Bought House, Contents Left, Are They Mine?
I will be closing on a house tomorrow with immediate occupancy to me. There are no tenants involved. The homeowner still has all of their furniture in the house. If after closing possession is given to me and I get the keys, do the contents of the house become mine? In the purchase agreement she is responsible for $100/day after closing if she needs to rent the house from me.
Thank you,
Andrew
[ Edited by hyundai on Date 06/23/2004 ][ Edited by hyundai on Date 06/23/2004 ]
What does your RE Purchase and Sale Contract say? Our standard RE P&S contract states that items left after closing are owned by the new owner. Is the owner going to present the keys? If so, they are stating that the items left are yours.
The purchase contract does not state anything about anything other than the appliances.
Thank you,
Andrew
your leverage comes prior to the exchange of money and keys, not after. postpone for a day or two and have her vacate the property. otherwise, if she doesn't go, you've got to evict her.
On a practical level it might not be much of an issue.
Have an amendment signed by all parties at the close indicating that any property left behind will be removed for a small change which the seller agrees to pay. That the items have no value and will be disposed of at the discretion of the buyer. Charing them might motivate them to get it out or you at least have some cash to rent a dumpster.
Otherwise the items could be seen as belonging to the prior resident and fall under the tenancy laws. If someone fails to move after selling they get evicted. If they leave their stuff when evicted the owner has to store the items and provide notice, etc. Not the same in all states but you might find that you have to spend money to protect the items until a certain amount of time has passed and other steps taken.
I have not had your experience but I have had tenants leave things behind. The seller becomes a tenant if they remain once they sell. Normally the earnest money agreement will address this so check the documents again.
John
[addsig]