Selling My House

[wugzie]

I am soon to put my house on the market and wondered if there is any legal reason why I cant request a non-refundable deposit from prospective purchasers - thereby covering any financial losses, should the purchaser pull out at the 11th hour for no acceptable reason.

I am surprised this isn't an accepted policy, to protect the interests of sellers and make the buying/selling process less traumatic

Are there any solicitors out there who can anyone provide a valid answer to this question??

[Postdog]

Not a solicitor, so I can't answer. but couldn't your argument work the other way too?

Buyers have expenses and can just as easily be let down for one reason or another.

[wugzie]

Of course and thats a fair point, although my question is purely from a sellers point of view. But you underline the fact that both buyers and sellers would benefit from having such a system in place, which would make the whole exercise less traumatic

[wugzie]

I'm not so sure. If I was seriously keen to buy and I was sure my deposit was safe, I really don't see a problem. Maybe I'm missing something here - so where are the solicitors??

[Ethel]

What financial losses would you accrue if a viewer decided not to buy?

When would put this deposit on - at viewing stage, or a more formal stage?

Would you in return be prepared to refund the prospective buyers costs if they did not complete because the surveys showed faults or the searches showed things beyond your control?

As it is at the moment, the buyer pays a deposit at exchange of contracts. Non-refundable in many cases.

[parkesquay]

You can ask for a for a non-returnable deposit. The problem though for you as the seller is that you are then in the hands of the depositee.
Let us say that their sale stalls and long delays occur as a result. You may 'dip out' on a cash buyer suddenly turning up or even somebody offering you a better price.
So the only way you can make it viable is to have a finite period by which contracts must be exchanged.
Quite honestly though the prospective purchasers solicitor would not recommend that they go down this road.
It would be nice if we had similar rules as in Scotland whereby once an agreement has been made to purchase it is law.
The real problem for must of us is that estate agents don't vet the propective purchasers carefully enough in the sense of how ready they are to proceed.

[wugzie]

Well, Ethel, how about accrued legal fees and cancellation charges levied by removal company, if buyer pulls out at last minute?

Thanks for an intelligent response parkesquay. I do believe the whole process is very much a lottery and that the home buying thing unbelievably relies very much on trust and the honesty of seller and buyer. Its no wonder moving home is rated alongside divorce & death

RoaldoM - some friendly advice. Don't consider moving if you get this stressed over a simple question

[buildersmate]

Its perfectly feasible and its called an option to purchase at a price �x. You draw up a legal agreement and it binds you to sell at that price, open for a period of y weeks. For the buyer, they are buying an option for say �2000. If they don't take up the option, you keep the money because they paid you for that option. It has the same impact as what you intended in your question.

[wugzie]

thanks buildersmate - if you are correct, that answers my question totally. Do you have first hand experience of this?

[Ethel]

As I understand it, if buyer gets to completion stage with moving dates agreed and so on, he has already paid out for surveys, searches. legal work, paid a deposit (non-refundable usually), arranged a mortgage (fees non-refundable usually) and gone through a lot of stress and aggravation.

If he pulls out at that late stage it is for good reason - and you get to keep the deposit.

[flyciderman]

You could try and sell your house by auction

[wugzie]

Ethel - you are looking at the question purely from the buyers side, so I suspect you have had problems in the past with sellers. I posted the question because I have had problems with buyers - ON ALL THREE occasions that I have moved and each one wanted to reduce the purchase price at the last minute. I am simply looking for a viable way to prevent that happening again

flyciderman - yeah, maybe - but I dont think I'm that brave!!

[flyciderman]

Why not?

You set the reserve, the hammer drops and you get your money.

The "option" idea is not realy used to cover your problem. Normally you buy an "option" which gives the purchaser to time to say apply and get planning.

If anything a option protects the purchaser more than the seller