Overview: Lis Pendens, Latin for “A Suit Pending”

A lis pendens is Latin for “a suit pending.” Under the Massachusetts lis pendens law, a lis pendens is a notice endorsed by a judge certifying that there is litigation pending involving the title or occupancy rights to a property. Where real estate deals go sour, a court will often issue a lis pendens where a buyer seeks “specific performance” of a real estate contract in order to force a seller to go through with a transaction. Lis pendens are also common in other real estate cases such as boundary, title, zoning, and ownership disputes. The lis pendens is recorded at the registry of deeds against the property and its owner(s), creating a serious cloud on the title to the affected property. A lis pendens will, in many cases, effectively prevent the owner from selling the property until the claim is resolved–thus, earning its well-deserved reputation as dangerous arrow in a real estate litigator’s quiver.

Heavy Ammunition For Buyers

Since the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held in 1998 that the standard Greater Boston Real Estate form Offer To Purchase is a binding contract, buyers have used the lis pendens with great success against sellers who unjustifiably try to back out of Offers to Purchase and Purchase and Sale Agreements. Aggressive buyer attorneys would often obtain a lis pendens without prior notice to the seller (called ex parte relief), and this would give buyers a huge advantage and effectively derail any pending sale of the property until the judge resolved the claim.

Recent Changes To The Law

In response to complaints that litigants were abusing the law with frivolous claims for lis pendens’, lawmakers amended the law in 2003. Now, claimants seeking ex parte relief must show there is a clear danger that the seller, if notified in advance, will convey, encumber, damage or destroy the property. Sellers also have a new remedy to stop frivolous claims: a “special motion to dismiss” which carries with it an award of attorneys’ fees and costs. The playing field is a bit more leveled now, yet the lis pendens remains a powerful tool for real estate attorneys.

Dealing With A Lis Pendens

Dealing with a meritorious lis pendens remains very difficult. Standard owner’s title insurance policies do not insure against them. Further, most title companies hesitate to affirmatively insure a lis pendens as they would effectively be underwriting the ultimate success of the lawsuit. Sometimes, however, coverage can be obtained for an additional premium and/or with some form of indemnification or security. In the absence of insurance, a lis pendens will remain a cloud on title until the claim is ultimately resolved in the courts, which these days can take many years. Given the high cost of litigation, a financial settlement is often the only way to resolve the matter in a cost-effective manner.

As an experienced real estate litigator who has obtained and defended scores of lis pendens’, please contact me with any questions about a Massachusetts lis pendens.

This week, a very interesting decision involving the negotiation of a residential purchase and sale agreement came down from the Massachusetts Appeals Court in Coviello v. Richardson. Click here to view the decision. The case highlights the need for realtors and real estate attorneys to be proactive with respect to mortgage contingencies and requests for extensions.

The Facts

In the case, on February 12, 2008, buyer (Coviello) and seller (Richardson) signed the standard form Offer to Purchase, which provided that a Purchase and Sale Agreement would be executed by 5:00pm on February 26th. Under the mortgage contingency clause of the offer, which gives the buyer the right to cancel if she cannot obtain financing, the buyer was required to secure a firm mortgage commitment by February 29th. The realtor, who prepared the offer, made the first mistake here: requiring her client, the buyer, to obtain a firm mortgage commitment not even 2 weeks after the parties signed the offer. This was and remains completely unrealistic.

Predictably, the buyer and her broker had immediate concerns that they would be unable to meet the mortgage commitment deadline. The broker asked the buyer’s attorney, Scott Kriss, if he would ask the seller to agree to extend the commitment deadline for an additional week. According to the decision, the request was not immediately conveyed to the seller.

Two hours before the 5:00pm deadline to sign the purchase and sale agreement, Attorney Kriss sent an email to the seller’s attorney, Alan Sharaf, requesting the extension. The seller, who was dealing with a high-risk pregnancy, refused to extend the deadline. No agreement could be reached, and there was no tender or signing of the purchase and sale agreement. (It does appear that the pregnant seller got “cold feet” and backed out of the deal–the request for a one week extension is eminently reasonable and wouldn’t have exposed her to any significant risk).

The buyer sued, claiming that the seller’s refusal to agree to the extension was a breach of the deal. The Land Court initially ruled in favor of the buyer, but the Appeals Court overruled the decision in favor of the seller, holding that a jury would have to decide whether the seller repudiated the contract or would have proceeded with the original terms. The case will be heading to trial.

Take Away

In our opinion, the lesson for realtors and attorneys from this case is (1) make the mortgage contingency dates workable in the offer, and (b) if you are asking for an extension at the 11th hour, protect your buyer in case the seller refuses to agree.

First, the realtor should have used a more realistic mortgage contingency deadline. In the current underwriting environment, realtors should allow at least 30-45 from the signing of the offer for a mortgage commitment.

Second, in our opinion, the buyer’s attorney’s apparent delay in asking for the extension until the 11th hour certainly didn’t help the situation. He could have protected the buyer a lot more had he coupled the request for the extension of the mortgage commitment deadline with either (a) notice that if the seller would not agree, the buyer would opt out of the deal entirely, or (b) a tender of the purchase and sale agreement with the original deadlines (assuming the buyer would take on the risk of being unable to make the deadlines). This would have “boxed in” the seller to either agree to the extension or go through the deal, essentially calling her bluff. At least it would have enabled the buyer to have been in a much better position for litigation because now the fight is over whether the seller would have gone through the original deal. Granted, it appears that the pregnant seller had already made up her mind that she wasn’t going through the deal, no matter the reason.

To the credit of the realtor and attorneys involved, it’s much easier for me to play Monday morning quarterback.

The Standard Massachusetts Offer To Purchase

The first step in purchasing or selling Massachusetts residential real estate is the presentation and acceptance of an Offer To Purchase. Most often, the buyers’ real estate broker prepares the offer to purchase on a pre-printed Greater Boston Real Estate Board standard form and presents it to the seller for review, modification, and acceptance. Attorneys are often not involved in the offer stage. However, in light of the legal significance of a signed offer and recent litigation over offers, buyers (and their brokers) and sellers may be wise to consult an attorney to review the offer.

An Accepted & Signed Offer Is A Binding Contract

Many sellers (and their brokers) are under the misconception that the offer to purchase is merely a formality, and that a binding contract is formed only when the parties sign the more extensive purchase and sale agreement. This is not true. Under established Massachusetts case law, a signed standard form offer to purchase is a binding and enforceable contract to sell real estate even if the offer is subject to the signing of a more comprehensive purchase and sale agreement. So if a seller signs and accepts an offer and later gets a better deal, I wouldn’t advise the seller to attempt to walk away from the original deal. Armed with a signed offer, buyers can sue for specific performance, and record a “lis pendens,” or notice of claim, in the registry of deeds against the property which will effectively prevent its sale until the litigation is resolved. I’ve handled many of these types of cases, and buyers definitely have the upper hand given the current state of the law.

In some cases, the seller may not desire to be contractually bound by the acceptance of an offer to purchase while their property is taken off the market. In that case, safe harbor language can be drafted to specify the limited nature of the obligations created by the accepted offer. This is rather unusual, however, in residential transactions.

Home Inspection & Mortgage Contingencies

With the offer to purchase, I always advise buyers and their brokers to use a standard form addendum to address such contingencies as mortgage financing, home inspection, radon, lead paint, and pests. The home inspection and related tests are typically completed before the purchase and sale agreement is signed and any inspection issues are dealt with in the purchase and sale agreement. If they are not, there is an inspection contingency added to the P&S. See my post on purchase and sales agreements for that discussion.

The mortgage contingency is likewise critical. With mortgage loans harder to underwrite and approve, we are seeing loan commitment deadlines extended out for at least 30-45 days from the signing of the purchase and sale agreement. Always consult your mortgage lender before making an offer to see how much time they will need to process and approval your loan. The loan commitment deadline is one, if not the most, important deadlines in the contract documents.

In order to help finance the acquisition of said premises, the BUYER shall apply for a conven­tional bank or other institutional mortgage loan of $[proposed loan amount] at prevailing rates, terms and conditions.  If despite the BUYER’S diligent efforts, a commitment for such a loan cannot be obtained on or before [30-45 days from signing of purchase-sale agreement], the BUYER may terminate this agreement by written notice to the SELLER in accordance with the term of the rider, prior to the expiration of such time, whereupon any payments made under this agreement shall be forthwith refunded and all other obligations of the parties hereto shall cease and this agreements shall be void without recourse to the parties hereto.  In no event will the BUYER be deemed to have used diligent efforts to obtain such commitment unless the BUYER submits a complete mortgage loan application conforming to the foregoing provisions on or before [2-5 business days from signing of purchase and sale agreement].

Any time the parties agree to an extension of any deadline in the offer (and the purchase and sale agreement for that matter) make sure it’s in writing.

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Richard D. Vetstein, Esq. is an experienced Massachusetts real estate closing and conveyancing attorney and former outside counsel to a national title insurance company. Please contact him if you need legal assistance with your Massachusetts real estate transaction.