Federal Act Provides Mechanism for Purchasers and Lessees to Revoke Contracts Under Some Circumstances
December 19, 2012.
A United States District Court of Appeals in New York reversed lower court’s ruling which granted summary judgment in favor of the purchasers of luxury condominium unit in New York City who were seeking revocation of an executed purchase agreement on the grounds that the agreement failed to comport with a federal act known as the Interstate Land Sales Full Disclosure Act (“Act”) (see 15 U.S.C. §§ 1701-20). The appellate court determined that the purchase agreement was consistent with the requirements of the Act. The Act is intended to protect individual buyers or lessees who purchase or lease lots in large uncompleted housing developments, including condominiums, by mandating that developers make certain
disclosures. If the required disclosures are not given, under certain circumstances buyers or lessees may revoke their purchase or lease agreements.
The purchasers alleged that their purchase agreement was revocable because it did not contain “a description of the lot which makes such lot clearly identifiable and which is in a form acceptable for recording as required by 15 U.S.C. §1703(d)(1). After the trial court granted judgment in favor of the purchasers, the appellate court reversed the judgment because it interpreted the statute in question as requiring that only the description and not the agreement itself be in a form that is acceptable for recording.