If Seller Won’t Leave, What Should Home Buyer do?

  Question: Under the contract for the purchase of our home in Tolleson the seller agreed to move out on the day of close of escrow. On the day of close of escrow, however, the seller requested another week because the seller’s new home was not finished. We are nice people and, although we were inconvenienced, we agreed to give the seller another week to move out. This week has passed, and the seller is now asking for another week to move out. What are our rights?

  Answer: First, if a seller will not move out on the day scheduled for close of escrow, and says that he will move out in a few days, a buyer should either, one, get the seller to sign a post-possession rental agreement and pay rent for the extension of time to move out; or, two, deliver a three-day cure notice to the seller for immediate possession of the home. If the buyer delivers a three-day cure notice for possession to the seller, and the seller does not move out after three days, the buyer then is entitled to file an eviction lawsuit for possession of the home, damages, attorneys’ fees, and court costs.

  Note: A buyer needs to be forceful if a seller will not move out. The seller has already broken one promise, i.e., the promise in the purchase contract to move out on the day of close of escrow, why should a buyer believe the seller’s second promise to move out on a later date?