There are usually very few ways for a seller to unilaterally cancel a real estate contract in Florida. Often, the only way for a seller to cancel a contract unilaterally is if the buyer does not fulfill the buyer’s obligation(s) under the contract. For this reason, sellers should be extra careful about signing real estate contracts because they will likely be locked in once they sign, unless they add language to the contract allowing them to cancel for some reason.
An example of a way a seller can unilaterally cancel a real estate contract, in this case, the commonly used Florida “AS IS” Residential Contract For Sale And Purchase, is if the buyer is obtaining a loan and selected the loan provision in the contract. The loan provision states that a seller can cancel the contract unilaterally if the buyer does not provide seller written notice of loan approval during the loan approval period. In this case, if the buyer does not comply with the loan provision’s notice requirements, then the seller has three days from the end of the loan approval period to unilaterally terminate the contract.
While there are very limited ways for a seller to unilaterally cancel a real estate contract, the seller does not always have to close no matter what. For instance, if the seller, after reasonable diligent effort, cannot clear title in time for closing and the buyer does not agree to purchase the property with the outstanding title issues, the seller cannot be forced to extend the closing date for the seller to resolve the title issues.
Whether the seller has a way to unilaterally cancel a real estate contract is very fact specific. It depends on the circumstances and the contract. However, most of the time, a seller cannot unilaterally cancel a real estate contract.