There is no cool-down period now. Once a purchase contract is signed, the seller has to sell.
Katy Perry’s real estate history hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing. The singer has been wrapped up in several legal battles with elderly homeowners in California, and the conflicts have even inspired a proposed law named the Katy PERRY Act—which not exactly a positive claim to fame. Ahead, take a look at everything we know about the potential law.
The Katy PERRY Act, also referred to as the PERRY Act, “addresses the risks of elder financial abuse, especially as it relates to property and real estate sales and transfers,” according to a website created by its supporters. “The Act establishes a 72-hour cool-down period during which either party involved in a contract for conveyance of a personal residence, in which one party is over the age of 75, can rescind the agreement without penalty.” The name is an obvious reference to the singer, but PERRY also stands for Protecting Elder Realty for Retirement Years Act.
While the PERRY Act has not gone through any legislative processes—and is an effort supported by Perry’s opponents in her current real estate court battle—the proposed act has bipartisan support. Among the signing legislators are state representatives, assemblymen, and senators with the majority from New Mexico and Texas. Others are from Arkansas, California, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, and Wyoming.
Katy Perry has been involved in several legal battles that the website dedicated to the act points to as examples of “predatory acquisition, unfair dealing, or elder financial fraud.” Her most recent high-profile case involves 84-year-old Carl Westcott, who filed a lawsuit to block the sale of his Santa Barbara, California, home to Perry and her fiancé Orlando Bloom. According to court documents, Westcott is alleging that he “lacked the mental capacity to understand the nature and probable consequences of the contract.”
Westcott—who was diagnosed with Huntington’s disease in 2015—purchased the home in May 2020 for $11.25 million with the intention to reside there for the rest of his life. Not long after, he was presented with a proposed contract to sell his home to Perry and Bloom. The contract is dated July 14, 2020, and the offer was for $15 million.
Before signing the contract, Westcott underwent a six-hour back surgery on July 10. When he entered the contract, the lawsuit claimed he was suffering from pain and post-surgical delirium from the surgery, “dementia and/or diminished mental cognitive functions” from Huntington’s, and he was under the influence of pain-killing opiates that his physicians instructed him to take. (If the name Westcott is familiar to you, it may be for one of two reasons: Carl is the founder of 1-800-FLOWERS and his daughter, Kameron Westcott, was a star of the now-cancelled Real Housewives of Dallas.)
Read full article here:
https://www.housebeautiful.com/lifestyle/entertainment/a45432861/the-katy-perry-act-real-estate-law/
