Being sued for breach of contract - legal advice needed

AdrianC

Richard53 wrote: »

He paid a £10k deposit and had an agreement in writing, though, which is slightly different from the OP's case.

Oh, sure. But the OP's buyer thinks they can get in on a similar little bonus... Will it work? Only a court will say for sure.

Le_Kirk

OP, advise your FIL to go to a solicitor and see if he can get 30 mins advice for free. Not all solicitors do this but some do. This will set his mind at rest.

mcpitman

I'm not a lawyer or a spolicitor, but cannot see how you can be sued for breach of contract when there was no contract, and the prospective buyer was the one who was time wasting and trying to renegotiate prices.

Personally I would tell him to run and jump and wait for the court papers.

AdrianC

There might not have been a written contract, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a verbal contract.

Herzlos

AdrianC wrote: »

There might not have been a written contract, but that doesn't mean there wasn't a verbal contract.

Without witnesses that'll be a hard one to prove.

Also; the figures we're talking about means it's way above the limit for small claims court. The complainant is going to have to pay out to even start a claim.

From what we've seen here there's no claim at all; the buyer took so long the sale was cancelled. The buyer isn't out of pocket or damaged in any way, and no contract was signed. As said, punitive costs don't really exist here. The Porsche case will have had a £35k pay-out, because that'll be what it cost the buyer to get into the position the dealer agreed upon.

I really wouldn't worry about it until some pre-court action is carried out. You should probably check with a lawyer for peace of mind, but I wouldn't even acknowledge anything that isn't part of the court process.

AdrianC

Herzlos wrote: »

Without witnesses that'll be a hard one to prove.

Absolutely. It's down to who's more credible in court. If it ever gets that far.

m0bov

OP can sue the time waster as he breached the contract..

straighttalker

If the potential buyer was going to rely on a verbal contract, similarly the OP's father can say that the verbal terms were that £X was to be paid within Y days otherwise the contract wouldn't be going ahead. Then that makes it null and void.

Aretnap

jenza8 wrote: »

Can I ask what a promise of consideration involves? The man kept saying he was going to pay but payment dates came and went.

Consideration in relation to contracts basically means "something of value". A promise of consideration is just that - a promise of something of value.

"I will buy your car for £X" followed by firm handshake is potentially enough to create a binding contract - both parties have promised something of value (a car in the case of one party, some money in the case of the other), and signalled that they accept the terms. The problem is that the terms of the contract are hopelessly vague on questions like whether there's a deadline for the £X to be paid, what happens if it's not paid by that deadline etc... so in the event of a dispute like this one it would probably ultimately come down to a court's interpretation of what was reasonable behaviour.

Aretnap

straighttalker wrote: »

Neither type of damages exist in UK law. Another example of why you shouldn't believe everything you read on forums.

Incorrect. We do have exemplary damages in the UK, but they can only be awarded in fairly limited circumstances, specifically

1. in respect of oppressive, arbitrary or unconstitutional acts by government servants;
2. where the defendant’s conduct has been calculated to make a profit for himself which may well exceed the compensation payable to the claimant; or
3. where authorised by statute.

I must say, it's not obvious which of those apples to the private (non) sale of a car,


http://www.newlawjournal.co.uk/nlj/content/sword-shield