[youtube_video] OAzvV7Z5INk [/youtube_video]
Video Transcription
Aloha. George Krischke with Honolulu Hi 5.
Today, we’ll discuss asking for repairs. In a different segment we already discussed that in Hawaii sellers are not obligated to do repairs. There’s no law that requires sellers to do so. So, that may be different in your State, but in Hawaii there’s no law that requires sellers to do any repairs to the properties for sale. Now, unless it is specifically written in the contract, usually under Special Terms, sellers are off the hook.
So, if a buyer does a home inspection and the home inspection reveals something is defective, something is damaged, something is not working properly, the buyer could still make a request to the seller. That request could be either the request for the seller to do the repair or it could be a request for a credit in lieu of the repair. There areĀ pros and cons with both requests, with both approaches, and sometimes it could be a combination of the two of them.
Now, the seller could do a number of things. The seller could agree to the request, or the seller could not agree to the request, or sometimes the seller could come back with a compromise solution with a compromise proposal or sometimes the seller doesn’t respond at all and just ignores the buyer’s request. There areĀ many factors that could determine how the seller responds. It could be depending on the magnitude of the request, it could be depending on the motivation level of the seller. Maybe the seller has a back-up offer in place that’s at a higher price, and has no interest in talking with a buyer with a primary contract about any repairs.
So, different factors to consider. In any event, the buyer’s only recourse if the buyer isĀ not satisfied with the seller’s response to the request, or the seller’s lack of response to the request, than the buyer’s recourse is to cancel the contract. It needs to be in writing and it needs to be within the home inspection contingency time period. Otherwise, if not canceled within the time period, the buyer will have waived the inspection contingency. That’s it for today.
Thanks for watching. ~Aloha.