Breach of Contract?

Kenny_Powers_3

With the Law of Contract not being a strong point of mine does anyone have experience of the following:

I saw an advertisement on a website designed to offer things for sale. I saw an advert for an AGA cooker for sale for £450. I contacted the woman and she agreed to sell it to me. She explained she is only in on Saturday and that i would have to pick it up then and pay cash. I agreed and then went and booked a courier to collect the oven for me.
In the meantime i realised the AGA would not fit between my cupboards and so i removed a kitchen cupboard to accommodate it.

I phoned the woman about an hour ago just to confirm the time the courier would be coming since he had only just let me know. She explained how she had been left in a difficult position with a family member and so had sold it to them instead.

Now, i believe her to be in breach of contract. I do not want any compensation but i would like her to get the cooker back and sell it to me.

Has anyone any experience regarding this?

Thanks

Anihilator

You havent got any rights in all honesty

The only way a court would force fulfilment of a contract if it was sufficiently rare that the buyer couldnt source elsehwere. Not an issue here.

At most the seller will be liable for your expenses of their breach I.e if you cant cancel courier. You must minimise losses though - i.e cancel courier

Re the cupboard as you will need to do this to fit your desired cooker no claim here.

Tbh put it down to misfortune and move on.

Kenny_Powers_3

Anihilator wrote: »

You havent got any rights in all honesty

The only way a court would force fulfilment of a contract if it was sufficiently rare that the buyer couldnt source elsehwere. Not an issue here.

At most the seller will be liable for your expenses of their breach I.e if you cant cancel courier. You must minimise losses though - i.e cancel courier

Re the cupboard as you will need to do this to fit your desired cooker no claim here.

Tbh put it down to misfortune and move on.

How sure are you?

Its just it seems that all the elements of a contract have been fulfilled:

Offer and Acceptance - Done albeit verbally, pick up was arranged and agreed.
Considertaion - Done £450 agreed.
Intention to be legally bound - Done, agreed the sale.

The only thing i could see it failing on would be the offer, i am not 100% but could she argue it was an invitation to treat? Surely not since pick up was agreed??

Or have i got this completely wrong?

Anihilator

Kenny_Powers wrote: »

How sure are you?

Its just it seems that all the elements of a contract have been fulfilled:

Offer and Acceptance - Done albeit verbally, pick up was arranged and agreed.
Considertaion - Done £450 agreed.
Intention to be legally bound - Done, agreed the sale.

The only thing i could see it failing on would be the offer, i am not 100% but could she argue it was an invitation to treat? Surely not since pick up was agreed??

Or have i got this completely wrong?

I am not saying you didnt have a contract.

However all you are entitled to is compensation for breach of contract. I.e The costs of non delivery. You also need to act to minimise these.

So things to consider

Purchase Price - hadn't paid so no loss here
Courier Fee - You are entitled to be reimbursed for any cost here that can't be cancelled. You must seek to minimise this though
Cabinet - I would argue this was needed to fit an AGA no matter where you bought it and hence there is no loss here due to the breach

Courts only enforce fulfiment in very limited circumstances were the product/service is of a nature it cant be sourced elsewere which isnt a concern here.

ariarnia

would there be any grounds when it comes to the difference in cost required to get a new item?

If the op buys the same item for £50 more next week, isn't the seller liable for the £50 difference as that would be a loss.

Kenny_Powers_3

ariarnia wrote: »

would there be any grounds when it comes to the difference in cost required to get a new item?

If the op buys the same item for £50 more next week, isn't the seller liable for the £50 difference as that would be a loss.

I thought one of the remedies to a breach of contract was specific performance where the court force the contract to happen.

I am not saying the poster is wrong, i really only know minimal amounts as im sure you can tell, but if 2 people can form a contract and then the other simply pull out with very little comeback for the one who has lost out - Well, whats the point of contracts for sale?

MarkyMarkD

Anihilator is wrong.

You can claim your losses and compensation for loss of bargain - i.e. the lost courier costs and the cost of buying the same item elsewhere, less the £450 she agreed to sell to you for.

Enforcing judgement isn't going to be fun though.

Anihilator

Kenny_Powers wrote: »

I thought one of the remedies to a breach of contract was specific performance where the court force the contract to happen.

I am not saying the poster is wrong, i really only know minimal amounts as im sure you can tell, but if 2 people can form a contract and then the other simply pull out with very little comeback for the one who has lost out - Well, whats the point of contracts for sale?

Specific Performance would never be enforced in this case. Its very rarely used and tends to relate to highly specialised products or services not easily obtainable.

Anihilator

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Anihilator is wrong.

You can claim your losses and compensation for loss of bargain - i.e. the lost courier costs and the cost of buying the same item elsewhere, less the £450 she agreed to sell to you for.

Enforcing judgement isn't going to be fun though.

It isnt' going to happen.

Its a second hand AGA. It would be near impossible to prove that any real loss had occurred because of the breach.

Unless the OP was to find hundreds of other identical AGA's at greater prices it wouldnt happen.

Why delude the OP into wasting their time.

Meepster

And surely, even though a contract had been formed, it hadn't been completed. As far as I was aware, a contract can be rescinded until goods and payment have been exchanged and in this case neither had been. It's simply at the invitation to treat stage. So the seller should put the buyer back to the state they were before the contract was formed. i.e. pay for any out of pocket expenses that had been incurred. The only problem with that is getting a court to side with the buyer, especially if there is nothing in writing...

Hintza

£450 for an AGA!! OP you know why it was withdrawn the seller cocked up big style and someone has told them the real value.

So you missed out on a bargain c'est la guerre! You should have been round with a van 5 minutes after you agreed the sale...:)