Seller drags feet on repairs

We're supposed to close on a house on 10/15/99. During the inspection, some wood rot damage was discovered which must be corrected before our mortgage lender will close. The repair of this damage is contractually the seller's responsibility.

After our contract was signed, the seller came to us asking if the closing could be delayed until the end of the month. We said no, citing that we had a lease to rent out our current home, and we had to move out on the weekend of 10/15/99 in order to honor THAT contract.

The closing week has now arrived and the seller still has not repaired the damage. It looks like she's dragging her feet in order to force the delay of the closing.

If we don't close by 10/18/99, then we lose our interest rate lock, and the mortgage commitment. This will mean that we threw away the money for the rate lock we paid to our lender, our payments will be $15-$30 higher every month, temporary housing will have to be obtained for our family of five, and storage costs will be incurred.

Our agent says we really have no recourse if she doesn't complete the repairs on time, other than backing out of the sale. We don't want to do that... we want the house, we just want it on the date we agreed to buy it!

Do you have any suggestions? Any info would be helpful at this point.

Yes. next time have a lawyer prepare the contract of purchase and put in a penalty clause.

Now maybe you'd take the contract to a lawyer and see if she has any angles -- it all depends on the words in the purchase agreement. One free suggestion. Why not try to do the repairs yourself right away, and deduct the cost from the closing payments. That will satisfy the lender, your tenants and you. You're over a barrel.