SaRo2000
2017-09-26 18:18:46
- #1
Hello everyone,
We bought, or rather wanted to buy, a plot of land in September last year. At that time, it was recorded that the seller's lawyer, due to an existing internal relationship between the remaining creditors, would be the sole creditor and that the seller irrevocably assigns the purchase amount to this lawyer upon handing over a copy of the contract.
We thought it didn’t matter to us what the seller ultimately does with the amount, as long as we receive the cancellation approvals (a MUST factor). The contract-reviewing lawyer agreed with this view.
As some of you might suspect now, nothing came of it. We set deadlines, etc. Despite the statement about the existing internal relationship, we contacted the second creditor (a bank), which informed us that although the lawyer wanted to assume the bank’s mortgage, this never happened for various reasons!
As a last resort, we requested a meeting with the notary and the seller to try to resolve things amicably. After much back and forth, I suggested that in the worst case we might have to reverse the purchase contract. The notary immediately blocked that. It would not be possible because the money amount in the notary’s escrow account (the purchase sum we transferred) could not be paid out to us since the seller had "irrevocably" assigned this amount to his lawyer.
Other points were also mentioned, and a solution is expected from the seller’s side by Thursday.
What interests us now or what we would like to know:
- Should the notary have checked when drafting the contract whether this internal relationship between the creditors exists?
- Should the notary have pointed out to us that the assignment of the purchase sum by the seller makes a reversal almost impossible?
- Has the notary violated a duty or even broken a law?
I know I can’t expect legal advice, but maybe someone is familiar with such matters or maybe a notary is even present.
With hopeful regards,
SaRo
We bought, or rather wanted to buy, a plot of land in September last year. At that time, it was recorded that the seller's lawyer, due to an existing internal relationship between the remaining creditors, would be the sole creditor and that the seller irrevocably assigns the purchase amount to this lawyer upon handing over a copy of the contract.
We thought it didn’t matter to us what the seller ultimately does with the amount, as long as we receive the cancellation approvals (a MUST factor). The contract-reviewing lawyer agreed with this view.
As some of you might suspect now, nothing came of it. We set deadlines, etc. Despite the statement about the existing internal relationship, we contacted the second creditor (a bank), which informed us that although the lawyer wanted to assume the bank’s mortgage, this never happened for various reasons!
As a last resort, we requested a meeting with the notary and the seller to try to resolve things amicably. After much back and forth, I suggested that in the worst case we might have to reverse the purchase contract. The notary immediately blocked that. It would not be possible because the money amount in the notary’s escrow account (the purchase sum we transferred) could not be paid out to us since the seller had "irrevocably" assigned this amount to his lawyer.
Other points were also mentioned, and a solution is expected from the seller’s side by Thursday.
What interests us now or what we would like to know:
- Should the notary have checked when drafting the contract whether this internal relationship between the creditors exists?
- Should the notary have pointed out to us that the assignment of the purchase sum by the seller makes a reversal almost impossible?
- Has the notary violated a duty or even broken a law?
I know I can’t expect legal advice, but maybe someone is familiar with such matters or maybe a notary is even present.
With hopeful regards,
SaRo