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How to find new address for seller: send a certified mail, return receipt requested letter to the seller at his old address (your current address). Be sure to mark the box on the return receipt (the green card) where it says "address to where delivered." Assuming seller filed a change of address, the letter will be delivered to their new address and the letter carrier will provide the new address on the green card returned to you.
You used to be able to go to the post office and have the PO give you the change of address info for a fee. I don't believe you can do that any more, but you might check.
If they bought a house, info could be found at recorder of deeds.
FWIW, I think this is a contract dispute and the OP will prevail. When I've sold houses, the only things I wanted to take were the curtains that matched my bedspreads, and you can be darned sure I included that in the disclosure and the contract.
OP: you MUST come back and tell us how it is finally resolved.
Brilliant! I'd been successful so far in obtaining a forwarding address,and with no address, I don't even know in which county court to file for small claims.
And yes, I will post the resolution, but I don't expect it to be any time soon.
The way I see it is this: the cabinets were there on closing day, therefore, from that point on, it is YOUR house and it is YOUR cabinets. They are merely tenants at that point.
Why should nothing be assumed? Why should I have asked about the garage cabinets any more than I should have asked about, for example, the kitchen cabinets? I am sincerely trying to understand. In real estate law, anything bolted or screwed to a wall is a fixture, therefore "real property" not "personal property." All real property, unless specifically excluded in the contract, is conveyed in the sale. That's not really an assumption,that's real estate law.
Also help me understand why it should have been my agent, rather than the sellers agent, who should have written in this exclusion.
Because your agent is supposed to be looking out for you, and should have caught this, investigated it, and reported back to you on it--i.e. the sellers plan to take the garage cabinets with them, are you aware of this?
Why should nothing be assumed? Why should I have asked about the garage cabinets any more than I should have asked about, for example, the kitchen cabinets? I am sincerely trying to understand. In real estate law, anything bolted or screwed to a wall is a fixture, therefore "real property" not "personal property." All real property, unless specifically excluded in the contract, is conveyed in the sale. That's not really an assumption,that's real estate law.
Also help me understand why it should have been my agent, rather than the sellers agent, who should have written in this exclusion.
Actually she should have written it in or written it out. She screwed up and agrees. That is why she was agreeable to paying half. The seller's agent is equally or even more guilty.
She had, or should have had, direct knowledge that the seller did not intend to include the cabinets.
Garage work shop style cabinets (and there are some pretty nice units out there) will NOT cost $4000 to replace! No way, no how. Go on craigslist and get yourself a nice used set for a few hundred dollars and be done with it. The cabinets were used anyhow.
You're playing a victim here, when it was not specified in your contract. You will spend $1500 on an attorney, who will want more down the road and you will lose anyhow.
Garage work shop style cabinets (and there are some pretty nice units out there) will NOT cost $4000 to replace! No way, no how. Go on craigslist and get yourself a nice used set for a few hundred dollars and be done with it. The cabinets were used anyhow.
You're playing a victim here, when it was not specified in your contract. You will spend $1500 on an attorney, who will want more down the road and you will lose anyhow.
I see your point, but I don't see how you can be so certain this buyer would lose in court. Items attached permanently to walls always are sold with the home, unless excluded in the contract, and these were not excluded in the contract.
Garage work shop style cabinets (and there are some pretty nice units out there) will NOT cost $4000 to replace! No way, no how. Go on craigslist and get yourself a nice used set for a few hundred dollars and be done with it. The cabinets were used anyhow.
I'd ask myself if it's worth the time, effort, money, and stress to get these cabinets back. I think you're in the right, but really, is all the trouble worth it, just to get some used cabinets back and be able to say, "I was right"?
These custom cabinets were specifically mentioned on a list of upgrades (on one of the brochures we picked up while touring the home).
We found out after the sellers moved out that in the agent remarks section of the MLS, there was a comment "garage storage cabinets do not convey." However, that comment did not appear on the Public Record sheet that we had (it looks pretty much like the MLS sheet, but was intended for potential buyers. We picked it up from the box attached to the for sale sign in the front yard).
The brochure prepared by the agent, was put out by the listing agent and placed in the box at the front of the home. That means they were part of the sale, or claimed to be by the agent. They may have been on the MLS as an exclusion, but the sheets prepared by the agent and available to buyers said they were included as an upgrade. What is represented to the buyers, takes preference over being someplace you never saw it.
What is attached permanently (bolted to the wall) is normally considered part of the property. They were stated to be an upgrade on the brochure the agent made up and distributed.
The way I would handle this if I was you, would be to notify the Listing and Selling Brokers offices, and the Salesmen involved to make good on paying for or re-installing the cabinets within 10 days or your were going to do two things. Make a formal complaint on misrepresentation and fraud by the salespeople and offices involved, to the State Realtors Association, and to the State Agency controlling licensing real estate brokers. No agency wants that kind of complaint made, as it could cost them their Board Of Realtors membership, and even their real estate licenses, if they do not make this right.
As a retired real estate broker, I can tell you this will get action. If they don't make it good within 10 days make formal complaints sent by registered letter to the state agency and the state association of Realtors, and indicate a copy was sent to the governor of the state. It will get action. Advertising as the brochure is, and the information was false as it was in this case, is considered fraudulent and deceptive advertising in every state.
Saying it was on the MLS listing as an exclusion is not a defense, when it was stated in the brochure prepared by the listing salesmen that it was an upgrade included with the house. That statement, becomes a personal guarantee by the agent it was included.
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