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Reservation Agreement Breach on Price.
Mikejed1982
Posts: 1 Newbie
Hi all- a little advice needed here.
We put down a “non-refundable” £2.5k to reserve a flat at a set price (we signed an agreement with the price clearly stated). We got to choose the floor and fitting styles/colours which have been put in (so they say), but property is not finished yet.
Now over 3 months after we put the cash down estate agent calls to say because the developer has run into some unforeseen costs they need to increase the price to by £5k. To be clear we get nothing extra for this money.
Obviously, we said “errr no- we will pay the price as per agreement”. They came back and said the developer wont budge and its either the higher price or we will get the deposit money back and they will sell to someone else.
The agents are being very invasive to our direct questions and will not give the details of the developer (but maybe at the developer’s request). What we did eek out of them is they still hold our money and never passed it on to the developer. I not convinced the developer knows about the agreement at all but then that seems strange.
We still want the flat but clearly at the agreed price. I don’t think without legal pressure they will sell at the lower price and don’t want be getting on the wrong side of the people building our home.
1. Has anyone been in such a situation?
2. Where do we stand legally if we agree on the higher price wait until everything is done ( we own the place) then chase (agent or developer unsure who is liable ) for the difference based on the earlier contract?
3. I’m sure they will make us sign something that supersedes the first agreement, which they will use as a defence, would this hold up in court?
4. Do we need them to explicitly say they are not honouring the original contract or fact they said the developer is “insistent” on the higher price enough to prove breach of contract?
5. If it did go down the legal route do we need to know who is at fault or do we assume it is the developer and take the agents word as their appointed representative?
6. Can anyone recommend a good lawyer in this field who we can consult?
Any input would be much appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
We put down a “non-refundable” £2.5k to reserve a flat at a set price (we signed an agreement with the price clearly stated). We got to choose the floor and fitting styles/colours which have been put in (so they say), but property is not finished yet.
Now over 3 months after we put the cash down estate agent calls to say because the developer has run into some unforeseen costs they need to increase the price to by £5k. To be clear we get nothing extra for this money.
Obviously, we said “errr no- we will pay the price as per agreement”. They came back and said the developer wont budge and its either the higher price or we will get the deposit money back and they will sell to someone else.
The agents are being very invasive to our direct questions and will not give the details of the developer (but maybe at the developer’s request). What we did eek out of them is they still hold our money and never passed it on to the developer. I not convinced the developer knows about the agreement at all but then that seems strange.
We still want the flat but clearly at the agreed price. I don’t think without legal pressure they will sell at the lower price and don’t want be getting on the wrong side of the people building our home.
1. Has anyone been in such a situation?
2. Where do we stand legally if we agree on the higher price wait until everything is done ( we own the place) then chase (agent or developer unsure who is liable ) for the difference based on the earlier contract?
3. I’m sure they will make us sign something that supersedes the first agreement, which they will use as a defence, would this hold up in court?
4. Do we need them to explicitly say they are not honouring the original contract or fact they said the developer is “insistent” on the higher price enough to prove breach of contract?
5. If it did go down the legal route do we need to know who is at fault or do we assume it is the developer and take the agents word as their appointed representative?
6. Can anyone recommend a good lawyer in this field who we can consult?
Any input would be much appreciated.
Thanks for reading!
0
Comments
-
We would need to see the reservation agreement to give you any particularly useful advice about it, but it's pretty unlikely that on its own it constitutes a contract obliging the developer to sell the property to you at any price - that's why it's superseded by exchange of a "proper" contract at a later stage.
I would probably just take the money back and move on to something else rather than waste time arguing about it.0
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