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Cancelling apartment sales agreement
Hi,
I signed a sales agreement for an apartment which includes the private cave. Now the notary informs me that the cave cannot be sold together with the apartment.
The cave and the private parking in front must be sold together (and the owner has already sold the parking).
Now the notary told me I can renounce the sell without issues because the sales agreement will not be respected, but there might be a chance that the other side will sue.
What could they sue for? Has anybody had the same or a similar experience?
Thanks
Vincent
From what you are describing, the sale is going to fall through because the other party has withheld information from you. Therefore, they should be paying you 10% of the purchase price to breach the contract.
The alternative is to force them to cancel the sale of the parking space.
You're the one who should be suing - they sold your parking space illegally.
If what you have signed is the "compromis de vente" and it covers the "cave" under the clause "description du bien", there could be an obligation on the seller to include it in the sale.
You could try asking the notary if you can use Article 1610 of the Civil Code to force the sale. Alternatively, you could have a claim for damages which would cover the legal fees etc you have paid in connection with the purchase.
I wonder if your notary is trying to cover up for his own mistake? He should have checked the title deeds and the "cadastre" to ensure that the seller was entitled to sell what was described in the contract.
It does sound as if both notaries made mistakes. The notary of the seller should not have produced sales documents which allowed the sale of the parking space to take place without the cave being included since this was clearly contrary to the regulations governing the property. Your notary should have noticed much more quickly, before the compromis was signed, that the seller didn't have the rights to sell what was included in that document.
I would walk away from the sale making it clear that want to paid the 10% penalty for non-performance on the part of the seller. It isn't just to compensate you for the legal fees you have incurred but the time and cost involved in having to search for another available and suitable apartment.
The situation would be different if the seller is able to cancel the sale of the parking space (or buy it back, doubtless at a premium price), because then you would be able to proceed to the acte. You would probably still be due some compensation because the process has extended beyond four months but the inclusion of the parking space within the originally agreed sale price would doubtless be adequate for this.
The real fault here lies with the seller because he/she sold something that they weren't entitled to sell, compounded by a degree of negligence on the part of both notaries.
