Contract signed - deposit lost?

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Hi
I am in the process of selling my deceased mother's house. I received a bid on the house (through an estate agent)and accepted it. A booking deposit of 5000 was paid. Eventually, after many weeks and months the buyer signed a contract but didn't pay the next 10%. A couple of weeks later he couldn't raise the necessary mortgage and pulled out of the sale. I hadn't signed at this stage but my question is this :
Is he liable to lose his deposit even though I hadn't signed and he had. do both sides have to have signed the contracts in order for the law on this to kick in.
Anyone know how I stand on this?
 
I think you could probably go ahead and sign the contract if you chose to and theoretically keep the 5,000 but if it was me, I'd return it. The buyer has been very stupid in signing unconditional contracts without getting a mortgage arranged but taking their deposit will only make you feel guilty and will make it alot tougher for that person to finance another property. In the meantime, maybe your property has increased slightly in value so perhaps you could get a better price now anyway. Best of luck.
 
If you had not signed the contracts then it was not a legally binding contract. So, apart from the point that it would be the height of greed for you to sting this person for the 5k even if there was a valid contract in place, there is also the point that if you now want the 5k you would have to sign the contracts now and back date it when signing (which will require your witness/solicitor to be in on it aswell) which is getting into illegal territory - all in all can you not just let the person have their deposit back and sell the house to someone else?
 
Maybe try putting the house back on the market at 5,000 higher if you feel that it may have appreciated slightly and see if anybody wants to buy it at that price. I'm sure you'd feel alot better then. Because of the recent delays you've experienced, it may have appreciated somewhat.
 
I've a lot of sympathy for you. Not only has your mother died, and you left to deal with selling the house, but now you've been strung along for months by a person who ultimately wasn't able to do what he said he was going to and instead of selling the house months ago, you're still lumbered with all the stress and hassle of trying to sell it.

I don't think you'll get your €5k back but I think you're entitled to feel hard done by.
 
Booking deposits are refundable. 10% on signing of contract is not. Normally of course the booking deposit is put towards the 10% (it's not normal for an "additional" 10% to be paid on contract signing).

I assume you didn't sign the contract because the seller didn't come up with the 10%. End of deal. Return the cash.
 
Hi all,

It always amazes me that so many on this Bulletin jump to conclusion so quickly.
Perhaps I am to blame in part as I may not have explain my position very well.
Thanks to those contributors who gave me the benefit of the doubt anyway.

Here are the facts. My mother house is in a small country town - it has been empty for the last 2 years as my mother stayed with me during her illness before she died. The house is very old and in a bad state of repair. It will probably be knocked down and apartments built on the site. It has been difficult to sell for a couple of reasons that I do not want to go into here.

The sale was agree with this person (a small builder - so please spare me the tears). I agreed to sell at a reduced price on condition that the sale would go through quickly. He agreed to pay all monies on signing. He signed but didn't pay as agreed. Six months past and this guy strung me along -promising to pay all the money down in one go. He signed the contract and then told us this story that he couldn't raise the finance. He withdrew from the sale leaving me the extra expense of putting it back on the market.
Only had two bids on it since - 15,000 less than the original price so effectively instead of gaining in price I've lost 15,000 euro!!
This is not a case of greed, honesty or "trying to profit from someone else's misfortune"
This guy had no problem making excuses for pulling out after six months of stress and strain. I'm still left with a house that is now only attracting bid well below what I had originally sought.
Put yourself in my shoes. You have a house to sell that is losing value - I know it hard to believe in this time of booming house prices but that's the reality in this case - you agree a price and are strung along for months on end. Then the sale collapses and you're left to pick up the pieces. Who would you feel has lost in this case. The small builder or the person seller?

My original question was this:
is the signed contract (his signature only) legally binding? I still don't know.
 
Is the builder a friend of the auctioneer then it would make sense for the hassle you had? Why not put an add in the buy and sell at a price to sell?
 
With all due respect, the circumstances you have described in great detail (condition of house, fact that buyer is a builder, etc) are irrelevant. The only thing that matters is (1) Your agent is holding a 5% booking deposit (refundable) and (2) Your contract has not been signed by both parties and is therefore not a contract.

It's impossible for anyone to comment on the details of your particular contract without seeing the contract.

The normal practice is for the 10% deposit (less booking deposit) to be submitted with the contract, so perhaps the fact that this was not done also invalidates the contract, I don't know.

Surely your solicitor is the place to go for this kind of advice?
 
It will probably be knocked down and apartments built on the site.
Click to expand...
Would you consider trying to get planning permission for an apartment development yourself and then sell the site with PP, hopefully at a premimum to its current value.
 
Unregistered said:
It always amazes me that so many on this Bulletin jump to conclusion so quickly.
Click to expand...

Perhaps if you'd written this last post (explaining the situation in detail) originally people wouldn't have jumped to the logical conclusions they did.

The fact that you're now getting bids of €15,000 less than before might not have any bearing on the value now as opposed to 6 months back. The guy who made the offer was a builder, so perhaps he figured it might be worth the extra money as he could do it up himself cheaper than most people.
 
Thanks Legend99 , Rory et al, for the sound advice. I hadn't thought about applying for pp myself.That's a gem of an idea. Thanks a million.
 
if noone wants to buy it now, why do you think people would want an apartment there.
 
Thats entirely different. There are a lot of people who have no interest/time/knowledge to buy a place in a bad state and have to renovate it but who want something ready to move in to.
 
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