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I am the seller of a townhouse in Paranaque worth 1.8M. We have brokers. The buyers plan to apply for a loan for the payment. The buyers decided to buy our property around last week of May.
Status of the selling activity: (1) 19 July the Buyers paid 2nd half of the agreed 100k earnest money/down so we did not show the property to other buyers. They paid the first half at the beginning of July. (2) Both parties already signed Contract to Sell. (3) As a parallel activity, the buyers applied for a loan in Security Bank. The house was appraised and yesterday the bank declared that the loanable amount is P1,018,000 only since the buyers still have other outstanding real property loans. (4) The buyer then advised the brokers to hold any further paper processing since they will evaluate their situation. From our previous discussions, the sellers said that if the loanable amount falls below 1.3M, they would have a hard time paying.
We have receipts of the earnest money, however it is not in my hands right now. The CTS is currently with the broker, yet to give a notarized copy to us.
Now my questions are:
(1) I do not remember reading a forfeiture clause of the earnest money receipt that was prepared by the broker. Is the earnest money still understood to be forfeited in case of cancellation or default by buyer?
(2) If yes to the above, how long are we as the sellers allowed to wait for the buyers to decide on this before we say that the earnest money will be forfeited because of their default?
(3) If no to the above, kindly suggest a way forward. Can we (seller) say to the buyer that we will pay the earnest money to them once we sell the property to some other buyer.
(4) What about liquidated damages of the seller? We waited for nothing for over a month.
Status of the selling activity: (1) 19 July the Buyers paid 2nd half of the agreed 100k earnest money/down so we did not show the property to other buyers. They paid the first half at the beginning of July. (2) Both parties already signed Contract to Sell. (3) As a parallel activity, the buyers applied for a loan in Security Bank. The house was appraised and yesterday the bank declared that the loanable amount is P1,018,000 only since the buyers still have other outstanding real property loans. (4) The buyer then advised the brokers to hold any further paper processing since they will evaluate their situation. From our previous discussions, the sellers said that if the loanable amount falls below 1.3M, they would have a hard time paying.
We have receipts of the earnest money, however it is not in my hands right now. The CTS is currently with the broker, yet to give a notarized copy to us.
Now my questions are:
(1) I do not remember reading a forfeiture clause of the earnest money receipt that was prepared by the broker. Is the earnest money still understood to be forfeited in case of cancellation or default by buyer?
(2) If yes to the above, how long are we as the sellers allowed to wait for the buyers to decide on this before we say that the earnest money will be forfeited because of their default?
(3) If no to the above, kindly suggest a way forward. Can we (seller) say to the buyer that we will pay the earnest money to them once we sell the property to some other buyer.
(4) What about liquidated damages of the seller? We waited for nothing for over a month.
