Can my DD sue for the land?

[Oldcountryboy]

My daughter was in the process of buying a couple of acres of land with a old rotten house on it from her mom's step sister. She went through the process of applying for a loan and finally was approved and issued a check. My daughter notified her mom's step sister that she has the money and she's ready to make the transaction. The step sister said to give her a couple of days to find the abstract as she's misplaced it somewhere. Then today she tells my daughter that she's sold the property to someone else who offered her more money.

My daughter is deeply hurt as she wanted it real bad since it use to be her Grandpa's place. Plus the fact that she is now holding a big loan in her checking account and is not sure if the bank will take it back. Afraid she might have to make payment's on something she doesn't own.

Is there anyway my daughter could sue her step aunt for the property after going through all this trouble? She was really looking forward in raising a big garden and a few pigs on the place.

[tinknal]

Probably not. The bank should take the money back, might be a penalty (she could possibly sue for that). Otherwise she could find another place to use the loan on.

[oneokie]

Did your daughter have a written contract with the step aunt? If not, no.

[NamasteMama]

She could sue for breach of contract. Maybe

[GoldenCityMuse]

Probably not worth the aggravation and all the family drama that will no doubt crop up.

Very sad for DD.

[L.A.]

All real estate transactions must be in writing or the courts don't recognize them.

Shame how people will trade honor for a dollar.

[MO_cows]

If there is a penalty for paying the loan off early, or costs associated with getting the loan, she should get those back and if the aunt won't make it right, use small claims court.

[rambler]

If one has an earnest contract, one can persue it.

Anyone can sue anyone for anything, but it robably ain't worthtrying if she doesn't have an earnest contract signed. That's where both parties agree to the transaction for the amount, pending details like loan approval.

Family just sucks soimetimes.

--->Paul

[||Downhome||]

its called a purchase agreement.
Verbal is a hard sell in court , signed contracts are still iffy but a lot more solid.

[springvalley]

I would tell Auntie and the other buyer that you will be taking this to court. The other buyer may back out then, and Auntie may sell to you. It is a gamble, if you didn`t have a written agrement. But just telling them you are willing to take it to court might change their plans. I say go for it, it just isn`t right. Good Luck. > Marc

[Common Tator]

I'm a little confused about how your daughter acquired a loan without escrow. Was it an unsecured loan? Usually, there is a deed of trust, and the property secures the loan. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_d...real_estate%29

Did your daughter have anything in writing? Had she made any kind of down payment or earnest money agreement?

[Jonathan]

If there was no written contract I can't imagine that your daughter is going to have a good chance of winning if this goes to court. Its not illegal for a seller to change his/her mind. I wouldn't think that the attorney fees would be worth the chance that she might win.

As for the bank loan, if it is a no penalty loan she can just take the money she has and pay the loan off. She would still be out any closing costs if there were any, but unless she has spent some of the money already she should be able to easily pay off the balance in full. The only way she would have to "...make payment's on something she doesn't own" is if she has already spent the money and doesn't have it to pay on the loan, in which case she'd be paying payments on whatever she spent the money on, not something she doesn't own.

[Yvonne's hubby]

Can she sue? Yep, anyone with the price of filing fees can sue anyone for anything. Can she win her case? Thats a whole nuther thing. In most real estate cases a judge will not hear the case if there is not a written contract of some form. This is not carved in stone however and if DD has enough unwritten evidence to support a claim that there was a verbal contract she may be able to get it into court. If so, she may even be able to get the judge to rule in her favor. Its going to be a real stink in the family no matter how she comes out though. I would do my best to handle it without involving the courts if I could.

[Karen]

If there was no contract, the owner can do whatever they wish -- including selling it to someone else.

[Macybaby]

Verbal contacts with Real Estate are non-binding. In many other cases they can be, but not in this.

So without a written contract, there is NOTHING she can do. This is one area people get messed up on because a handshake can be binding in most cases.

Now, she might be able do sue for damages, such as she relied of verbal info, but she would have to prove damage. Would not be able to force the sale of the land to her though. In this case, probably not worth doing.

[TnAndy]

Originally Posted by Common Tator

I'm a little confused about how your daughter acquired a loan without escrow. Was it an unsecured loan? Usually, there is a deed of trust, and the property secures the loan. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_d...real_estate%29

Did your daughter have anything in writing? Had she made any kind of down payment or earnest money agreement?

My thoughts too. Must have been a pretty small amount of money for the bank to simply hand it to the daughter with no security.....otherwise, there would have been a closing, at which time the bank would have handed the check to the seller.....all the buyer gets is to sign a note and deed of trust....and the payment schedule !

Have the daughter pay the bank back now, before any interest racks up, and move on.....it ain't worth suing over a little amount.

And NEXT time, get it in writing, put a deposit down, and THEN she will have a case.

[edcopp]

You never know what you or some other person can get from the bank, and often you can't tell by looking. I know several people who look "pennyless" and can get a million $ by making a phone call.

As for suing, anyone can sue anybody for anything, real or not.

In this case I would most likely sue in small claims court (it's cheap) for, actual costs and inconvenience, That would whatever tha max amount is in small claims court. I would make sure that it got into the paper so that all would know that the aunt is a back stabber. Chances are that everybody already knows anyway.

[Nevada]

Originally Posted by Common Tator

I'm a little confused about how your daughter acquired a loan without escrow. Was it an unsecured loan? Usually, there is a deed of trust, and the property secures the loan. You can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trust_d...real_estate%29

Evidently it was an unsecured loan.

[TnAndy]

Not the way I took it from this:

Originally Posted by Oldcountryboy

Plus the fact that she is now holding a big loan in her checking account and is not sure if the bank will take it back. Afraid she might have to make payment's on something she doesn't own.

[DryHeat]

There might be some details missing here, too. Is the house "rotten" as in, part of roof caved in, no water or electricity, windows all busted, termites working away, places where you step and your foot goes through the floor? Or something that would be liveable for many more years while constructing a new place on the property, worth $25K with $10K materials and repair labor? Is the basic location particularly good so somebody would really want to build a new place there? Did the daughter low-ball the value and play on aunt's sympathy with the offer $2500 or $5000 saying it wasn't worth anything but sentiment and garden space but the new buyer agree to $20,000 due to upside that's not mentioned? If the new price was double or triple the relative's offer, my sympathies might be more with the aunt. If the aunt went shopping it around to make another $500, and without letting the niece make a counter-offer, well, it's time to do some serious shunning for any family gatherings and so on.

Or had the aunt been trying to sell without success for some time, eagerly opening the discussion with the niece, and clearly agreeing to the price while knowing the market value pretty well? Agreed though, lawsuits are expensive and there'd need to be real damages. If there's actual loss on the bank loan payback, that amount could be asked for in small claims court perhaps along with some modest additional for time, travel, stress. Dunno if small claims will consider punitive damages. My experience has been that *good* lawyers try to keep clients out of court. Do you want major family drama and a lot more stress and wasted time? If so, go for it in small claims.