Seller wants to leave early during rent back

6 years ago

We signed a contract 6 weeks ago with the seller. As part of accepting our offer, they requested a 31 day rent back period. The contract we signed stipulated that they would occupy the property for 31 days after close and pay PITI for the full 31 days. Now, 2 days before close, they inform us they actually only need 9 days and that they will be moving out then. They don't want to pay for the full 31 days.
At this point, I've scheduled my move out/in plans for a month from now. I've budgeted for the money I was to receive from the rent back and my current lease doesn't expire for another 5 weeks. The sellers are saying that they saw this rent back as an optional safety net for them and not something they would be forced to use for the whole amount of time. I saw this as a "set in stone" time frame and based my move out date and budget around this.
Should I enforce this part of the contract? Ultimately, they can move out at any point during the 31 days if they choose, however, I still need to be paid the PITI we agreed upon. Has anyone seen this scenario play out before?

Featured Answer

ncrealestateguy

6 years ago

Here, any amount of rent back time over 7 days should use a standard rental lease agreement. If this is the case in your situation, then they owe you the money no matter when they vacate.

What does your lease back paperwork stipulate?

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Comments (9)

Sammy
6 years ago
If they signed a contract, they signed a contract, period.
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karateally
Original Author
6 years ago
@ncrealestateguy right now we just have the signed contract of sale with the post settlement occupancy addendum (paragraph) with the seller signature. Our agent sent them the Post settlement Occupancy Addendum form a few days ago (which is basically a more detailed version of the paragraph that is in our contract) stating who is responsible for what and that the agreement in no way creates a landlord/tenant relationship. They have yet to sign that more detailed form but we have their signature/initials on the paragraph in the sale contract.
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Anglophilia
6 years ago
Then they may well be able to do as they please. It should have been part of the sales contract.
Denita
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
It is similar in my area, we would have the addendum for post-closing and then a lease. The lease component is critical to the lease back and has to be executed timely. Without a signed lease, there is no lease back. By the way, even if it's only 9 days, have a lease signed. Escrow for the rental money's including a sec deposit. More accurately, you get the rental proceeds at closing including the security deposit. Make sure there is a penalty if the seller hasn't vacated by the agreed upon date and make the rental due after that date a huge amount to discourage holding over.
ncrealestateguy
6 years ago
Yup, should have used a rental lease for the protection of both parties.
CLC
6 years ago
That is really crappy of them to do that to you; I am sorry. Maybe you should suggest no rent back at all, and they need to be out at closing. I bet it will be more expensive for them to deal with that headache than it would be for them to pay for 3 weeks that they don't "need" anymore.
homechef59
6 years ago
Your goal is to get them out of the house as fast as possible with as little drama as possible. Most people want the house at possession. You have been nice enough to allow them the other option. You may have to adjust your budget. You could suggest the compromise of half a months possession. It will give you time to clean up and paint before you move in. It will give you a more ordered move, too. It's not the worst thing in the world to happen.
worthy
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Look at it this way: it's much, much less of a problem than if they refused to leave at the end of the month. Here, it would take about six months to evict, if you were lucky.

Crappy behaviour. But that's people.