Buyers' access, lease termination
Answers to real estate questions as appearing
in the Houston Chronicle
By george stephens, CRB, AND Charles J. "Chuck" Jacobus, JD
Dear George: Can a doctor write a letter that allows a tenant to break his lease with an apartment complex?
Answer: Did the apartment complex cause the health problem? If not, no deal. A tenant can't walk away from a lease because he gets ill. Many apartment complexes use the Texas Apartment Association Apartment Lease Contract. Paragraph 22 addresses situations in which the tenant is released from the contract; generally, health is not an acceptable reason.
Dear George: We purchased a house in February 2007 and recently discovered the seller's disclosure was completed and dated by the sellers in August 2006. Was this proper, or should this form have been completed just before closing?
Answer: The answer depends upon whether anything substantive changed between the date the Seller's Disclosure Notice was filled out and when it was presented to you. If nothing changed, the notice technically doesn't need to be changed. However, a buyer can always ask for it to be updated. If there are no changes, the seller can just change the date.
Dear George: A buyer has signed a contract to purchase my home, but we don't have a closing date yet. The house is currently vacant, and the buyer's agent gave him the code to the lockbox. Now, the buyer is there almost every day, making repairs and treating the place as if he owns it. I had my REALTOR® remove the lockbox; is it common practice for the buyer to be given such access? What are my rights as a seller?
Answer: Paragraph 7A of the contract allows the buyer access at reasonable times. The issue here is whether the access is reasonable. Any seller should be very careful about letting a buyer access for repairs prior to closing. What if the the buyer does a lousy job and then terminates the contract? The buyer walks, and you are left with a defective repair. Possession is not delivered until closing, unless you negotiated a buyer's temporary lease, which was not done here.
E-mail your question to "Ask George & Chuck" or fax it to 281/596-7591. The answers to questions in this column do not contain legal advice. If you wish to obtain legal advice, you should consult your own attorney.
George Stephens, CRB, is the broker of ERA Stephens Properties. He is licensed as a mortgage broker in Texas and a real estate broker in Texas, Georgia, and Massachusetts.
Charles J. Jacobus, JD, is board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Residential and Commercial Real Estate Law, and the author of Texas Real Estate Law and Texas Real Estate, both published by Thomson Publishing. He also teaches at Champions School of Real Estate and Houston Community College, and is an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center.
George and Chuck are co-authors of Texas
Real Estate Brokerage and Law of Agency published by Thomson Publishing.
