Where Do I Legally Stand???

Alipio

Hi

We agreed to purchase a brand new house with Perssimon in April and the house is just 2 weeks away from being ready. The agreement was we had to pay 10% deposit. At that time we could only afford 5% so they agreed we can pay the other 5% later which was fine. When we go the contract that we had to sign, for some reason they got mixed up and it stated that we pay 5% deposit and perssimon would pay the other 5%, we kept quiet as this is a score and sent the contract back and it was accepted. Now when we got our final statement because its nearly ready they are asking for the other 5% for the deposit. We signed on the contract that they will pay the other 5% and they sayd the contract was accepted, i would think legally we wouldnt have to pay for it as it was their mistake they accepted the contract with an error on it? please let me know.

Thanks

moneysavinmonkey

I would get a solicitor or someone you trust with some legal knowledge to look over the contract to check that things are as they seem. Did anything get put in writing about you paying the remaining 5k? Have you pointed out the relevant clause of the contract to Persimmon?

If something looks to good to be true it probably is! :rotfl:

silvercar

Could the contract have been worded that Persimmons would pay half the deposit on exchange, but you would pay it back on completion?

May be worth checking with your solicitor. This will have implications for your mortgage offer as you are now paying less for the house. Some lenders do not accept gifted deposits eg if the total price was 200k and Persimmons are paying 5%, the real price paid is now 190k. Say you were borrowing 180k. That would be 90% of 200k, but 94.7% of 190k, so may be above their lending criteria.

Alipio

Hi Again

got in touch with my solicitor whos doing all the legal stuff. She read through the contract and she confirmed it does state Persimmon will pay 5% towards the house. She sayd she would get in touch with persimmons legal team but what ever happens now persimmon will have to pay the 5%. On the phone for some reason the solicitor sounded like she was taking the blame, she sounded very nervous and kept stuttering. But as i sayd its nothing to do with us now and weve saved a nice £14,000

silvercar

Interesting, I read some thread on here about a mistake not counting if everyone knew it was a mistake at the time.

dmg24

silvercar wrote: »

Interesting, I read some thread on here about a mistake not counting if everyone knew it was a mistake at the time.

Yep, mutual mistake, means that both parties should go ack to the position they were in before the contract was formed.

Not 100% sure that it applies in such a straightforward way with land law, but the above is the legal concept.

guppy

dmg24 wrote: »

Yep, mutual mistake, means that both parties should go ack to the position they were in before the contract was formed.

Not 100% sure that it applies in such a straightforward way with land law, but the above is the legal concept.

And since solicitors aren't paid to make mistakes...could it be negligence? Hence the solicitor sounding a bit worried?