Agreement: When the Seller Withdraws
A landlord and his tenant sign a preliminary sales agreement for the apartment covered by the lease, subject to the condition precedent that a bank loan be obtained no later than August 14, 2015. On February 13, 2014, contrary to all expectations, the landlord served the tenant with a notice to vacate for the purpose of selling the property. Dissatisfied, the tenant then filed a lawsuit seeking the rescission of the sale due to the landlord’s fault, the return of the earnest money, and payment of damages. The judges granted his requests. The landlord appealed. To no avail. The Court of Cassation held that the judges were correct in concluding—after noting that the notice to sell granted the buyer a shorter timeframe to complete the sale—that the issuance of this notice demonstrated the seller’s unequivocal intent to terminate the contractual relationship and thus to renounce the transfer of ownership pursuant to the preliminary sales agreement. > The court ruling
