Grant v. Beronio

Citations

• 97 Cal. 496
• 32 P. 556
• 1893 Cal. LEXIS 577

Syllabus

<p>Vendor and Purchaser— Contract of Sale — Specific Performance — Power of Court to Discharge Encumbrances. —1£ a contract for the sale of land provides that the conveyance shall transfer the title free of encumbrances, the court, in an action for specific performance brought by the purchaser, can direct the application of the purchase-money to the satisfaction of those encumbrances, and for that purpose can cause the money to be brought into court, and disbursed under its direction. If the holders of the encumbrances are before the court, they will be bound by the direction of the court, and their claims will be satisfied by a satisfaction of the judgment; and even if they are not before the court, where the amount of the encumbrances is ascertained, and the court finds that the liens can be discharged by mere payment, it can direct that the payment he made directly to the holders of the encumbrances, instead of to the vendor, who cannot object, so long as he incurs no liability, and is freed from any personal claim for the amount of the encumbrances.</p> <p>Id. — Option for Return of Purchase-money — Encumbered Title — Rights of Purchaser. —An agreement for the sale and conveyance of land by the owner thereof, which acknowledged receipt of part of the purchase-money, and by the terms of which the balance of the purchase-money was to be paid on the delivery of a deed, free from encumbrances, within sixty days thereafter, upon receipt of which payment the vendor was to execute a good and sufficient deed conveying the title thereto, and that in ease of failure to make the deed the money paid was to he returned, does not give the vendor the option of conveying the lot or not, as he might choose, but gives the purchaser the right to an enforcement of the vendor’s unconditional agreement to make a conveyance of the land, the provision for the return of the money in the case of failure to execute the deed being for the benefit of the purchaser alone; nor can the vendor