House Purchase Fallen Through

hi

we have been trying to buy a house for the last 2 months. we have sent signed contracts to the vendor solicitors and he has not signed these despite claiming that he was doing it straight away. Also his solicitors have sent numerous letters saying they want closure within 2 weeks

Now he has decided to pull out of the whole thing completely

Can we recover any costs from him (legal costs, mortgage protection policy). I know he has the upper hand here but we have relied on his insistence for a quick sale/solicitors letters stating same throughout

Thanks

Learn from the experience. It is more than likely that all correspondence between the solicitors was marked "Subject to Contract/Contract denied" and that the paragraph set out below was in all letters.

"Please note that we do not have any authority either express or implied to bind our clients in any way and we must emphasise that neither this correspondence nor any negotiations had between our clients shall constitute a note or memorandum within the meaning of the Statute of Frauds until such time as both contracts are signed, exchanged and a full deposit is paid."

While there may be circumstances where a Court will find a binding contract to exist even where all the formalities have not been observed it is generally the case that until such time as both contracts are signed, exchanged and a full deposit is paid that there is no binding contract.

So, no you have probably do not have any recourse.


mf