Seller rufuses to allow home inspection

What is the name of your state? PA

I have a signed buyers contract that the seller has signed. We made our offer contingent on a home inspection. We must submit to him, the home inspection report within ten days of the execution of the agreement. The agreement was signed 4/7/03 and inspection was scheduled 4/13/03. He called the realtor on 4/13/03, 2 hours prior to the inspection and told her that we were not allowd to come to the house due to a plumbing problem and that he would have to have a plumber do the repair. I asked that we do our inspection anyway and verify the repair later in the week. He again refused. The realtor tried to go to the house to see the problem and was unable to gain access with the lock box, the door was blocked with something. We have reason to believe that another buyer has contacted him directly with a better offer and he is now trying to get out of our contract. What can we do? Can we force him to honor our contract?
Thank you in advance for your help.

[BrokerRE]

Yes you can, but it's not worth it. It's costly and lengthy and more trouble than what you're fighting for.

My advice would be to cut and run. Go find another home. Give him an unsatisfactory inspection report based on no access to the home.

[HomeGuru]

Either terminate the contract due to default by the Seller in not providing access for the inspection or talk to an attorney about invoking specific performance.

I personally know someone who signed a contract to buy a house and then the sellers tried to back out of the deal. It seemed easy enough at the time to force them to honor the contact. It took over two years and over sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) on the buyers part to get the house. The sales contract said that whoever lost would have to pay all parties legal fees, the judge said, no. Each party had to pay their own legal fees. This was in CA and happened in the last five years. So ask yourself if it is worth it. This could be what you are in for.

[HomeGuru]

[quote]Originally posted by janec
[b]I personally know someone who signed a contract to buy a house and then the sellers tried to back out of the deal. It seemed easy enough at the time to force them to honor the contact. It took over two years and over sixty thousand dollars ($60,000) on the buyers part to get the house. The sales contract said that whoever lost would have to pay all parties legal fees, the judge said, no. Each party had to pay their own legal fees. This was in CA and happened in the last five years. So ask yourself if it is worth it. This could be what you are in for.

**A: good story and thanks for sharing. By the way, how much was the purchase price of the property?

Around $180,000.00 when it all began. The house is near Pasadena, CA. I asked why he continued to pursue it after the initial $10,000.00 retainer was used up and he explained that he thought he would have to pay attorney's fees for both parties if he quit, so it continued.

[HomeGuru]

Originally posted by janec
Around $180,000.00 when it all began. The house is near Pasadena, CA. I asked why he continued to pursue it after the initial $10,000.00 retainer was used up and he explained that he thought he would have to pay attorney's fees for both parties if he quit, so it continued.

**A: wow, that was an expensive house.

Yes it was. The sellers also failed to maintain the home during the two year legal battle so there have been a lot of expensive repairs. I guess the moral of the story is you may be right in the law but the ultimate outcome may not be worth the price you have to pay to have a judge say so.

[HomeGuru]

That's correct.