We signed a contract to purchase a house and have put a 50,000…

If the condition has not been removed there is not yet a requirement for you to complete - the vendors cannot sue you. Do not remove the condition until you have a completely binding sale of your current property or you could be sued.

As far as the vendor goes, that is not your responsibility. They have accepted your conditional offer and that is it. Your concern is your own position, not that of the vendor.

Your realtor is obviously trying to save the sale to realize on commissions.

If the date required for removal of the condition that you sell your home first comes and goes, the contract is at an end and you have no further obligations.

I trust that answers your questions. If I can provide further clarification I would be pleased to do so.

Thank you for your reply.

You obviously believed that you had a condition precedent regarding the sale of your home. Based on what you have set out though, it appears that may not be the case. Perhaps that is why your realtor is concerned, particularly if he or she led you to believe the deal was subject to the sale of your home.

I would strongly suggest that you seek legal counsel as soon as possible to review the agreement in detail. I would not, at this stage, rely on what your realtor tells you.

If, in fact, there is not a condition precedent in place, then you are required to complete on the completion date. If you do not, the vendors may sue for 'specific performance' requiring you to complete. They also have the alternative of offering the home for sale to a third party - if there is a shortfall between what they sell for and what your offer was, they will be entitled to recover the difference from you in damages.

Again, you should see a lawyer as soon as possible regarding this. There may be room to negotiate the matter.

I hope that answers your questions. If I can assist any further I would be pleased to do so.

It is not likely they would sue you for specific performance because of that fact - that you are unable to complete. That is the reason there are alternative remedies available to the vendor. The other option is to sue you for damages as I set out earlier.

That may not happen - it rarely does because some sort of settlement is usually worked out. That is why you should see a lawyer with all of the documents to see what your options are after they are reviewed. You should not be required to take a complete loss on the sale of your property if there are other options.

It is most unfortunate that this is your initiation into the real estate market in Canada. If your realtor has told you things that have not turned out to be true, however, then you may also have the option of 'third partying' them into proceedings if you are sued.

I hope that assists your understanding of the situation.