Can you get more time to close on a new Miami condo?

Sometimes, at the developer's discretion and usually at a price, and never by right. A Miami pre-construction purchase agreement gives the developer the right to set the closing date by notice, within a window the contract states, and makes the buyer's failure to close on that date a default. The contract says what the cure period is, often a few days and sometimes none, and what the default costs, which is the deposit up to the share of the price the contract names. A developer may agree to an extension in writing, commonly for a stated number of days, for a fee, and on condition that the deposits become non-refundable if they were not already. A lender's delay is not an excuse under most contracts because they carry no financing contingency. The alternative to closing late is assigning the contract to another buyer, where the contract allows it. The questions to ask the week the notice lands follow.

Three things. The date, set by the developer within the contract's rules, usually after the certificate of occupancy or the temporary one is issued and the condominium documents are recorded. The notice period, a number of days before closing that the contract requires the developer to give, which is the buyer's whole runway. And the closing agent's instructions: where the balance is wired, what documents the buyer signs and whether they may sign by power of attorney. A buyer who reads the contract's closing clause the day the reservation is signed knows the notice period years in advance; a buyer who reads it when the notice arrives has that many days. Read which dates in a Miami pre-construction contract you cannot miss and what a new Miami condo requires before you can move in for the certificate of occupancy that starts the clock.

The default clause happens. Most developer contracts make time of the essence, which means the date is the date, and treat a buyer who does not close as in default after any cure period the contract gives. The developer's remedy is usually to keep the deposits as liquidated damages, up to the share of the price the contract names; whether and how far such a clause is enforceable is counsel's question. Some contracts also allow the developer to pursue the buyer for more; the clause says which. A default is not a negotiation, it is a clause operating, and the week before the date is when the buyer still has choices. Read deposit forfeiture if you walk away and where your deposit actually sits for what the escrow agent holds and releases.

As a written amendment, granted or refused at the developer's discretion, because the contract gives the buyer no right to one. Where it is granted the common shape is a fixed number of days, a per day or flat extension fee, interest or a carrying charge on the unpaid balance for the extension period, and a condition that all deposits paid are non-refundable from the date of the amendment. A developer with a building more than 80 percent sold and a lender waiting to be repaid has reasons to say yes to a short extension and reasons to say no to a long one; the buyer asks early, in writing, with a reason and a new date, and does not assume. Everything in the amendment is read by counsel before it is signed, because it changes the deposit's status. Read the rescission period at Cipriani for the one period that belongs to the buyer by statute, and how to read the closing statement on a new Miami condo for where an extension fee appears.

Because most Miami developer contracts carry no financing contingency: the buyer agrees to close whether or not a loan is approved. A lender that needs another appraisal, a re-disclosure under the federal rule that gives a borrower three business days after a revised Closing Disclosure, or a project review of a brand new condominium can push a loan past the developer's date, and the contract does not care. A buyer who finances a pre-construction purchase starts the loan early, asks the lender in writing for the dates it needs, and knows what a cash close would require if the loan is not ready. Read the mortgage when a Miami pre-construction closing is delayed for the mirror case, where the building is late, cash or mortgage for Miami pre-construction and the financing contingency question at Nobu.

Those are the two delays a buyer can usually solve inside the notice period. A buyer abroad or out of state closes by power of attorney where the closing agent and the lender accept it, or by remote online notarization under Florida's rules, and both are arranged weeks ahead, not days. Read documents before closing on a new Miami condo for the papers signed. The balance arrives by wire, and an international wire can be held for days by a bank that has not seen the source of funds file; a buyer who moves the balance to a US account or to the escrow agent early removes the risk. Read why international wires get held, moving funds to a Florida escrow account and what to ask before you wire.

Where the contract allows it, yes. A buyer who cannot close may sell the contract to another buyer who can, for a price that recovers the deposits and sometimes more, subject to the developer's consent, an assignment fee and the conditions the clause sets, which at many buildings forbid assignment until a stated share of the building is sold or until the developer has closed its own sales. An assignment takes weeks and a buyer who sees the problem coming starts it before the notice. Read can you assign a pre-construction contract and buying a Miami pre-construction contract from another buyer for the other side of the table. The desk reads the closing clause, the default clause and the assignment clause with the buyer at reservation, which is when the answer to this page is still free.