Oh boy, another home-related question... Until I flip this motherfucker this has been probably the worst decisions I've ever made buying this thing.

Anyway, I got a call today from the lawyer who was present when I closed on my house. Apparently they were contacted by the homeowner I bought the house from, and said they just now got around to cashing my due diligence check for $500.

This was almost a year ago mind you, and obviously the check is no good anymore. Their excuse is the messy divorce which is the reason they sold the house, but isn't it their fault for not cashing the check? Why should I be on the hook for this now?

This money is to pull the house from the market while I inspect it, do background checks on me, that sort of thing correct?

I'm posting this as a general question before I check my own records, but I do believe I signed a contract with my realtor that agreed to this $500 along with some other charges before closing (that were then subtracted from the down payment).

I gave the realtor the check, and they gave it to the homeowner (who then moved far away and apparently never cashed it). I just question (at this point) how I'm responsible for their laziness is all.

3/25/2013 4:54:56 PM

I though checks were no good after 180 or 360 days. IMOP you aren't responsible for any of it at this point, but I don't know if the law agrees with me.

3/25/2013 4:58:12 PM

I'm pretty sure its 6 months

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3/25/2013 4:59:25 PM

AFAIK bad checks, lost checks, destroyed checks, etc. do not count as payment received. A debt is not considered paid until the check is cashed and has been cleared by the issuing bank. So while the check may or may not be any good (keep in mind they can still try to cash it if they want and some banks will let them) the debt still exists. The fact that you wrote and signed a check serves as proof that you agreed to the debt. I believe they can go after you for the unpaid debt until the statute of limitations expires if they choose to.

Also, don't be a weasel just because they made a mistake. Pay your debts.

[Edited on March 25, 2013 at 5:10 PM. Reason : l]

3/25/2013 5:08:32 PM

if a lawyer is involved, they will come after the money, and get it if they want it

resistance is futile

3/25/2013 5:16:42 PM

what Skack said. I believe it's your responsibility until the transfer of funds. You would've still be "on the hook" had the check been "lost in the mail".

3/25/2013 5:27:17 PM

Yeah, it's just strange to me for some other reasons too.

We were pretty thorough as far as takings scans of the checks, signing the scans (along with our realtor), and things like that.

I was under the impression these funds were held in escrow (along with earnest money), so that things like this didn't happen.

Also, all of our dealings were with the husband when we bought the house. Remember the divorce situation? It's the wife now asking for the $500. We never saw or talked to her (she had zero participation in the entire thing).

3/25/2013 5:37:09 PM

Yeah I was saying checks are only good for 6 months, not you magically don't owe them.

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3/25/2013 5:44:01 PM

We will see.

Either way it's annoying.

3/25/2013 8:37:03 PM

All monies should be accounted for at closing. This is why a lawyer is present.

Everything should be listed for in your closing documents. If it says on the docs that a 500 deposit had already been received by the owner (and it sounds like it should have), then the homeowner is up a creek.

If the deposit was not accounted for at closing, then it's void, because the contract is already closed.

3/26/2013 9:08:05 AM

$500 is also not worth being a dick or fighting over.

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3/26/2013 9:49:42 AM

You didn't notice week after week that the check didn't clear?

3/26/2013 10:59:30 AM

I personally dont think he has any obligation to pester them about cashing the check. He did his part by giving them the damn check. Which they could have cashed at any time in the last year.

If they havent cashed it within the timeframe the check is good for, that should be ALL on them, thus they forfeit the check and the "diligence" that was shown to them.

3/26/2013 11:23:09 AM

ahahahhaha

If you want to be a good guy to the seller, Realtors, and your closing attorney you could still pay it.

I do not really see how anyone could force your hand though. The seller(s) have signed multiple documents saying they were in receipt of the $500, they also should have spoken up at closing if the check had not cleared yet and immediately deposited it.

If you do not want to pay it I strongly doubt they would take you to court, and you could wait them out to see. This is not the kind of thing that is going to end up on your credit report or anything (unless it goes to court).

This seems like one of those situations where none of the professionals involved are culpable, they got the check where it needed to be in a timely fashion, the sellers just failed to deposit it.

3/26/2013 11:23:31 AM

On a related note, I really do have a check for $350 from Village Green apartments that I never cashed. From ~2007.

This would be like me trying to cash that check now (that clearly says 180 days or something on it) and getting all pissy that I couldnt do it.

3/26/2013 11:35:50 AM

Upon closer inspection, now that ive actually had an opportunity to look at the stack of paperwork you accumulate when buying a house, it seems I was actually credited this amount from the seller at closing.

In other words, they should have cashed the check as insurance against me bailing on them, and to cover any expenses incurred by taking the house off the market, but if I did buy the house they pay it towards closing costs.

They never cashed the check, but paid the $500 out of pocket at closing. I have no idea why they did that, but I decided to write them another check. This is $500 I'm not really supposed to have.

For anybody else's future reference, the lawyer definitely indicated they couldn't really squeeze this out of me, and I tend to take advantage of these situations because I'm cheap, but this time just didn't feel right.

I would have truly been the dick.

3/26/2013 11:52:44 AM

Why did you write another check? They should have just cashed the one you already gave them. Now you should stop payment on the original check to prevent it from getting cashed as well.

3/26/2013 12:00:09 PM

My bank doesn't honor checks that old, period. They tried to cash it already and couldn't, hence the whining.

The closing attorney has the new check and will only release it when they bring the other. When they have it they'll shred the old one.

3/26/2013 12:06:33 PM

When I bought my townhouse in 2005 I paid for a survey that was never done. I did not need the survey at the time and assumed it was in the file, but when I wanted to build a fence in 2009 I needed it and it was not in there. I spent about a week calling the closing attorney and the surveyor that was listed as being paid for the survey, they could not find a copy either.

Finally, I found out the check that was made out to the surveyor was never cashed. The $350 had been sitting in the attorneys account for 4 years, and the survey had never been done.

At this point I had the option of getting my $350 back, but I still needed a survey for my fence. The guy who the check was made out to offered to do it for his 2005 rates and had it done within a couple of days.

The troubling thing about this is that if I had not built the fence no one ever would have known about the missing survey or the extra $350 sitting in the attorneys account. The attorney obviously failed to reconcile their account or follow up on any outstanding checks.

I never figured out if the attorney billed me for a survey and did not order it, or if the surveyor got the order and never did the survey. I did not have much trouble getting this cleared up, but it made me wonder how many other people have a few hundred bucks sitting in that attorneys account. I decided not to use that law firm any more as a result.

3/26/2013 12:15:38 PM

How much is this house? I deal with $500 deposits on rental apartments.

3/27/2013 11:03:48 PM

If they were just trying to get rid of the house I'm sure they weren't worried about finding a seller who was "really serious" which would be the only reason to write a huge check.

I think we did like $1200 when buying our house.

3/27/2013 11:25:19 PM