Buyers' deposit?

B

Bambo

Registered User
Messages
57
We are selling our house and buying another.

The buyers of this house have paid their booking deposit €5,000 - and have signed contracts and returned them WITHOUT the 10% deposit due on signing. Their solicitor sent a letter saying that he presumed this would be ok as they are looking for an early closing date as possible.

My solicitor has asked me what I want to do about this, I asked was this in any way risky for me and she said no. So I have said its ok to not recieve the deposit. The buyers solicitor has written to say his clients will not pay the 10% because they are in a position to close the sale asap.

However, I got a rather alarming letter in the post today, it was sent to my address but meant for the buyers so I opened it anyway (!) The letter was from their mortgage provider saying welcome to x bank etc etc and the details of the loan amout. Im alarmed because I presumed they didnt want to pay the 10% perhaps because they were getting 100% mortgage or something - nope, they are getting a very funny figure - its less than 80% of the purchase price. They have to come up with an extra 60,000 or so themselves to make up the purchase price. My EA told me they were FTB's !?!? If they have to come up with this much money...why cant they pay the 10% deposit?
Should I be alarmed that they are supposedly FTB's and yet they are getting such an unusual figure?
 
Re: buyers deposit?

Bambo said:
However, I got a rather alarming letter in the post today, it was sent to my address but meant for the buyers so I opened it anyway (!)
Click to expand...
Isn't it a crime to open somebody else's post?
 
Re: buyers deposit?

Maybe they have a pile of money from

bookies
parents
working and saving hard.

Perhaps money is tied up in one of these accounts that cannot be acccessed quickly?

I would not be concerned about 80%
 
Re: buyers deposit?

based on the number of sad tales on this site about people left high and dry I would not accept no deposit. If you sign contracts and get no money then you are bound to them by contract to sell but even though they are also legally bound to you you have no leverage if they change their mind. If they have a lot of cash apart from the loan they are getting there is no reason for them to not pay up.
 
Last edited:
Re: buyers deposit?

this is interesting,there is no way my solicitor would let me sign contracts without the 10%, is this not breaking the rules???.
 
Re: buyers deposit?

The 10% deposit was traditional but not mandatory and is becoming less important now that 95/100% mortgages are widespread. Perhaps their funds are tied up until a certain date or are by way of a gift which is why they can't access them at the moment. If you are happy with a quick closing and your solicitor is satisfied then I don't think it is an issue.

Sarah

www.rea.ie
 
IT sounds like we were in a similar position to your buyers when we were buying our house. We were in the lucky position of getting some money from our parents and also wanted to process the sale as quickly as possible. We didn't pay the 10% deposit at the time because it was awkward to get the money and the vendor was happy to wait a couple of weeks and get it all at the same time.
If your uncomfortable with no deposit at all, though perhaps talk to their solicitor and see if there is a lesser amount that they can come up with as a deposit.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top