Do a Seller Post Occupancy Agreement or execute a lease so it's clear that the terms and conditions of extending that time to him will not allow for a rebate of rent should he leave earlier. 

Another alternative (not as good) is to take the property subject to the electrical system being in proper working order, and have an escrow in place, held by the closing entity, to be released only upon proper inspection and passing results.

Re-lease to qualified Tenants and stabilize the property within 12 months.

The bank will probably want to extend or renegotiate the loan to keep you paying them interest.

You could also go to them and say I am going to cancel this escrow unless you release your EMD within 3 days etc.

I looked into this myself and it turns out the recorders office never released the liens.

If you get 1 accepted and you are already locked up, ask the seller if they are willing to extend timing since you are in another deal.

I needed more time to close the deal but the owner was in the process of closing on a house, in good faith I bought the house with the down payment and extended my time to close.

Some may be able to extend the loan, but usually there is extra cost to that.If credit is not the best it can absolutely affect a chances of a refi.

As a result they weren’t going to sign the purchase and signed a release/assignment.