exchange of contracts but no deposit

[elainem]

Buyer of my house has singed contract for sale, I have signed it, but my solicitor has not sent it back as the purchaser has not sent the deposit. Apparently he is borrowing the whole lot. His solicitor has loan approval letter, but funds have not been drawn down. Purchaser appears to be away abroad a lot so apparently not able to draw-down funds. Where do I stand? Moving back to Dublin, want to sell house to buy another more suitable for young children. Need to decide on schools etc. Now feel that I am being messed around. Feel like I would prefer to withdraw from sale. Have alaready given notice in job - thought everything was o.k., but it doesn't seem to be. Any advice from legal eagle's out there. Thanks.

 

[Bubbly Scot]

Not a legal eagle but I bought a house last year without paying a deposit. Well I paid a few grand "booking" deposit. The seller agreed with the arrangement but then both sides were pushing things along with only a handful of weeks between making the offer and closing.

I'm sure legals would advise you differently and I personally would be cautious, the drawing down of a mortgage is not time consuming for the buyer, his solicitor handles all that (well mine did).

 

[Dee101]

Signed contracts have not been exchanged (your Solicitor has not returned one part to the purchaser's Solicitor) and no consideration paid by the purchaser yet- therefore no valid contract in place.

Get your Solicitor to give them a deadline for the deposit to be sent and if not you will pull out. This might give the purchaser the little shove he needs and will let you know for sure if he is serious or not.

Though to be honest if this guy has returned the signed contracts then he is obviously serious and not meaning to mess you about, maybe just a little laid back about things-as i said he might just need a little shove to get him moving.
And if I was you I would try and hold on to the buyer you have, as houses are not exactly the easiest to sell in this climate.

 

[lexus]

the same thing happened us about a month ago, the purchasers gave the estate agents a booking deposit, then signed contracts and said because they are takinga 100% mortgage could we waive further deposit.

our solicitor advised us not to do this, and he rang the purchasers solicitor requesting minimum 7% deposit (including booking deposit) in the end we agreed to proceed with a reduced deposit - about 4% in total.

I mean surely he has a few grand he could use as deposit or else could borrow from family or friends to secure the deal.

 

[Paulone]

My buyer was getting a 100% mortgage and paid only a booking deposit (coupla thou) which was held by the EA and went to cover their fee.

My solicitor suggested that while this was not an unknown practice, it was not something they recommended due to the small amount that the buyer stood to lose if they did not complete.

I felt sure the buyer was serious because the contract was signed, I my solicitor had been shown the buyer's loan offer and, because there was no other offer in the pipeline, I was prepared to wait. It eventually all came good but took a couple of months.

You could ask your solicitor to issue a completion notice - which gives the buyer 21 days (I think) to progress the deal and complete or else they forfeit whatever deposit they have paid (if there is any).

It might be more useful to get the two solicitors to talk to eachother about the holdup and to ask your estate agent to see what they can find out about why there is a problem. You are right to feel ticked off with the current reason given - it's not good enough at all but it might not be the whole story.

If a holdup is occurring because something like life insurance is problematic or the buyer has some issues in selling their own place, try and establish this so you are better informed about what to do. In my case I managed to find out that the delay was not of my buyer's doing, so issuing completion notice would have been totally the wrong thing to do.

Even the tiniest thing can cause delay no matter how much your buyer might be inclined to push ahead with the deal so try and get a better handle on what their issue is before you decide.

 

[Dee101]

You could ask your solicitor to issue a completion notice - which gives the buyer 21 days (I think) to progress the deal and complete or else they forfeit whatever deposit they have paid (if there is any)

Completion notices only apply to new houses

 

[elainem]

Hi! Everyone, thanks for your replies. The sale price of the house is over the million mark. Purchaser refused to pay E30,000 booking deposit as required by auctioneers. His solicitor told the auctioneers that she had advised him not to do this, and that E15 should be sufficient.

Contracts signed last week by Purchaser, after I said I would withdraw the house for sale, and after three weeks of promises by buyer. I made it known that I needed to move quickly to buy another house in Dublin, as we would be returning to live in Dublin, and getting school places for the children would depend on where we would be living.

On the day the purchaser signed the contracts, solicitor sated that the purchaser had the deposit and same would be forwarded to my solicitor by early this week.

On Thursday, discovered through auctioneer and my solicitor, that purchaser did not have deposit, but was borrowing the entire amount. Solicitor shaid she had the loan approval sitting on her desk. Purchaser aborad, and auctioneer said he would be back today. Purchaser's solicitor says she doesn't know when he will be back. Meanwhile, I am fretting about buying another house in Dublin, in an area where there are fairly good schools and where there are also school places available. I have already pulled out of one house becasue of renovation costs, but also because by the time, and even if, the sale completes, there might not be adequate time for me to renovate another house - and houses in my price range in my chosen areas nearly all require some rennovation.

Another letter sent today by my solicitor sating that we require 10% desposit by Tuesday, or it will be presumed that the purchaser is not serious about the sale completion. From my perspective, I cannot sign for antoher house, until 10% deposit is forthcoming. If the purchaser's solicitor had initially told me that he was borrowing the whole lot and there would be no 10% deposit, only a booking deposit, until completion, then I might feel a bit better about things, but because the deposit has been promised, but is not now forthcoming, I feel a bit dubious about the whole deal. At this stage, and due to time contstraints, I feel it will be likely that I will have to hold onto the house for another couple of years.

Sorry that the post is so long.