From: Mil-Veh Co. (milveh@sbcglobal.net)
Date: Wed Apr 06 2005 - 21:03:10 PDT
Mike, FYI there is this doctrine of law called
"substantial performance." In this case it means the
buyer did make a "good faith" attempt to remove the
property in a "timely manner", but had an
unforeseeable event that delayed him. So he needs to
show "continued good faith" that he is attempting to
remove the property in a "reasonable" time or.....
1. You can offer a refund of all or part of the
purchase money and then relist on ebay or whatever.
This generally requires buyers cooperation to do it
right of course. But, if you do a forced "full
refund", makes copies of everything, send a check via
cert. mail. The buyer would be hard pressed to show
any reason for contesting this in court as he is not
out anything. If you assessed a partial refund of say
all but your ebay fees, well, he could contest, but
unlikely considering the small amount. Just have to
take your chances there.
2. Do a lien sale. Serve notice by certified mail
that effective in 10 days hence you will begin
charging a nominal storage fee, failure to pickup
within say 45 days will result in a lien sale...but,
this fee has to be reasonable and done correctly..see
next paragraph.
You have the advantage. Possession is 9/10ths of the
law as they say and you would be within your rights to
demand such storage fees after a reasonable period of
time has passed since the last pickup attempt.
Usually this is a mechanics lien formula, you can get
that info. at your local small claims office or court.
Bottom line... for others reading this, always put the
terms of sale in writing. Verbal agreements are weak,
a case of "he said, she said" and although a court can
enforce a verbal agreement, it's just a lot easier if
you had something in writing. Lesson to be learned
here for sure.
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