davis_square | Real Estate purchase deposit return dilemma. (Reply)

This has us pretty upset, so wondering if someone has expertise or advice on this kind of thing... We rent in Davis and back in May we had an offer accepted on a condo in the area and made a $1k standard deposit, which was accepted. We then proceeded with the inspection which uncovered significant issues with the unit, and rather than negotiate further we backed out based on the inspection. The seller's accepted our backing out based on the items we found.

The problem is we can't get our deposit back from the seller's agent, because they claim there was paint damage done while removing an electrical panel during the inspection. And they refuse to contact our inspector about it or provide any evidence.

The inspector we used has been in business 30+ years and is recommended by a lot of our friends. He is serious, and really tries to inform the buyer, without drama, of all the issues. During the inspection the seller's agent began following the inspector around trying to carry on a continuous conversation and distracting him. Our inspector finally asked that he be allowed to complete the inspection without distraction, and this evidently really made the seller's agent angry, since he could not try to influence the inspector. It was a husband and wife seller's agent team, where the wife had the listing, but the husband was at the inspection, and since he officially wasn't the listing agent he could also actually avoid answering any questions about the property.(I think this the real problem here is the husband got upset he couldn't steer the inspector his way, and now his wife, the listing agent who was not even there is stonewalling).

After they released us from the purchase offer we then receive a claim of $165 for paint damage. The condo was in good shape inside, but had a lot of paint chip issues throughout (we took photos). I was with the inspector, and watched him remove a few screws, take down the panel, and put it back. The panel was on a painted wall, but he did nothing more than remove it for inspection. They insist they take the money out of our escrow deposit, and won't release it otherwise.

I am certain if there was damage, and they had a photo or something that our inspector would pay for it. But they refuse to contact him, or provide a photo, and are holding our escrow hostage, proposing they take the damage out of the $1k. Our real estate attorney has said they cannot do that, and has written the seller's agents several letters to no avail.

At this point it just seems like the seller's are basically taking their personal issue out on everyone and wasting the sellers and our time to make a point. I am certain that if there is a damage claim, and if the seller just talked with us directly or even better with our inspector this could be resolved in 5 minutes. The condo has sold and closed some time ago as well.

I think everyone knows there is an element of "well why not just pay it an get it over with?" Of course we can do that, but it's hard to do that when a claim is just made up, with no evidence, and people are taking advantage of a situation. And my sense is it's not even really the seller driving this but his agents.

I would be interested in, particularly from another agent perhaps:
- if anyone knows if they can really hold our escrow deposit indefinitely?
- is there anything else we can do to get our deposit back?

Thanks!