We recently had an offer accepted on a house. Both parties signed the contract. Our lawyer signed off on the contract. Their lawyer put a contingency that they find suitable housing. This was not mentioned at the time they accepted the offer. Upon the sellers accepting our offer, we listed and sold our house. We may now be homeless. Do we have any legal rights?

It may depend on the State where the transaction took place. Essentially, your lawyer did a horrible job in not catching that part of the contract. The fact that this is a Huge consideration I can't imagine why you didn't see this either. Sorry, but who signs a contract / agreement of this magnitude without reading it? If you gave absolute power-of-attorney (real estate) to the attorney and you didn't sign anything - then he screwed you. Most professionals in real estate carry an insurance policy regarding Error & Omissions. I would confront him / her and go from there. If no satisfactory resolution is provided by this lawyer - it's lawsuit time!
This is inexcusable!

So you listed and sold your house before the contract for the house you are buying was signed? I don't think you have much recourse here, but ask your lawyer.

We are in NY. We signed the contract and signed off on the home inspection on the new house and then listed our house the next day. The sellers and our lawyer also signed the contract on the new house. It just had to go through the sellers lawyer. He made the change after everyone else had signed. And we heard back 4 days later - counting the weekend - that there was now a contingency on the sellers finding suitable housing. Our house sold within 5 days of being on the market.

IF that is not in the contract the day you signed it its's non-bonding, changes after signing must be agreed to by both parties.

Do you have a copy of what you sign first??

Yes, we have a copy of the signed contract

Ok, tell the attorney that you did not agree to the changes and will hold the other party to the contract you signed.

So, when is your settlement day? If they do settled when contracted to do so,you can file for breach in the contract.

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Originally Posted by mr.yet

Ok, tell the attorney that you did not agree to the changes and will hold the other party to the contract you signed.

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Indeed you should talk to your attorney. However, while I do not know NY law, I would bet that as in most states both the buyers and sellers have several days after the initial signing of a real estate contract to have it reviewed by an attorney, and the contract doesn't become binding until after that period has expired. Ask your attorney if the delay by the seller's attorney exceeded the time limit. Please keep us posted as what your attorney says.

The contract you signed is binding on you both. If you can prove the sellers lawyer altered it afterwards you can [a] accept and standby the original contract and refuse to recognize and accept the altered / amended contract [b] you can ask for this illegally amended contract to be rescinded and set aside [3] you can accuse the Lawyer of fraud and seek to have him disbarred [4] you can sue the seller for non-performance and compensation.

Instructions: You must, MUST, keep a diary, every letter, every phone call and every problem caused goes in it. You need to itemise your expenses and unforseen costs.

You need to tell the vendor their Lawyer was their Legal Agent, and they are responsible to you for your costs and compensation. They in turn can recover these from him. You need to 2nd guess what he's going to bounce back with, my guess is "They told you, you nodded, said it was okay, and give your consent to the contract being amended. I'm hoping you do have the original and can prove what you say.

Legal B - you seem to be answering a different question than the one posed by PerplexedNYS. The OP is the seller here, not the buyer. And in New York, both parties have 3 business days after signing a real estate purchase agreement to have it reviewed by their attorneys and amendments proposed. There is no fraud or illegality hinted at here - why do you think there was? When the buyer's attorney amended the contract (within those 3 business days) the seller's options are (1) accept the change and go forward with the sale, (2) reject the change, in which case the sale falls through, or (3) negotiate.

Reply to ebaines:

It matters not whether they are a buyer or seller, the answer is correct, I was not to know about the 3 day NY clause. Being 3000 miles away might explain why. In my Jurisdiction Lawyers or Agents cannot normally interefere with a written contract, they might get the parties in to negotiate an amendment, but A OR B CAN object. Our posts agree on everything except the 3 day NY clause.

Hi, I signed a contract with All star Realty in Staten Island NY on 7-16, and I don't want to do business with them. Contract I signed states if I sell my home within 60 they aren't entitled to any commissin, I asked for a better faxed copy on 8-8 and they changed that date to 30 days. They illigally altered the contract after it was signed. Im not happy with them due to the following reasons: I cannot work with an agency that changes contracts after I have signed it. Manager was rude on the phone and disconnected the call. I've had to call numerous times to make changes on my listing. Ime and effort hasn't been applied in representing my home and the numerous calls and emails to make changes which weren't done on a timely manner and lack of communication with your office is not the way to treat potential clients. They also want to charge me $130 dollars fee for listing my house on MLS but they can't supply me with a legal receipt of this charge.

Can I cancell this contract since it hasent been 30 days?

The original signed contract is what holds. Do you have a copy of the version that says you have 60 days to sell without having to pay commission, with signatures?