You are here: / / ALTHOUGH CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (MORTGAGE PAYMENTS, TAXES, INSURANCE, ETC.)...
,

ALTHOUGH CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (MORTGAGE PAYMENTS, TAXES, INSURANCE, ETC.) ARE NOT USUALLY AVAILABLE WHEN A BUYER BREACHES A REAL ESTATE PURCHASE AGREEMENT BECAUSE THE SELLER REMAINS IN THE HOUSE AND THOSE COSTS ARE NOT CAUSED BY THE BREACH, THE SAME IS NOT TRUE FOR A COMMERCIAL SELLER WHO DOES NOT RESIDE IN THE HOUSE AND MUST MAKE SIMILAR PAYMENTS (FOURTH DEPT).

The Fourth Department, reversing Supreme Court, determined consequential damages were available to the commercial developer in this breach of a real estate purchase agreement case. Usually when a buyer breaches a purchase agreement consequential damages are not available because the seller remains in the house and the mortgage and other costs of living there have nothing to do with the breach. However, where, as here, the seller does not live in the house, the expenses association with the maintenance and care of the home after the breach are financial losses:

As a general rule, consequential damages are not available to a seller of residential real estate when the purchaser breaches the contract … . That is because, typically, the seller “retain[s] ownership, use and enjoyment of the premises,” and it cannot be said that the “mortgage interest expenses, repairs or utilities paid postbreach” are proximately caused by the breach … .

Where, however, the seller is a commercial developer, the seller does not live in the home and never intends to do so. Upon the purchaser’s breach, the developer begins to incur costs that reduce the profit margin. Such carrying costs may include, among other things, maintenance and utility costs as well as real property taxes. Whereas the ordinary residential seller, by living in the home after the purchaser’s breach, receives value for the carrying costs until the subsequent sale, the commercial developer does not receive such value. Instead, the carrying costs are nothing but a financial loss. Chrisanntha, Inc. v deBaptiste, 2020 NY Slip Op 06607, Fourth Dept 11-13-20

 

You might also like
Party Represented by Counsel at a Scheduled Court Appearance Has Not Failed to Appear
FAILURE TO INSTRUCT THE JURY ON TWO REMOTE LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSES WAS HARMLESS ERROR, JURY WAS INSTRUCTED ON THE HIGHEST LESSER INCLUDED OFFENSE AND CONVICTED DEFENDANT OF THE TOP COUNT OF THE INDICTMENT (FOURTH DEPT).
Motion to Vacate Pursuant to CPLR 5015 Should Have Been Granted On “Subject Matter Jurisdiction” and “Fraud Upon the Court” Grounds
Attempt to Deny Visitation to Incarcerated Mother Denied
Owner/Officer of Company Can Be Personally Liable for Toxic Emissions Released by Company.
Court Should Not Have Deferred, Over Defense Counsel’s Objection, to Defendant’s Request that the Jury Not Be Charged on a Lesser Included Offense—To Do So Denies Defendant His Right to the Expert Judgment of Counsel
A WHEEL CAME OFF DEFENDANT’S TRUCK CAUSING A FREAK ACCIDENT INVOLVING TWO OTHER VEHICLES RESULTING IN THE DEATH OF A DRIVER; THE CRIMINALLY NEGLIGENT HOMICIDE CONVICTION WAS AGAINST THE WEIGHT OF THE EVIDENCE; AT MOST, DEFENDANT FAILED TO PERCEIVE THE RISK CREATED BY A NOISY WHEEL (FOURTH DEPT).
Syracuse Police Officer Did Not Have Authority to Arrest in Town of DeWitt, Judge Abused Discretion During Jury Selection.

Categories

Sign Up for the Mailing List to Be Notified When the Site Is Updated.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Copyright © 2026 New York Appellate Digest, Inc.
Site by CurlyHost | Privacy Policy

THE DISTINCTION BETWEEN DETERMINING THE VALIDITY OF AN AGREEMENT TO ARBITRATE,... THE FINDING THAT DEFENDANT USED THE CONCRETE SIDEWALK AS A DANGEROUS INSTRUMENT...