|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
B.C. homebuyers ordered to pay more than $350K for backing out of home purchase
The ruling found the defendants were liable for the difference between what the home was sold for and what the buyers had agreed to pay
B.C.’s Supreme Court has ordered three prospective homebuyers to pay more than $350,000 after backing out of a contract signed during a hot housing market.
The defendants, Navdeep Singh Mahli, Wai Ming Fong and Xiao Li Liu, had agreed to purchase a home in Kelowna, B.C., for $1,115,000 but cancelled their purchase after failing to secure financing.
“When the defendants failed to complete the Contract, the plaintiff found himself in a real estate market that was falling sharply,” Justice Dennis K. Hori wrote in his decision, first reported by CTV. The home was eventually resold for $740,000 in January 2023.
A bank found the value was “significantly lower” than what the defendants had agreed to, leading to a refusal, the ruling says. Other banks likewise refused the deal, leading the defendants to miss the purchase deadline on July 18, 2022. Mahli “specifically waived the right to have a subject to financing clause,” the ruling notes.
The seller, Jeffrey Anton Mandl, sued the defendants for breach of contract and was counter-sued for “fraudulent or negligent misrepresentations.” Mahli’s realtor had the home inspected and had determined it was uninhabitable, but evidence was not provided, the judge said.
