Offer subject to survey and contract?

Debt_Free_Chick

Ian_W wrote: »

Digging back a similar amount of time, isn't it also the case that the sale of land or leasehold property is the only occasion when a WRITTEN contract has to be made to purchase or sell something?

It's not the only instance, but you're on the right track. Certain contracts must be evidenced in writing, otherwise they are unenforceable.

dogbitedavie

new to the forum, so heres a first on the same thread.
I accepted a deposit off a purchaser, with a written agreement that he was going to buy my house, 'subject to appropriate checks by solicitors'. all checks came back ok. but buyer still pulled out.. can i keep his deposit? has he breached his contract?

Fire_Fox

Euphoria1z wrote: »

on a similar note, can you say subject to me getting a mortgage? so if you dont get a mortgage you can pull out after the offer has been accepted?

I wouldn't. It would suggest to your vendor that you hadn't bothered to get a mortgage offer in principle from your bank and thus were not a serious buyer.

Soot2006

dogbitedavie wrote: »

new to the forum, so heres a first on the same thread.
I accepted a deposit off a purchaser, with a written agreement that he was going to buy my house, 'subject to appropriate checks by solicitors'. all checks came back ok. but buyer still pulled out.. can i keep his deposit? has he breached his contract?

What deposit?
When did he pay you this deposit and what for?

dogbitedavie

my prospective purchaser paid me £5k as a deposit for my house, told me several times he was serious and wouldn't pull out of sale. deposit was paid to my before any solicitors/estate ajents got involved.
week before exchange he pulled out, now wants his £5k back.
i have obviously incurred expenses, and didn't really want to pay deposit back, (if I did, what was the point of the deposit?) now threatening to take me to small claims court to get it back. and advice please, i dont want to pay it back, but dpont want to lose at court and pay expenses as well !

chickmug

dogbitedavie wrote: »

my prospective purchaser paid me £5k as a deposit for my house, told me several times he was serious and wouldn't pull out of sale. deposit was paid to my before any solicitors/estate ajents got involved.
week before exchange he pulled out, now wants his £5k back.
i have obviously incurred expenses, and didn't really want to pay deposit back, (if I did, what was the point of the deposit?) now threatening to take me to small claims court to get it back. and advice please, i dont want to pay it back, but dpont want to lose at court and pay expenses as well !

Was any paperwork signed and exchanged between you?

Did he pay by cash or cheque?

Richard_Webster

Certain contracts must be evidenced in writing, otherwise they are unenforceable.

That used to be the case with contracts for the sale of land. Now the contract has to be in writing.

"Evidenced" meant that two people could shake hands over a deal in a pub and one could write to the other saying "I refer to our chat at the [name of pub] when you agreed to buy my house [address] for £[price], yours sincerely [name of seller]."

That would have been enough for the buyer to sue - hence in the old days we put "SUBJECT TO CONTRACT" on everything because solicitor's correspondence could create a contract. We still do it out of caution but it isn't as important because there has to be a written and signed document including the terms and random letters are now not sufficient unless they are expressly incorporated by reference in the main document.

dogbitedavie

there was a signed agreement, drawn up by the prospective purchaser, prior to solicitors involvement, agreeing to buy my house for a given sum, and a deposit made 'subject to relevant searches by solicitors'. nothing untoward came up from searches. £5k paid by cheque.
he has now issued county court proceedings to try and get his deposit back...i've decided to fight it, we will see what happens !