Offended by a letter?

1echidna

As chickmug says it may be very hard to read peoples motivation. I know in selling our house we were wary of buyers who appeared hard nosed and may be trouble down the road. One hears of all sorts of troubles in a falling market with so called gazundering (if I have got the correct term). The talk about the written offer may (or may not be) just one aspect of how the seller perceived you. There may be other aspects of what the seller likes, or prejudices the seller has, and one is not obliged to accept the highest offer.

chickmug

Gwhiz wrote: »

Only 12 months ago. Deposit held with solicitor. Nope - the terms were if buyer pulled out simple because he changed his mind it was non refundable. This is not the deposit at exchange - this was a good faith deposit to give him a set period to exchange but which allowed me to keep on the market in case he did pull out but I could not accept an offer unless he did pull out. Quite sensible to me.

I would like to hear Richard Websters, or other agents, views on deposits because my solicitor tells me that the rules they worked to tightened up in the past year or so and so no solicitors we dealt with would agree to this. Also solicitors acting for buyers advise their client NOT to pay these type of deposits.

We had one case where the buyer offered to pay a £12,000 deposit to show his goodwill as he was really keen on the property but the solicitors on both sides said they would not hold the money. The sellers solicitor, who I knew, said I should not agree to hold it or even give advice to either party that could be seen as agreeing to it being taken as it would severely compromise my position should there be a problem.

There was aproblem as the buyer, was full of wind, but pulled out after a few weeks. Goodness knows what would of happened if he had paid the said deposit.

Did your solicitor draw up special paperwork as what you managed to do contravene position as far as I am aware of it? I also recall the NAEA did not like members taking these deposits.