Asked and Answered
I am buying an apartment in a small building and I just found out that the elevator is being renovated and will be out of service for three months. Do I have to close if the elevators will not be operational on the closing date?Probably. It’s possible that a major capital improvement or repair that will impact quality of life might cause a closing to be adjourned, but in most cases, the improvement or repair should have been known about before the contract was signed, and will not result in a delay in closing the transaction. When elevators will be out of service and a party will not be able to move in, that issue should be addressed at the beginning of the transaction, so the parties can arrange the logistics of closing around the complication of the elevator repair. If an actual emergency occurs and the elevators have to go out of service for a considerable period of time without any notice, the buyer may have a better chance of adjourning the closing, as the circumstances upon which the contract was executed have materially changed.