The California COP form, or Contingency for Sale or Purchase of Property, is an addendum to the Residential Purchase Agreement that makes your offer contingent on selling your current home first. Your agent attaches it to the purchase contract, fills in most of the fields, and uses it to set the deadlines for putting your home into escrow, delivering proof to the seller, and responding if the seller lines up a backup offer. The form is published by the California Association of Realtors and was updated in June 2024.
Where the Form Comes From
C.A.R. standard forms are licensed to members of the California Association of Realtors and pushed out through transaction platforms like zipForms. You cannot download the COP from car.org as a consumer. Your buyer’s agent will pull it into the transaction file and complete it with you. Reading every paragraph before you sign still matters: the deadlines it creates are short, and a missed one can end the deal.
Two Tracks: Home Not Yet In Escrow vs. Already In Escrow
The top of the form ties the addendum to the property you’re buying and the date of the purchase agreement. From there, the form splits into two paths depending on the status of your current home.
If Your Home Is Not Yet In Escrow
Complete Paragraph 2. Check the boxes describing the property’s status. If it’s listed for sale, write in the listing broker’s name and the MLS number so the seller’s agent can confirm the listing is live and priced to move.1California Association of REALTORS. Contingency for Sale of Buyer’s Property
The default language gives you 17 days to enter into an escrow for the sale of your home. That number is negotiable at signing; write a different figure in the blank if the parties agree. Once your home goes into escrow within the window, you have to deliver copies of the sale contract, escrow instructions, and related documents to the seller. The form calls this package “Escrow Evidence.”1California Association of REALTORS. Contingency for Sale of Buyer’s Property
If Your Home Is Already In Escrow
Use Paragraph 3 instead. Enter the scheduled closing date on your current sale, the escrow holder’s name, and the escrow number. You then have five days after acceptance of the purchase agreement to deliver the Escrow Evidence package to the seller.1California Association of REALTORS. Contingency for Sale of Buyer’s Property The tighter deadline reflects that the paperwork should already be in your hands.
Miss either the 17-day or 5-day delivery deadline and the seller can issue a Notice to Buyer to Perform. If you still don’t deliver, the seller can cancel the agreement in writing.1California Association of REALTORS. Contingency for Sale of Buyer’s Property
The Seller Can Keep Marketing the Home
Signing a COP does not take the seller’s property off the market. The form expressly allows the seller to keep the home listed and continue soliciting offers after acceptance.1California Association of REALTORS. Contingency for Sale of Buyer’s Property The listing usually stays active on the MLS with a contingent status. Sellers typically use this window to look for offers with no sale contingency, since those are simpler and close at a higher rate. C.A.R. recommends handling any secondary offer through its separate Back Up Offer form rather than accepting a competing offer outright.2California Real Estate. Confronting Contingencies
The Three-Day Notice To Remove Contingencies
This is the pressure point of the whole form. When the seller accepts a signed backup offer, they can immediately send you a written notice with three demands in a single document: remove the sale-of-property contingency, remove the loan contingency if one exists, and provide verification of funds sufficient to close without the proceeds from your current home.1California Association of REALTORS. Contingency for Sale of Buyer’s Property
The default response window is three days after delivery. You can negotiate a different number when you first sign the COP by writing it into the blank.1California Association of REALTORS. Contingency for Sale of Buyer’s Property Miss all three, or any one of the three, and the seller can immediately cancel the agreement in writing and move to the backup buyer.2California Real Estate. Confronting Contingencies
The buyer’s choice at that moment is simple: prove you can close without the sale proceeds, or walk away.
How the Days Get Counted
The COP uses “Days After Delivery,” which follows the day-counting rules built into the Residential Purchase Agreement. A few points that regularly trip people up:
- Calendar days, not business days. Weekends and holidays count.
- The day of delivery is Day 0. The first full calendar day after delivery is Day 1.
- If the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline rolls to the next day that isn’t one of those, and it expires at 11:59 PM.
Example: the seller delivers a notice to remove contingencies on a Thursday afternoon and the form uses the default three days. Day 1 is Friday, Day 2 is Saturday, Day 3 is Sunday. Because the last day can’t land on a weekend, your deadline actually extends to Monday at 11:59 PM, assuming Monday isn’t a legal holiday.3Medium. Ask Kathy: What a Difference a Day Makes in a California Purchase Agreement “Three days” is not 72 hours from the moment of delivery, and treating it that way is a common agent error.
Removing the Contingency
When you’re ready to waive the sale contingency, whether because your home closed, the seller’s notice forced your hand, or you secured other funding, your agent prepares C.A.R. Form CR, Contingency Removal. That form is the written confirmation that the sale-of-property contingency is satisfied. Once you sign and deliver it, the deal is firm on that point.
If the seller’s notice demanded all three items, your Form CR response should address the sale contingency, the loan contingency, and proof of funds together. After removal, your earnest money deposit is at greater risk. If you later fail to close, the deposit may become non-refundable depending on what other terms remain in the contract.
Your Right To Cancel and Get Your Deposit Back
The COP protects buyers too. As long as the contingency is still in place, you can cancel the purchase agreement if your home doesn’t sell within the specified timeframe, and you can recover your earnest money deposit.4Tahoe Sierra Board of Realtors. Completing C.A.R.’s COP Form in Contingent Buyer Deals The contingency stays live until the earlier of the scheduled close of escrow on the new home or a different date written into the form.
The form also obligates you to keep the seller updated on your sale. If your escrow falls apart or your listing expires without offers, tell the seller promptly. Silence makes the seller less willing to extend deadlines and more likely to cancel. If it’s clear you won’t sell in time, ask your agent to negotiate an extension before the seller invokes a cancellation right. Once the seller pulls that trigger, there is no grace period.