Eviction Attorney Dennis Block says, “This year alone, we’ve handled at least 7 maybe 8 cases of this exact type of situation.”
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Wow, just wow.
How do you even mitigate this risk? Don’t buy from buyers who seem to be a-holes?
Sold house and then refused to move out??? Some people don’t have honor.
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I have a feeling the couple hired the wrong lawyer. Maybe they can sue the buyer from the fraud angle instead. Selling but refusing to deliver should be financial fraud.
Require the house be vacant at closing. Write it into the contract, so you can back out and get earnest money back.
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I see many sellers have 1-2 month rent back asking. The agents say they are looking for new home and will move within 1 month but can’t promise the deadline. How do you deal with that situation?
I bought one like that last year before the crazy spike. The seller asked to rent for 2 weeks. I did wonder if the seller would give me hell after closing but wife wanted to proceed. It all worked out but dicey for sure.
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Ask double the market rent. Is fair because is only 1-2 months, not 1 year lease.
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buyers waive contingencies and rent! sellers sit rent free till they decide to go!
So desperate to get the house? What can I say.
I always ask double rent, no takers so far 
desperate yes due to space constraint in current apt, low rate etc but not falling for above traps. I don’t like paying HOA and mello-roose tax since it can’t be claimed but now forced to look into new construction. There’s always a compromise!
Some youtubers say Q4 will have influx of 2.2M homes due to various reasons. Have to wait another yr though.
I had to do rent back on this place. I had it written in that after 1 week the rent went to about 4x normal. My agent added it, and they accepted it. They were gone within the 1 week. I’m not sure how that works when there’s no way to evict. In theory, you could sue them for the rent they aren’t paying. That is added cost and headache. If they stay long enough, you’d be violating terms of your mortgage by not moving into the home. The inability to evict really messes it up. Just another unintended consequence, since eviction moratorium was never meant to protect people selling their home.
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I agree with adding high rent back but with covid moratorium, what if seller stopped paying you rent and not move out, are we not in the same spot as the couple from the story. Even for vacant at closing, I felt like we don’t really know if seller has moved out and who has the key when we signed the escrow. Everyone is rushing at that last minute and operating at good faith. But now I am not sure if I would be for next time. Also more reason to have agent looking out for you.
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The ultimate sellers market
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Her frustrated husband says when he contacted law enforcement, they told him, “If you were in Arizona, if you were in Nevada, this wouldn’t be a problem, you would just go take your house back. But in California, like our hands are tied, even though we’re on your side, there’s nothing we can do.”
Enjoy your sunshine state 
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I read the article. It is not clear what is the loop hole. Or seller just simply refuse to move out and there is nothing that can be done? If the seller can get rent free by squating, then this can happen a lot more often…
This is speechless, I feel so sorry for the buyers.
. In my native country I would pay $500 to street-law bum taking care of this shtty seller 
We need the address. We need to send the Trump insurrectionists to burn the house down. The buyer gets a new house from insurance and the seller will be homeless. Vigilante justice.
I am being facetious of course. But now you know why nobody wants to sell. Used to be buyer beware. But thanks to disclosure laws and tenants rights laws now it is seller beware.
Subtext: Buy at your own risk.
The property is currently occupied by roommate tenants. Tenants have been notified of the sale. They are aware that the new owner may want to live in the house once purchased.
https://www.redfin.com/CA/Fremont/34803-Warwick-Ct-94555/home/1560285
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