Buyers have legal remedy for refrigerator switch

Q. My husband and I bought our first house a few weeks ago. The contract stated the refrigerator would be included. There was a beautiful new refrigerator in the kitchen and a very old refrigerator in the garage. I'm not even sure the garage one was working. Of course, we presumed the refrigerator meant the kitchen refrigerator, as the other kitchen appliances were also included (range, oven, microwave).

You can probably see where this is going. We do the walk-through just before the closing and find the kitchen refrigerator is gone. We go to the closing and ask what happened to the refrigerator. The attorney called his client (he wasn't present) and his response was he was required to provide a refrigerator and he did that with the one in the garage.

As we had our stuff on a moving van ready to move in and we had closed on our prior house, we had no choice but to close. Needless to say, we are very upset. It will probably cost around $2,000 to replace the refrigerator that was taken. Our attorney does not believe we have any recourse against the seller as he technically complied with the contract. Wondering if you had any thoughts?

A. Of course, technically, your attorney is correct. Bet you don't make that mistake again.

If it was me, I would have your attorney send a letter to the seller's attorney demanding the return of the refrigerator. He or she will forward the letter to the seller and my guess is it will be ignored. The seller will presume you will not chase him for the cost of the refrigerator.

Presuming you know where the seller is or have a means to locate him, I would then file a pro se lawsuit in the county where the property is located. Go to the circuit court clerk's office and tell them what you want to do. They will provide the forms. Some courts, such as Cook County, have a designated time for these simplified lawsuits. It is very much like "Peoples Court" on television. You tell your story, bring your evidence and the judge makes a ruling. It will cost you a few bucks but even if you lose, it will be worth it watching this guy try to justify his actions to the judge.

It is also very possible once the seller is served with the lawsuit, he will not want to appear before a judge to explain his actions and may return the refrigerator voluntarily. Make sure to take pictures of the old refrigerator and have pictures of the one that was taken. If the property was listed, there are probably some pictures of the kitchen that include the refrigerator.

Q. We closed on our house last week. We did a walk-through the day before and the house was still full. The sellers assured us they would be out by the end of the closing.

During the closing, we had our real estate agent check on the house. She called us during the closing and said the sellers still weren't out and would not be out for at least another four hours. That wasn't good news as we had the moving van loaded in the morning and they were waiting for the end of our closing to move our belongings in.

We called the moving company and they told us it would cost us a certain amount per hour for every hour they were delayed. We asked the sellers to pay for the delay but they claimed they weren't taking any money from the closing (that was true) and they didn't have any money to pay us. In the end, it cost us an extra $800 as a result of the delay.

We are wondering if there is anything we can do to recoup our $800.

A. You certainly were entitled to be reimbursed for the extra charges by your movers. This probably would not have been a problem if the sellers were receiving proceeds from the sale, as you could have demanded some of those proceeds be held to cover your extra charges. Unfortunately, there were no funds to hold.

So, see my response above. Send a letter to sellers demanding that you be reimbursed as a result of their failure to comply with the terms of the contract. When they ignore you, a pro se lawsuit is probably your best option, presuming you can locate them.

• Send your questions to attorney Tom Resnick, 345 N. Quentin Road, Palatine, IL 60067, by email to tdr100@hotmail.com or call (847) 359-8983.