Price rise after booking deposit paid

Middleage Fanclub

House advertised at €500k
Viewed house, liked house
Paid a booking deposit of €10k to the EA
Met the builder at the house who informed us that the EA made a mistake and the price was now €550k (with a long speal about why it was €550k)

What are our options?

Ask for deposit to be returned ?
Pay new price ?
Demand builder honors original price ?

cnocbui

As i understand it, all you can do is demand the deposit back or pay the new price.

If it was me, I'd get the deposit back and walk because they didn't make a 'mistake' it was intentional bait-and-switch and I always walk away when anyone tries that on.

Kristopherus

Get your deposit back in full, and run a mile.

Villa05

Take money, run. There sneaky.

Arbiter of Good Taste

Walk away. These people are dishonest. They'll likely screw you over again some way. You'll move in and find the fixtures and fittings are of a lower spec than indicated, etc etc

MarkAnthony

Tell them you've made a mistake and meant to offer €480K with a closing date within 30 days, otherwise thanks a million and I'll have the deposit back thanks.

All part of the game at this stage, to be fair they could have tried these shenanigans at a much later stage and they need to get some (very small) credit for that - more likely a genuine change of mind rather than an intentional bait and switch IMHO.

Arbiter of Good Taste

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Tell them you've made a mistake and meant to offer €480K with a closing date within 30 days, otherwise thanks a million and I'll have the deposit back thanks.

All part of the game at this stage, to be fair they could have tried these shenanigans at a much later stage and they need to get some (very small) credit for that - more likely a genuine change of mind rather than an intentional bait and switch IMHO.

Except in most cases the person who makes the mistake - provided the other side in some way hasn't contributed - takes the loss.

MarkAnthony

Arbiter of Good Taste wrote: »

Except in most cases the person who makes the mistake - provided the other side in some way hasn't contributed - takes the loss.

Really? That's not been my experience but fair enough, you've obviously lead a more blessed life than I

Icepick

Tell them you will pay 450k now. If they go higher, you go lower

NinjaTruncs

Icepick wrote: »

Tell them you will pay 450k now. If they go higher, you go lower

That's all well and good but we have none of the details. Where is the house? Is it priced below/at/above market price. The builder could have a line people ready to buy.

Saying that I'd get my deposit back and run. If they are messing you about now who is to say When you go to sign contracts they find another mistake where the price should have been X higher

Middleage Fanclub

Thanks for the replies thus far.

To cut a long story short, I believe the mistake was with the EA, house was always 550k 'finished' as opposed to 495k for 'builders finish', (the house next door sold @495k)

The house is not yet finished so we're currently dealing with the builder as to just where our 55k is going. How would you advise we capture all these 'extras'. Some kind of list that is drafted and signed off on by the builder ?

stevedublin

Icepick wrote: »

Tell them you will pay 450k now. If they go higher, you go lower

get yer deposit back first, though!

The_Morrigan

Middleage Fanclub wrote: »

Thanks for the replies thus far.

To cut a long story short, I believe the mistake was with the EA, house was always 550k 'finished' as opposed to 495k for 'builders finish', (the house next door sold @495k)

The house is not yet finished so we're currently dealing with the builder as to just where our 55k is going. How would you advise we capture all these 'extras'. Some kind of list that is drafted and signed off on by the builder ?

I bought a shell of an apartment and knocked 60k of the asking price. It didn't cost me 60k to get the apartment finished though. So maybe you should look into getting it finished yourself?

Depends on your circumstances, for me I didn't mind sleeping on an air mattress on a concrete floor, nor did I care that I was using a camping fridge and stove for a while.
It was 2 years before I put proper paint to the place and after 4 years I got rid of all the hand me down furniture in my living room and kitted it out to my taste - still nowhere near the 60k price tag that the 'completed' apartment would have been.

Wabbit Ears

Bought an apartment (abroad) off the plans where the price was per meter square for different sizes apartments. Was later contacted to say the apartment we had bought was actually bigger than in the original plans and it would be X amount extra. We asked for our deposit back and they came back with an offer of very little for the extra size, like a fraction of what they had asked for, which we took.

Middleage Fanclub

Ah, sure I bought a shell apartment and only put up curtains the week before I moved out (5 years later).

Point being, we're happy to get all this work done now and we're pretty comfortable that the work we will get done is worth the extra 55k.

The question is, how do we capture all these 'add-ons' and make sure they are agreed (before we pay the remainder of the 10%) and complete (before we hand over the balance)? My thought is just to detail it all out and have it signed (by the builder ? vendor ? foreman ?)

dutopia

That sounds very dishonest of them, I'd take my deposit back and go somewhere else.

spaceHopper

Do you have a solicitor? Get them to do it. You might be better off getting a quantity surveyor too.

BeatNikDub

I've seen something similar happen unfortunately.
House on the market for quite a while as vendor wants to stick firmly to guns about price they want to achieve. Price is eventually offered, accepted by vendor and then deposit paid. Vendor then decides as the market seems to be improving they could get more and tells EA to call buyer and order them to offer him more, and if they don't to return their deposit and put back on market.
Genuinely awful stuff.

gogreen81

BeatNikDub wrote:

I've seen something similar happen unfortunately.
House on the market for quite a while as vendor wants to stick firmly to guns about price they want to achieve. Price is eventually offered, accepted by vendor and then deposit paid. Vendor then decides as the market seems to be improving they could get more and tells EA to call buyer and order them to offer him more, and if they don't to return their deposit and put back on market.
Genuinely awful stuff.

di

gogreen81

Sorry I meant to say do EA gets better commission if they sell at a better price than what the owner expects

the_syco

Middleage Fanclub wrote: »

To cut a long story short, I believe the mistake was with the EA, house was always 550k 'finished' as opposed to 495k for 'builders finish', (the house next door sold @495k)

Builders finish may mean anything from the walls, to the walls windows, and electrics without plugs.

L1011

gogreen81 wrote: »

Sorry I meant to say do EA gets better commission if they sell at a better price than what the owner expects

Rarely. Usually flat %

Ascii

If it was me I would get the deposit back and go....but that's just me. If the house, location, neighbours, commute, schools suit and you want to be there for life then that's a different story for you.

If you are buying you need to have a definitive list of what your getting for the 10% more. Let the builder show you what he intends to give you for the 10% first, then start haggling.

Remember that he is not putting in 50k worth of extras. Might be only 35-40k. he will have a profit margin on all material and labour he supplies as will any sub contractors he employs. If you are any way DIY minded and have the time on your hands take the builders finish and complete it yourself. You will get a lot more bang for your buck.

Your only taking a number of trades, (Plumbers, kitchen, painter, electrican) will see most of it completed.

Uno my Uno.

MarkAnthony wrote: »

Tell them you've made a mistake and meant to offer €480K with a closing date within 30 days, otherwise thanks a million and I'll have the deposit back thanks.

All part of the game at this stage, to be fair they could have tried these shenanigans at a much later stage and they need to get some (very small) credit for that - more likely a genuine change of mind rather than an intentional bait and switch IMHO.

I'd expect to have your deposit handed back to you on the spot and be told where to go. These kind of ultimatums attached to bids rarely work, particularly with builders or developers.

OP you can either demand that they honour the original price or return your deposit or in the alternative you can agree to the increased price and level of finish. insist that the finish be specified exactly and incorporated in the contract for sale before signing the contracts. at this stage you should have instructed a solicitor and they are the best placed people to advise you at this point.