N.Y. General Obligations Law § 5-1311: Uniform vendor and purchaser risk act

§ 5-1311. Uniform vendor and purchaser risk act. 1. Any contract for

the purchase and sale or exchange of realty shall be interpreted, unless

the contract expressly provides otherwise, as including an agreement

that the parties shall have the following rights and duties:

a. When neither the legal title nor the possession of the subject

matter of the contract has been transferred to the purchaser: (1) if all

or a material part thereof is destroyed without fault of the purchaser

or is taken by eminent domain, the vendor cannot enforce the contract,

and the purchaser is entitled to recover any portion of the price that

he has paid; but nothing herein contained shall be deemed to deprive the

vendor of any right to recover damages against the purchaser for any

breach of contract by the purchaser prior to the destruction or taking;

(2) if an immaterial part thereof is destroyed without fault of the

purchaser or is taken by eminent domain, neither the vendor nor the

purchaser is thereby deprived of the right to enforce the contract; but

there shall be, to the extent of the destruction or taking, an abatement

of the purchase price.

b. When either the legal title or the possession of the subject matter

of the contract has been transferred to the purchaser, if all or any

part thereof is destroyed without fault of the vendor or is taken by

eminent domain, the purchaser is not thereby relieved from a duty to pay

the price, nor is he thereby entitled to recover any portion thereof

that he has paid; but nothing herein contained shall be deemed to

deprive the purchaser of any right to recover damages against the vendor

for any breach of contract by the vendor prior to the destruction or

taking.

2. This section shall be so interpreted and construed as to effectuate

its general purpose to make uniform the law of those states which enact

it.

3. This section may be cited as the uniform vendor and purchaser risk

act.