Cancelling Contract with Realtor
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Cancelling Contract with Realtor
I was wondering if I have any legal ground to cancel the contract with the realtor I am using to sell my condo? First, the pictures he took were absolutely horrendous It was like the light was overexposed on the camera and it completely distorted the color of every thing inside and outside the condo. Like for example, I have dark cherry kitchen cabinets, in the pics you would think they are light oak. I told him that the picture quality was unacceptable, and when he replaced the pictures which still were bad he also left the old pictures in the listing. Second, it was written into the contract to have the lock box put on the garage door, as I did not want anyone knowing from the outside my condo was for sale for security reasons. The agent put the lock box on the front door. Thirdly, in the contract it very clearly said we wanted to use a lock box, I didn’t get a lock box for 4 days after the initial listing and the agent was hiding the key in my garage. There were at least 4-5 showings in that period. Fourth, bc I am currently living in my condo and have pets, I also told him he needed to tell me when a showing was happening so I could get myself and my pets out. I had two different sets of buyers walk in on me because he
Asked on December 13, 2016 under Real Estate Law, Florida
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 8 years ago | Contributor
While you describe some very legitimate dissatisfactions with your realtor, none are in and of themselves "material," or significant, enough to warrant terminating the contract. A material breach of contract is one which goes to the basic core or purpose of the contract--like not even listing or showing the house, for example. What you describe is clearly less than that. While it is not impossible that, if you were to treat the contract as terminated due to breach, that a judge (if the realtor sues to enforce the contract) would side with you (since the idea of "materiality" has an undeniable subjective component: judge could theoretically view these breaches as highly signficant), in my experience, that is unlikely: most judges would deem these breaches too small to justify termination and would hold you to the contract. You are probably best off waiting out this contract, then using a different realtor if the property has not sold.
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