The right expires at the deadline, not before or after
Under TREC 20-19 Paragraph 5B, the buyer's unrestricted right to terminate for any reason ends at 5:00 PM local time on the last day of the option period — and that deadline does not roll forward for weekends or federal holidays — same as title, survey, financing, and closing deadlines. Only earnest money and the option fee roll, under ¶ 5A(2). If the buyer hasn't delivered written termination notice by that exact time, the unrestricted right to terminate is extinguished.
What the buyer can still do
Missing the option deadline doesn't mean the buyer is locked in no matter what. The buyer can still terminate, but only under a cause-based right that actually exists elsewhere in the contract or its addenda — for example, a financing failure under the Third Party Financing Addendum, or unresolved title objections that weren't cured by the end of the Cure Period under Paragraph 6.D. What's gone is the ability to terminate for any reason without pointing to one of those specific grounds.
Repairs are a related trap: if an inspection turned up something the seller agreed to fix, that repair amendment has to be signed by both parties before the option period expires to count as executed. A buyer-signed, seller-unsigned amendment at 4:55 PM on the option-expiry day is not an executed amendment — it doesn't preserve any right once the deadline passes.
Earnest money is now at risk
Once the no-cause right is gone, trying to terminate anyway without a valid cause-based reason puts the earnest money in jeopardy. A buyer who lets the option period lapse and then tries to walk for a reason that isn't actually in the contract is treated the same as any other default — the seller's standard remedy is to retain the earnest money as liquidated damages. "Cold feet" isn't a contractual reason.
The most common ways this happens by mistake
- Counting business days instead of calendar days. The option period runs on calendar days, weekends included.
- Assuming the deadline rolls like earnest money does. It doesn't — Paragraph 5B is a fixed calendar deadline, same as title, survey, financing, and closing. Only earnest money and the option fee roll, under Paragraph 5A(2).
- Relying on a verbal extension. Not enforceable. Only a written amendment executed by both parties before the original deadline extends the option period.
- Sending notice late in the day and assuming it counts. 5:00 PM means 5:00 PM — a 5:02 PM email is too late.
- Using the wrong time zone. 5:00 PM is local to the property, not to the agent's office.
The only way to get more time
The option period can be extended, but only by a written amendment (the current TREC Amendment to Contract form) executed by both parties before the original option period expires — and typically for an additional option fee. Once the original deadline has already passed, there's no amendment that revives it after the fact; that document has to be signed while the original right still exists.