% deposit when buying house

J

JohnJay

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I recently went sale-agreed on a house. I am buying this directly from the owner, they are not using an estate agent. The owners solicitor will be in touch next week to ask for a deposit. What is the usual amount for a holding deposit? Is it usually a flat-amount or a % of the sale price?
 
It's 8% of the house price, be sure the sale is going through if you change your mind you could loss your deposit
 
BETTYBOO38 said:
It's 8% of the house price, be sure the sale is going through if you change your mind you could loss your deposit
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8-10% would be a contract deposit. Holding deposits are usually paid to the EA and are usually about 5k. The EA takes their fee from this amount.
 
nediaaa said:
be 100% sure your mortgage is in place before handing over anyy deposit
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you would get the holding deposit back if the purchase / contract signing did not go ahead though. In our case the €5k deposit would have been refundable if it transpired we didn't get the mortgage or go ahead to contract signing stage.
 
BETTYBOO38 said:
It's 8% of the house price, be sure the sale is going through if you change your mind you could loss your deposit
Click to expand...

We paid 5% last February and the EA receipt stated that the deposit was fully refundable (as our solicitor had warned us to ensure it would). When the sale fell through, the deposit was returned to us immediately.
 
thanks folks. The buyers solicitors havent got in touch yet to ask for a deposit. I'll try to keep it at 5k max though and make sure its refundable.
 
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