Going sale agreed on two properties

A property we are sale agreed on seems to be falling through - not our choice. If we put a sale agreed deposit on another house (as a back up plan) are we deemed to have acted in bad faith - or is it irrelvant and we will get the deposit returned on the house that we don't purchase. Can the back up plan vendor sue us?

Sue you for what? No contract exists between you, you are under no obligations and the deposit would have to be returned to you. It would be different if you had signed contracts and tried to pull out afterwards. But if you are only sale agreed, then you can pull out at any stage, for any reason that enters your head, no strings attached.

This "sale agreed" designation is a nonsensical mis-nomer; it means absolutely nothing in legal terms, it just gives the EA an opportunity to prove what a great salesman he is by sticking "Sale Agreed" in big red type across one of his many For Sale signs.

You make an "expression of interest" on a property by giving an EA a refundable deposit as an earnest of that "expression of interest". You get a receipt which will be endorsed "Contract / No Contract". You can put down as many of these deposits as you wish and can afford. Neither you, the EA or the vendor have made any contractual commitments at this stage; that doesn't happen until contracts are agreed, signed and exchanged, which is why the solicitors deal with this stage of the proceedings.

Thanks for the advice, that is how we understood it but just wanted a second opinion.