Losing deposit

[Harley]

Can anyone tell me if it is required by French law that the buyer be asked if it is ok to release their deposit to the seller when the buyer is found to be in breach of contract?

We have been told by our Agent that this is the case when we asked them to tell our buyer that they were in breach.  Anyone else out there lost their deposit and been offered the opportunity to refuse handing it over?

[peterw]

Was it an unconditional offer? Or was it made with conditions? I would imagine that if it was conditional, that there are certain proofs required before the deposit would be handed over.

Did they sign the cooling off document? If not then they have a week from the date of its signing. They may have elected to cool off and you just havent been told about it.

[Harley]

There were no clauses suspensives.  The buyer was named as the sole buyer.  He signed away his right to a mortgage and we were supposed to complete not later than the 30th October.  When we found out he had added another family member, was seeking a mortgage and that we would in no way be completing by the 30th October we approached our Agent  We told them them, in writing, that because we felt we had been badly mis-informed that we now considered our buyer to be in breach of contract and requested that they end the sale based on this information. We requested the deposit as compensation because not being informed of the delay right up until 3days before completion had cost us financially.  We had the approval of our Notaire to serve them with this letter and when we did, they said we had no right to do this and that, in any case, they would only have to seek permission from our buyer to release the deposit which, if they refused, we would then have to take them to court for.  As a result we felt forced into completing the sale and waiting for that completion.  Can our agent do this?

 

[peterw]

We had the approval of our Notaire to serve them with this letter

I think that this sort of letter is better prepared and sent by your notaire.

Many people will try to bluff their way through a dispute when there is only letters between the 2 parties. Once the dispute involves a member of the legal proffession, they may change their tune. Is your Notaire unable to do this for you? Who's Notaire holds the deposit? Yours?

[Harley]

Tha Agents are holding the deposit - and we saw what very much looked like the cheque from our buyer in the dossier when we visited the office about 2 weeks ago.

[Viv]

I thought that the agents always cashed the deposit cheque early on and held it in an account.

I can see why the agents are being biased ( for want of a better word) towards the buyer , because it is they who will eventually pay the agents fees. But without your house, there would be no fees.

If you are sure that you are entitled to keep the deposit, I would demand the agents let you have it or you will use another agent.

Is the notaire working for both parties? I'm not sure how involved notaires are prepared to get in such disputes as they are really working for the state.