How to Safely Release Contingencies

When you write contingencies into a purchase contract, typically you will find standard verbiage on how to release contingencies.

Back in the old days, like when Pat Benatar hit the Top 40 singing "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," contract contingencies were released by including language that read, "Buyer's deposit of funds in escrow shall be deemed approval." This meant that the buyer could pretty much cancel the contract all the way up to the day it closed.

Since then, contract verbiage has been rewritten and tightened to the point that often buyers have 10 days or less to remove contingencies. In California, default verbiage gives buyers 17 days, but agents who don't want their seller's property off the market for more than two weeks might shorten that period in the counter offer.

Contingencies can cover a wide range of items, from appraisal to financing to inspections. Sometimes, sellers will include a contingency in the contract such as giving the sellers the right to find a suitable replacement home within a certain time frame. If a contingency is not released by its termination date, most often contingencies will stay in place. However, there are ways to force a buyer or a seller to release contingencies or otherwise forfeit the transaction . . . read more about Releasing Contingencies.

More Articles by Elizabeth Weintraub, click below:

• Removing Contingency to Sell Buyer's Home
  
• Contingent on Selling Buyer's Home
  
• Writing Contract Contingencies

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