Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 3603 – Remedies and penalties
(a) In any successful action brought by a buyer for failure to acknowledge unfinished work subject to the escrow provisions of § 3602 of this title or failure to escrow the contractual cost or the fair market value required to complete the unfinished work subject to the escrow provisions of § 3602 of this title, the court may order the seller/vendor to pay the amount that should have been escrowed and the costs of litigation. To the extent a seller/vendor proves that a buyer’s request to escrow under § 3602 of this title was not valid, the buyer may be liable for the seller/vendor’s costs of litigation.
Terms Used In Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 3603
- Buyer: means any individual, partnership, corporation or trustee purchasing any estate or interest in a new residential real property or new dwelling. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 3601
- Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
- Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
- Fair market value: The price at which an asset would change hands in a transaction between a willing, informed buyer and a willing, informed seller.
- Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
- State: means the District of Columbia or the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico or any state, territory, possession, or other jurisdiction of the United States other than the State of Delaware. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 17-101
- Unfinished work: means a condition in a new residential real property or new dwelling which fails to comply with the work agreed upon by the vendor and/or seller in the specifications, contract terms and applicable building codes. See Delaware Code Title 6 Sec. 3601
(b) Failure to comply with a buyer’s valid request to escrow under § 3602 of this title shall constitute an unlawful practice in violation of § 2513 of this title and wilful violations of § 3602 of this title shall be punishable in accordance with § 2513 and/or § 2581 of this title. The Attorney General shall have the same authority in enforcing, remedying, and otherwise carrying out the provisions of this subchapter as is provided by Chapter 25 of Title 29 and by §§ 2511-2527 and 2531-2536 of this title.
(c) The remedies and penalties provided for in this section are not exclusive and shall be in addition to any other procedures, rights or remedies which exist with respect to any other provisions of law including, but not limited to, state and/or federal criminal prosecutions and/or common law statutory actions brought by private parties.
70 Del. Laws, c. 355, § ?1; 70 Del. Laws, c. 419, § ?3; 77 Del. Laws, c. 282, § ?9;