Utah purchase contract deadlines: a buyer's timeline

Nearly every Utah home purchase is written on the Real Estate Purchase Contract, or REPC. The Utah Division of Real Estate publishes it on its state-approved forms page, and the footer says it's approved by the Utah Real Estate Commission and the Office of the Utah Attorney General, effective December 4, 2024. The first lines say Utah law requires real estate licensees to use it, though buyer and seller may agree to change it.

This guide is general information about Utah's state-approved purchase contract as of November 2026. It isn't legal, tax or lending advice. Read the actual REPC and every addendum before you sign, and talk to a Utah real estate attorney if a deadline, a cancellation or an earnest money dispute is on the line.

Here's the order things happen in from your side. Apart from the offer's own expiration time in Section 25, only the four dates in Section 24 are blanks you fill in. The rest are fixed by the form and count from Acceptance, from Settlement, or from one of the four deadlines.

Our seller-side walk through the same form, /utah/sell-by-owner/repc-explained/, covers every section. This page stays on the buyer's job at each date: what to get done, what you can still cancel over, and what it costs you if a date slips.

Section 21, Time Is of the Essence, sets the rules for every date in the contract. Unless the REPC explicitly says otherwise:

• Performance on a date is "absolutely" required by 5:00 PM Mountain Time on that date.
• "Days" and "calendar days" both mean calendar days, counted beginning the day after the event that starts the clock, such as Acceptance.
• Extensions have to be agreed to in writing by all parties. A verbal OK or a text from the other agent isn't an extension.
• The dates don't bind title companies, lenders, appraisers or anyone else who isn't a party to the REPC, unless they agree in writing.

The form has no rule that pushes a deadline to the next business day when it lands on a weekend or holiday. If your Due Diligence Deadline is a Sunday, it's a Sunday. Pick dates you and your inspectors, lender and agent can actually meet.

Section 18 says notices must be in writing, signed by the buyer or seller giving them, and received by the other party, their agent or their brokerage no later than the applicable date. A cancellation counts when it's received, not when you decide. Send it early on deadline day, and keep proof of when it went out.

A hypothetical example. Say your offer is accepted on Wednesday, March 3, 2027. Day one is Thursday, March 4, and your earnest money is due by 5:00 PM on Sunday, March 7. Suppose you and the seller wrote in these dates. They're for illustration only, not a recommendation:

In that example you'd have nine days between receiving the disclosures and the end of due diligence. If the seller delivers late, those nine days shrink, because the Due Diligence Deadline doesn't move by itself. Ask for a written extension if you need the time.

The REPC leaves the amount blank. You offer an amount, and the seller can counter. The opening paragraph says you'll deliver it no later than four calendar days after Acceptance, in the form written in, and the brokerage then has four calendar days to put it in its real estate trust account. Section 2.1(a) carries a warning in plain words: under certain conditions this deposit "may become totally non-refundable."

Here's how the risk to your deposit changes as the deadlines pass, assuming you checked IS for the due diligence and appraisal conditions and chose 8.3(b), financing required:

Watch the blank in Section 8.3(b)(i) when you write your offer. It's the part of your deposit the seller keeps if you walk away over loan terms after due diligence ends. A smaller number protects you. Sellers sometimes counter with a larger one.

Section 8.4 lets the parties agree to an Additional Earnest Money Deposit, due by the later of the Due Diligence Deadline or the Financing & Appraisal Deadline if you haven't cancelled. The deposits are credited toward your price at Closing, so earnest money isn't an extra cost if the sale closes.

If a deal falls apart and the form doesn't release the money on its own terms, the brokerage holding it needs more. Utah's trust account rule, Utah Admin. Code R162-2f-403a, lets a principal broker release earnest money from a failed transaction when a condition in the REPC authorizing disbursement has happened or when the parties sign a separate agreement with disbursement instructions. When both sides claim it and the broker can't tell whose claim is valid, the rule allows the broker to interplead the funds into court or, in some cases, refer the parties to mediation.

By this date the seller has to give you the documents Section 7 calls the Seller Disclosures, in hard copy or electronically. Under Section 14 they become part of your contract. The list includes:

• A written seller property condition disclosure, completed, signed and dated by the seller.
• A Lead-Based Paint Disclosure & Acknowledgement, if the home was built before 1978.
• A Commitment for Title Insurance, which shows who owns the home and the liens, easements and restrictions on it.
• Any CC&Rs, rules and regulations, and, if there's an HOA, its most recent minutes, budget and financial statement.
• Any long-term leases or short-term rental bookings that won't end before Closing, and any property management agreements.
• Evidence of the water rights or water shares that Section 1.4 includes in the price.
• Written notice of environmental problems and building or zoning code violations the seller knows about.
• Notice if the seller is a foreign person under FIRPTA, because you or a substitute may be required to withhold tax at Closing.

Read them as soon as they arrive. They feed straight into your due diligence. The title commitment can show an easement or a lien you need explained. The HOA budget and minutes can point to a coming special assessment. Section 4.2 has a checkbox for who pays special assessments approved before the Settlement Deadline, and you want to know about one before your Due Diligence Deadline, not after.

If the seller misses this deadline, the REPC doesn't set a separate penalty or move your Due Diligence Deadline. Late delivery can be a failure to perform, which matters under Section 16.2, but in practice the fix is usually a written addendum extending your due diligence period. Ask for it before your review time runs short.

For a pre-1978 home, federal rules require the seller to give you a 10-day opportunity for a lead-based paint risk assessment or inspection, unless you agree in writing to a different period or waive it (40 CFR 745.110). Utah's state-approved Lead-Based Paint Addendum, if used, makes the purchase conditional on your approval of a risk assessment, with a deadline of ten calendar days after Acceptance unless another number is written in.

This is the most important date for most buyers. If you checked IS on the Due Diligence Condition, Section 8.1(a) lets you review the Seller Disclosures and run any tests you think are appropriate, at your cost, using people you choose. The seller has to cooperate, and you pay for any damage your inspections cause. The form lists examples worth turning into a checklist:

• Physical condition: the roof, walls and foundation; plumbing, electrical, heating and air conditioning; and appliances.
• Hazardous substances, environmental issues and geologic conditions.
• Square footage or acreage, and the location of property lines.
• The cost and availability of homeowners insurance, and flood insurance if it applies.
• Water source, availability and quality.
• Regulatory use restrictions or violations.
• Fees such as HOA dues, municipal services and utility costs.
• Convicted sex offenders living nearby.
• Anything else that's material to your decision.

Many buyers also order checks the form doesn't name, such as a sewer line camera inspection or a radon test. Schedule inspectors in the first few days. Specialists like roofers or structural engineers can take a week to get out, and their reports may lead to more questions.

By the deadline, Section 8.1(b) gives you two choices if the results are unacceptable to you:

• Cancel by written notice to the seller. Your earnest money is released to you without the seller having to sign anything else.
• Resolve your objections in writing with the seller. In practice your agent sends a proposed addendum asking for repairs, a credit or a lower price. Resolved means a signed agreement by the deadline, not an offer still waiting for a reply.

The current form has no separate response period for the seller. Everything has to be signed by the Due Diligence Deadline itself. If you send an objection addendum late in the period and the seller says no at 4:00 PM on deadline day, you have an hour to decide whether to cancel. Send objections early, and set a response time in your addendum that leaves you room to cancel.

If you do neither by 5:00 PM on the deadline, Section 8.1(c) treats you as having waived the Due Diligence Condition, and your earnest money becomes non-refundable, except under the appraisal and loan-terms clauses that run to the next deadline.

Section 10.2 says you're buying the home "As-Is" and relying on your own judgment and inspectors once you go past due diligence. That doesn't erase the seller's duty to disclose known defects, but it does mean the due diligence period is your chance to find problems. Don't let it lapse while you wait on a report.

This date covers two separate protections, and you choose each one in the offer.

Appraisal Condition (Section 8.2). If you checked IS, and your lender or the appraiser gives you written notice that the home appraised below the price, you can cancel by written notice with a copy of that Notice of Appraised Value, no later than the Financing & Appraisal Deadline. Your earnest money comes back to you. If you don't cancel by then, the condition is waived. A low appraisal doesn't end the contract by itself. Common outcomes are a price reduction, more cash from you, or a split, written into a signed addendum before the deadline.

Financing Condition (Section 8.3). If you checked 8.3(b), you agree to work diligently and in good faith to get the loan. After the Due Diligence Deadline and up to the Financing & Appraisal Deadline, you can cancel if you aren't satisfied with the loan's terms, in your sole discretion. The amount written in 8.3(b)(i) goes to the seller and the rest comes back to you. After the deadline passes, the risk shifts. If the loan proceeds aren't delivered to the closing office, the seller can cancel and keep all of your deposits as liquidated damages.

FHA and VA buyers get an extra protection. The state-approved FHA/VA Loan Addendum says that, notwithstanding the Financing & Appraisal Deadline, you aren't obligated to buy, and don't forfeit your earnest money, if the price is more than the FHA appraised value or the VA's reasonable value. You can still choose to go ahead at the agreed price. The addendum also has blanks for the most the seller will spend on appraisal-required repairs and a seller contribution toward your closing costs.

Talk to your loan officer before you write the offer. Ask how long your appraisal and underwriting usually take for this kind of loan, and set the Financing & Appraisal Deadline with some cushion. Section 21 says the lender isn't bound by your dates, so a slow appraisal doesn't extend your deadline. Only a signed addendum does.

Under Section 3.1, Settlement happens when both sides have signed and delivered the required documents and paid the money they owe, not counting your loan proceeds. It has to happen by the Settlement Deadline. Closing, under Section 3.2, adds two more steps: your lender delivers the loan proceeds, and the documents are recorded with the county recorder. Those have to be done no later than four calendar days after Settlement.

Several things are tied to the Settlement Deadline even if you settle earlier. Property taxes, HOA dues and other prorations are figured as of that date (Section 4.1), and you take over utilities after it (Section 4.3(d)). Possession follows Section 3.3: upon Recording, or a set number of hours or calendar days after Recording.

• Closing Disclosure. Federal rules require you to receive it at least three business days before consummation (12 CFR § 1026.19(f)). If your loan approval comes in late, this can push your signing date. Compare it to your Loan Estimate.
• Final walk-through. Section 11 allows it no earlier than seven calendar days before Settlement, to confirm included items are present and agreed repairs are done. Skipping it doesn't waive your right to get those items as agreed.
• Insurance. Section 20.1 makes you responsible for casualty and liability coverage as of Closing, in amounts acceptable to you and your lender. Your lender will want proof before funding.
• Funds. Bring your cash to close in a form the closing office accepts. Confirm wiring instructions by phone with the title company at a number you already have, never one from an email. Changed wiring instructions are a common fraud tactic.

If the Settlement Deadline will be missed, for example because the lender needs a few more days, get a written extension signed by both sides before it passes. Without one, the side that failed to settle may be in default under Section 16.

If the seller defaults, Section 16.2 lets you choose one remedy: cancel, get your deposit back and also accept liquidated damages equal to the deposit; keep the deposit in trust and sue to make the seller go through with the sale; or take the deposit back and pursue other remedies at law. Section 15 may require mediation first, depending on which box was checked, and Section 17 lets the winner in litigation or binding arbitration recover costs and reasonable attorney fees.

Most missed-deadline problems are avoidable. Every extension, repair agreement and price change belongs on a signed addendum, usually the state-approved Addendum to Real Estate Purchase Contract, before the deadline it changes. Section 14 says the REPC can't be changed except by written agreement.

Your agent's biggest job after Acceptance is keeping these dates from sneaking up on you. In practice that means:

• Proposing deadline lengths in your offer that fit your loan type, your lender's timeline and the home's age and condition.
• Putting every deadline on a shared calendar the day of Acceptance, counted the way Section 21 requires.
• Lining up inspectors early and chasing the seller's disclosures, title commitment and HOA documents.
• Drafting objection addenda and extensions with time left to cancel if the seller says no.
• Staying in touch with your loan officer and the title company so appraisal and underwriting problems show up before the Financing & Appraisal Deadline, not after.
• Sending signed, written notices so a cancellation is received on time under Section 18.

Since August 17, 2024, you sign a written agreement with a buyer's agent who is an MLS participant before touring homes, and it states what the agent is paid. In the REPC, Section 4.3(e) is where the seller can agree to contribute to your brokerage's compensation. If no amount is entered there, the seller hasn't agreed to pay your brokerage in the contract. More on how that works is at /buy/guides/buyer-agent-commission/.

JupiDoor is a licensed Utah brokerage that represents buyers in Utah. Buyers who purchase with JupiDoor in Utah get 1% of the purchase price back when the seller offers a 3% buyer-agent commission. JupiDoor keeps a 2% minimum, so there's no cash back when the commission it receives is 2% or less. It's paid as a closing credit, a check or a commission adjustment. JupiDoor doesn't offer buyer representation in Idaho. Full terms are at /cashback/.

Your lender has the final say on how a closing credit shows up on your Closing Disclosure, and some loan programs limit cash to the buyer. Tell your loan officer about any expected credit early. See /buy/guides/cash-back-rebate-taxes/ for the details.