Deposit up the chain

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been asked 100 times. I am in the middle of selling my property and the sale has taken ages. 6 months so far.

The purchaser has sent back the contracts and asked me to accept the 5k booking deposit as the contract deposit as they have no money, their money is tied up between a top up on their mortgage and waiting to sell their apartment (apparently the contracts have been signed for their apartment,due to close 20th of Feb, No proof on my end as I cant ask for it)

If they have received a deposit on their apartment in Dublin (sold for 230k) can that deposit be pushed up to me for the 10% deposit on my property?

I'm really frustrated with them at the minute as it has taken ages to get this far and now at the 11th hour they say "actually we are 21.5k short of the contract deposit, will 5k do instead??" they have known about the 10% since September. It feels like a trick for some reason.

Advice and questions welcome!! decision to be made in the morning.

Thanks

"If they have received a deposit on their apartment in Dublin (sold for 230k) can that deposit be pushed up to me for the 10% deposit on my property?"

In simple terms, no. That deposit belongs to that transaction, is being held by the solicitor in trust and cannot be released to anyone until that sale completes or collapses.

Would it be fair to say that you don't have a queue of people wanting to buy this property? And that you're stuck with these purchasers and hope that they can complete?

Its not that unusual for purchasers not to pay the full 10% deposit at contract stage, but it is a very good indicator of their bona fides if they can at least get a bit more towards it.

mf