Video Summary
Are you required to go to court if you breach a real estate contract? No. The standard contract that is used has been approved by the Florida Bar and the Board of Realtors, and if there’s a dispute over the deposit, it provides that the parties are to go to mediation. I’ve found in my practice that usually doesn’t work when the parties aren’t in agreement, and usually the realtors try and negotiate a settlement as far as the deposit’s concerned, where they split the deposit, and each party gets a portion of it. If that doesn’t happen and the parties can’t agree, then either party is in a position to file. Go to small claims court if the deposit’s less than $8,000 and sue to recover their deposit one way or the other. If the buyer wants to force the seller to sell him the property, well then the buyer must file an action in small file, an action for specific performance in order to require the seller to sell them the property. If it’s an escrow dispute and they can’t decide who’s to receive the deposit, if the deposit is held by a realtor, they can send an opinion or ask the Florida Board of Realtors to give them opinion as to who they should disperse it to. If the deposit is held by a title company or an attorney and the parties can’t agree, the attorney or title company’s recourse is to file an action to what they call inter plead the deposit. That’s where they say, well, look, I don’t have any interest in this deposit, so we’re going to put the money in the register of the court, and then the parties can sue each other, whatever, to determine who’s entitled to the money, but that relieves the escrow agent of any responsibility as far as dispersing it. The downside of this is if it’s a small deposit, the title company or attorney when they file this plea or action asks that their attorney fees and costs be deducted from the deposit. Well, that usually costs two or $3,000, so the deposit is two or $3,000. Well, all the monies used up just filing the inter pleater, so hopefully you can work out any escrow disputes that there may be without having to go to court. But if the parties can’t ever agree or settle, we’ll, then yes, then they’ll have to go to court to sue for recover the deposit or to force get the deposit if the buyer breached. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.