Ninsaga, (interesting name by the way) I did report here some time back about a situation I knew about, whereby, a couple paid a deposit to an auctioneer for a house they wanted to buy and he was to arrange the mortgage. Nothing happened, and although they kept asking about the mortgage it was months later that they decided to go and look at the house and it was sold. They were then in the process of trying to get their money back. Not sure what happened about it in the end. There's an example of someone sitting on a deposit getting the interest!!