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.

Video Summary

I bought land that’s now landlocked due to a dispute between neighbors to the south and the north walking the road on both sides. What can I do? Well, the first thing you need to do is contact a real estate attorney to check into this. Whenever you go to see the attorney, you need to take with you the closing documents that you received when you purchased the property to see if you have a title insurance policy. The title insurance policy guarantees you legal access to the property. The attorney would then review that and then he will need to determine if this easement as to whether or not it exists. And he’ll probably have to order title searches on both your neighbor’s property to the north and the south to see about getting a copy of this easement once he gets to see about the easement, the width, and its use and why it’s established.
And see if your property is the property that was intended to access or be an easement to for ingress and egress. And if it was, well, then you have a cause of action against the property owners who are blocking the easement if it was intended for your use. If however, you did not have an easement to your property and you had title insurance, you have a claim against their titled insurance company for them to see about gaining access for you. In the event that you don’t have titled insurance and you don’t have an easement, there are a couple of statu whereby you can file an action for a statutory way of necessity, and that’s where you would have to buy the property to the nearest route, to the nearest county or state road to gain access. It’s a little bit complicated as far as that’s concerned, but if you have any questions about it, you can give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

Can a landlord change the terms of a lease before it’s renewed? No, a landlord cannot. It’s a contract and both parties are bound by the terms of the lease, so it would take both parties to the lease to change its terms, so the answer is no. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.

Video Summary

Is litigation the only option to settle a real estate dispute? Well, yes, it is. If the parties can’t reach any sort of an agreement, there are some settlement options. If both parties have attorneys, they may agree to pre-suit litigation, or excuse me, mediation and so to see if the matter can’t be settled, but both parties have got to want to try and reach some sort of agreement. However, if you’ve got either party that doesn’t want to settle the matter, well then you don’t have any option but to go ahead, hire an attorney and file a lawsuit to resolve the real estate dispute. If you have any questions, give me a call at (727) 847-2288.