Are deposits refundable by law ?
Discussion
Asking about a car deposit here,
Buyer put deposit on car three weeks ago, has now pulled out of the sale and wants his deposit back, he lost his rented garage that he was going to store the car in.
He seems to think I should hold the car forever for him as their was no time limit stipulated on the invoice for the balance to be paid.
I have now sold the car and he knows this. He thinks I have breached a legal and binding contract.
Any helpful replies ?
Buyer put deposit on car three weeks ago, has now pulled out of the sale and wants his deposit back, he lost his rented garage that he was going to store the car in.
He seems to think I should hold the car forever for him as their was no time limit stipulated on the invoice for the balance to be paid.
I have now sold the car and he knows this. He thinks I have breached a legal and binding contract.
Any helpful replies ?
Toltec said:
Did he pull out of the sale before you sold it?
Private sale?
Yes Private sale,Private sale?
He knew that I had continued to advertise the car after he told me he could not complete the sale.
We left it that if he found suitable storage and the car had not sold he would continue with the purchase.
matjk said:
Did you lose money by him not taking it ? Like you have to readvertise it or sell it for less? The decent thing to do is probably return it if you didn’t ! If you do be give it back his only recourse is going to be small claims , do you want the agro
It did sell for less than we had agreed on,I also did work on it and bought some parts for it as part of the sale, I also booked a day off work to deliver it half way.
I then of course had to re advertise it and re clean it etc.
Did you sell the car for the same price as you would have sold it to him?
Do you think he genuinely "lost" the garage or is making it up?
If genuine, give him his deposit back and move on...…
Generally though, there is no point leaving a deposit for anything if you can just ask for it back.
This is why it is very important to leave the absolute minimum a seller will accept in case your circumstances change.
Why leave a car dealer £500 when they are happy to accept £200....
Do you think he genuinely "lost" the garage or is making it up?
If genuine, give him his deposit back and move on...…
Generally though, there is no point leaving a deposit for anything if you can just ask for it back.
This is why it is very important to leave the absolute minimum a seller will accept in case your circumstances change.
Why leave a car dealer £500 when they are happy to accept £200....
Wacky Racer said:
Did you sell the car for the same price as you would have sold it to him?
Do you think he genuinely "lost" the garage or is making it up?
If genuine, give him his deposit back and move on...…
Generally though, there is no point leaving a deposit for anything if you can just ask for it back.
This is why it is very important to leave the absolute minimum a seller will accept in case your circumstances change.
Why leave a car dealer £500 when they are happy to accept £200....
I don't know for sure weather or not the reason was genuine.Do you think he genuinely "lost" the garage or is making it up?
If genuine, give him his deposit back and move on...…
Generally though, there is no point leaving a deposit for anything if you can just ask for it back.
This is why it is very important to leave the absolute minimum a seller will accept in case your circumstances change.
Why leave a car dealer £500 when they are happy to accept £200....
My intention was to give him his deposit back if the car returned the same amount that we agreed on, it sold for less.
Sebring440 said:
Give him his money back FFS! He had a genuine reason for pulling out and you've sold the car to someone else!
Could be genuine,Could be buyers remorse, why put a deposit on a car before you have an agreement in writing to rent a garage.
The question was are deposits refundable by law , it would be interesting to get a definitive answer.
jeff666 said:
It did sell for less than we had agreed on,
I also did work on it and bought some parts for it as part of the sale, I also booked a day off work to deliver it half way.
I then of course had to re advertise it and re clean it etc.
I think money on parts and a lower final sale price are all up to you, you could have waited for a better price or the original guy to come back if you wanted a better price. Did he cancel on the day of delivery? otherwise why not cancel the day off, presumably you did something else? The time off on the original sale was a cost on that sale and if you could use the time for something else then that really is a saving on the final sale.I also did work on it and bought some parts for it as part of the sale, I also booked a day off work to deliver it half way.
I then of course had to re advertise it and re clean it etc.
If it cost something to re-advertise then just maybe you could take that off the deposit and return the rest. The deposit is really to cover the buyer just blowing you off with no communication.
Wacky Racer said:
Difficult one really, I'd be inclined to (reluctantly) give him his money back, these things happen.
It will all be forgotten about in a few weeks.
I have agreed to refund half the deposit,It will all be forgotten about in a few weeks.
He is ok with this as I am, I was really just hoping some body had a definitive answer. thanks for the replies.
Toltec said:
jeff666 said:
I was really just hoping some body had a definitive answer. thanks for the replies.
Checks Jeff's time on PHI think you have been on here long enough to realise that was never going to happen. Sounds like a reasonable compromise reached though.
That’s as long as the sum paid doesn’t go beyond being a deposit and move into being a pre-payment of the purchase price. But that wasn’t the question
Toltec said:
jeff666 said:
I was really just hoping some body had a definitive answer. thanks for the replies.
Checks Jeff's time on PHI think you have been on here long enough to realise that was never going to happen. Sounds like a reasonable compromise reached though.
I really don't need the agro so have agreed to pay back half the amount £250.00 it just seems daft to me to put a deposit on some thing before you are 100 per cent sure you have storage sorted.
Part of me really wanted it to go to the small claims just to see what the outcome would have been, from my research and that is only Google it does seem unless it is put in writing that it is a refundable deposit then the buyer would lose it.
Funnily enough when I took the second deposit I worded it as "received the sum of xxx as part payment for above vehicle"
It also narked me that the buyer thought I was in breach of contract and should have held the car for him indefinitely.
bladebloke said:
I’ll give one - no, a deposit is not refundable by law. It is security for the buyer’s obligations under the contract and is forfeited if the buyer fails to complete the purchase, even in the absence of any express terms to that effect.
That’s as long as the sum paid doesn’t go beyond being a deposit and move into being a pre-payment of the purchase price. But that wasn’t the question
From my limited research,That’s as long as the sum paid doesn’t go beyond being a deposit and move into being a pre-payment of the purchase price. But that wasn’t the question
it does seem to be a recurring problem that a lot of folk have .
Jasandjules said:
jeff666 said:
Yes Private sale,
He knew that I had continued to advertise the car after he told me he could not complete the sale.
We left it that if he found suitable storage and the car had not sold he would continue with the purchase.
But no time period asserted?He knew that I had continued to advertise the car after he told me he could not complete the sale.
We left it that if he found suitable storage and the car had not sold he would continue with the purchase.
No time limit was agreed by either of us.
jeff666 said:
Jasandjules said:
jeff666 said:
Yes Private sale,
He knew that I had continued to advertise the car after he told me he could not complete the sale.
We left it that if he found suitable storage and the car had not sold he would continue with the purchase.
But no time period asserted?He knew that I had continued to advertise the car after he told me he could not complete the sale.
We left it that if he found suitable storage and the car had not sold he would continue with the purchase.
No time limit was agreed by either of us.
You're in breach because you no longer have the car to sell. At the very least you should return the deposit in its entirety.
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