buy the home we won't be going with this pest company as their quote was very expensive.We bid on the home and our offer was highest. Seller countered saying that the house will be sold "As is" and he verbally told us that he will not do pest work. We said ok and we signed the contract.

Now I am in the 17 day contingency period. We did home inspection and found lots of small issues....nothing really big. Sellers agent emails us saying that the company that gave pest quote was scheduled to do the work next week and asked us if we want to go ahead with the pest work through that company. We told him no and that we want our own pest inspector to give us a new quote as we are paying for it anyways. Two days later the sellers agent replies that the pest work is already done. The company went ahead and did the work without his knowledge. The seller knew about it but the agent didn't.

Now the agent says we have to pay fully to the pest company as we said in the contract that seller won't pay for the pest. But the contract says the home is being sold as is plus we have email proof that we were trying to get better quotes while the original company was doing the work without our knowledge.

The seller already has a higher offer on the house which he received after he accepted our offer. So I am sure he will try to back out if we don't pay the pest guy.

Can he back out of this sale ? What if he is unwilling to close the escrow until I pay the pest company ? What are my options ?

If you know a lawyer who can advise me on this issue please let me know.

[J Scott]

I'm not a lawyer, but here's what I'd do...

First, I don't believe you have any obligation to pay for the pest control, and the seller doesn't have any right to back out of the deal because of it.

Second, you may have some recourse if the seller tries to back out, but that will depend on the contract. But there's likely an easier way...

Assuming you have an agent, your agent is almost certainly entitled to his commission on this deal; in my state, if a seller backs out, it's very easy for the buyer's agent to get a judgement against the seller for their commission. Which means that if the seller backs out, they'll still be on the hook for the agent's commission; if this house is in CA, it's quite likely that the commission is more than $8500 (the amount of the pest control).

I'd have your agent remind the listing agent that their client will be on the hook for the buyer's agent commission, plus also may face other action from you. It's quite possible just the idea of having to pay the extra commission will be enough to get the seller to do the right thing.

If that doesn't work, the next step is to go to the listing agent's broker and see if the broker can talk some sense into his agent and the seller.

If neither of those work, get a lawyer...