Advice about lowering original offer prior to signing contract

Hi, Maybe someone can give me their opinion on this.

Mid January I paid a deposit on an 2-bed apartment in Dublin 1. No mortgage. 2 days prior the asking price as reduced by 10%, and I offered the asking.

There was minor issues with the contract so I'm only being asked to sign it this week.

Since January I've seen similar sized apartments with asking prices of between 5k and 45k higher more that what I offered. Also next month theres an auction of many 2 bed apts in Dublin so thats why I think my offer should be lower.

Question:
Is it possible to now lower my original offer by maybe 5k prior to signing a contract? If so, and they dont accept, what happens my deposit? Also I presume I have to still pay the solicitor, but its likely I would buy another property so maybe extra cost to solicitor wouldnt be too much

Or maybe its not possible to change what we originally agreed without losing deposit even though I haven't signed anything.

Thanks

Does the question of behaving honourably not form part of your thinking?

When it comes to money, there is no such thing as honour. If the vendor was keen on selling, the legal papers would and should have been done swiftly to have a contract signed when deal was done, not nine weeks later. In the same manner, if a higher price was offered, the vendor would have gazumpted the OP.

Your deposit is safe as no contracts have been signed. This is a buyer's market and your gut feeling should tell you your next move.,

Padraigb said:

Does the question of behaving honourably not form part of your thinking?

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yes thats why I wanted to hear other peoples opinion before I mentioned this to my solicitor

mercman said:

When it comes to money, there is no such thing as honour. If the vendor was keen on selling, the legal papers would and should have been done swiftly to have a contract signed when deal was done, not nine weeks later. In the same manner, if a higher price was offered, the vendor would have gazumpted the OP.

Your deposit is safe as no contracts have been signed. This is a buyer's market and your gut feeling should tell you your next move.,

Click to expand...

thanks for your opinion, I agree with what you said about if the vendor had been offered a higher price during the past 9 weeks, they wouldnt have been worried about me.

Padraigb said:

Does the question of behaving honourably not form part of your thinking?

Click to expand...

Obviously you dont remember Gazumping! The excuse then was there was no contract signed so the seller/developer could do what they pleased in a rising market.

Whats good for the goose...

If your deposit is fully refundable then you'll get it back. You can change your offer at any time.

I don't see the point in these fully refundable deposits. All they show is that someone has access to 10,000 or so which they can tie up for a few weeks.


People may argue that verbal agreements are binding.. but it's very unlikely that you verbally agreed to purchase the house,... it's likely that you offered a price, and paid a fully refundable deposit, and that your offer was conditional and subject to a survey, and that it may change. If you have verbally agreed something else then you may have problems. I don't expect anything like that though.

Unless I've been asleep, there is no obligation in the purchase of a property unless and until contracts are exchanged. Verbal agreements in property transactions are the law in Scotland, but not in Ireland.

Mercman is correct. OP can do what he wants. No contracts are signed.

thanks everyone for all the replies

But was there a handshake?