Buying and selling homes is a basic activity that characterizes much of the resale market in the real estate industry. It is a basic activity and takes place across almost every city and area in the country. However, there is more to selling a house than just finding a buyer as most sellers have found out the hard way in the past. Owners of property face huge problems in finding the right kind of buyers who are willing to pay their desired prices. This is one of the biggest problems faced by home and property owners these days and has often led to immense market speculation and stoppage of the sale altogether. Often, buyers do not want to match the price quoted by the property owner and this can create a big dilemma. Here’s how to sell your house and bring down your expected losses at the same time.
Let us take an example which will make things clearer. Let us assume a property owner wishes to sell his second home, an investment made some time back. This individual may be expecting a smooth transaction, especially if the buyer is from the same background or the same profession. This may create a level of comfort for the seller and may lead to temporary finalization of the deal. However, deals like these seem too good to be true and this is proved when the balance amount is not paid up by the buyer even after the passage of a few months post property registration. This is one situation that many sellers face and it is situations like these that create greater worries and anxiety.
Once, the buyer is confronted, he/she confesses towards an inability to find a proper bank loan owing to bad credit histories and multiple other factors. This leads the buyer to plead and bargain for a price that is considerably lower. The buyer then finalizes his intentions to go ahead with this investment only if there is a sizeable discount. Most sellers will then have no other option but to agree to demands like these owing to the legal formalities and other problems involved otherwise. Finding other buyers would anyway be difficult in case of prior registration of the property and legal formalities are time consuming to say the least. In this case, this buyer and buyers like these end up getting discounts to the tune of fifteen or even twenty percent on the overall purchase price and even this amount is repaid to the seller in installments and with delays at times.
Most of us do not have any idea of the legal aid that can be sought in such cases or the benefits of the law that sellers are entitled to. According to experts in the property market, the property can be taken over once again by the seller even after it is registered in the name of another buyer. This can also be sold again after a few formalities are completed. The possession factor is vital in this case. In case of completion of the registration procedure and payment of the margin amount, the whole process of sale is never deemed to be complete until the buyer is given final possession. This is firmly seconded by high court advocate Rajan Hiranandani and he firmly swears by the right of the seller in this regard. The agreement can be cancelled by the seller and the seller can also get the property sold to a different buyer. This can be done as long as there is any breach of the purchase agreement clauses on part of the property buyer.
You need to be alert and watchful while finalizing your agreement of sale. According to market experts, this agreement should be drafted carefully with regard to including even the littlest detail and point, however minor it may seem. There should be proper terms and conditions which both parties have to abide by and there should be the presence of particular termination clauses which can be invoked by both parties involved in the agreement. The margin money can often be forfeited by the seller if this is mentioned in the purchase agreement in order to save on time according to Hiranandani and other legal experts.
A deed of cancellation has to be drafted by both parties involved in the deal on a stamp paper worth INR 100 and this should firmly highlight the closure of the earlier agreement of purchase along with the reasons and breaches involved in the same. This document should have registration and this is possible with the payment of a nominal sum of money as per Vinod Sampat, advocate and the Cooperative Housing Societies Residents and Users Associates president. The maximum amount for registration of the deed of cancellation stands at INR 30, 000. The payment amount should never be more than this and you should keep this in mind as well. If there is a dispute of sorts, the seller can always resort to legal action or the court which will then call forth both parties involved in the deal.
The court hears both parties and upon registration of the deed of cancellation, the property can be sold off to another buyer according to Sampat. This is the best course of action in such circumstances. Buyers should look to get their bank loans approved and sanctioned before opting for property registration. However, banks are known to leave buyers in the lurch at the very last minute. If there is such a situation, the buyer can still rectify the situation by persuading the seller to include a clause in the purchase agreement beforehand. This will pertain to the fact that the margin amount will not be forfeited totally as per Goenka Law Associates high court advocate Ravi Goenka. A mutually agreed amount or figure can be agreed upon, with the deduction of a minor percentage by the seller. The buyer should be able to get back the remainder.