Legal assistance with housing problems

Questioner

On August 18th we were awarded a house for sale after a one-time bidding round. Our offer was accepted. This all went smoothly through a broker and we were assisted in this process by our financial advisor. The house is empty and has been divided into 3 apartments by the previous owner. The house is completely empty except for 3 kitchens and 3 bathrooms. Literally everything in this house needs to be done and we find that a very nice challenge. However, to date we have not received a (preliminary) purchase agreement. The reason for this is that the owner of the house has passed away and the heir is a 5-year-old girl living in Greece. This news only reached us on September 7th. The house is being sold by the bank and special management is said to have given permission for the sale. Now I wonder if we should have been informed about this long-term situation before we accepted the house and if we can knock on someone's door if we end up on the street on November 14 and can't live normally in our new house. Can someone be held liable or can everything just go on as it is now? In addition, the selling agent provides little to no information about the progress and keeps everything rather vague.

Lawyer

A purchase agreement for a home must be concluded in writing. As long as there is no written agreement, you cannot put the other party in default to fulfill the agreement. There may be an escape if there was a purchase at a public auction in the presence of a notary. In that case you can demand compliance. I do not see in your question that a date for the transfer of ownership would also have been agreed, so I estimate that the risk of you being on the street as of 14 November is for your account. As I see it now, you have accepted an invitation to make an offer to purchase the house and an agreement only exists if your offer has resulted in a written contract. For the time being, you are still 'in negotiation' in a legal sense, with the understanding that if the other party were to break off the negotiation, this could possibly lead to liability for damages towards you.