March 5th, 2018 at 1:51 pm
Answer: No, most likely. The Residential Purchase Agreement (RPA) does not require the seller to sign the PRBS of the buyer’s agent. Instead, under paragraph 2C, the seller merely acknowledges receipt of a PRBS. That is a true statement in our situation, given that the seller signed a PRBS when entering into the listing agreement. Hence, we should have a binding contract. However, the buyer could have specifically incorporated the PRBS as an addendum to the RPA, such as by adding it under paragraph 5. In that highly unlikely situation, the buyer might be able to successfully argue that there is no contract without the signing of all attachments to the RPA (see paragraph 30B which says the “Agreement” is the buyer’s offer plus “any incorporated addenda” but “only when Signed by all Parties”). Sometimes you can convince the other side that they’re wrong by showing them how they should have done things to get the result they now want.
As for the seller’s position, we would never force our clients to sign anything they don’t want to sign. However, the PRBS is merely an information sheet advising the seller that the buyer’s agent may represent more than one buyer. By simply signing an acknowledgement of receipt of the PRBS of the buyer’s agent, the seller is not creating an agency relationship with the buyer’s agent.
-Thank you to Anne Kislingbury (Pasadena Office) for suggesting this week’s legal tip.
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