Estate agent holding deposit on site purchase

Grecco

I agreed to purchase a small plot of land, and paid €2500 deposit to the Estate agent.
I waited for at least 2 and a half months before receiving an email from the estate agent that the contracts would be in order soon and that my Solicitor should have them that week. Another few weeks passed when I got a letter from my Solicitor telling me that they have the contract for signing.
The closing date on the contract was less than a month with Interest charges etc for late payments.
This alarmed me as it seemed that they were all in a mad hurry for whatever reason. I wanted to get a friend to access the land as it needed a lot of work to bring it up to good agricultural condition so I waited till he got back to me with an estimate of the costs which turned out to be fairly substantial. That would have been just about ok until I found out that their was local landowner who got planning permission for a clay pigeon shooting ground very close to this plot of land and had started ground works on the area.
At this stage I had been avoiding the Estate agents constant pestering to get the contracts signed, he was also pestering my Solicitor who I avoided now too.
The whole thing didnt feel right to me so I made up my mind not to go ahead with the purchase.
I rang the estate agent and the Solicitor and told them. The Estate agent sounded pissed and told me they would return the deposit as soon as they got the contracts back from my Solicitor. I instructed my solicitor at the time to do so, he too was very sharp with me!
Since then over 2 months has passed and I`ve heard nothing from either of them and no return on my deposit. I rang both only to be told I`ll call you back... but no call back.
I`m really annoyed with both of them as they seem to be colluding together against me.
Is their anything I can do that isn't going to cost me a ball of money to get the deposit back?

FortySeven

You should have done the research before going sale agreed. The solicitor has worked for you and is entitled to recompense.

Grecco

Its not the solicitor that's has the deposit, and if he had done his job then why didn't he know of the Clay pigeon development beside it.
If the Solicitor is owed money then he should send out a bill.
I hadn't signed anything, surly as a purchaser I am allowed to check out what I am buying before signing a contract.

Peregrinus

Write, don't phone, to you solicitor saying that you understand your deposit will be repaid to you when he returns the contracts, that you are keen to get your deposit back as soon as possible, and that you don't understand why there is a delay. Ask him if there is anything that you can do, or need to do, before he can return the contracts, and ask if there is any other barrier to his returning the contracts immediately.

Grecco wrote: »

Its not the solicitor that's has the deposit, and if he had done his job then why didn't he know of the Clay pigeon development beside it.

As you were, by your own admission, avoiding your solicitor, it may have been difficult for him to get instructions from you to incur any expenses (like doing planning searches) on your behalf.

Grecco

I avoided discussing it with my Solicitor until I had done my own research on the land. It was 3-4 weeks at most. At no stage did I tell him to do any work and if he did then he should have let me know.
As far as I know its not my Solicitor that is holding back the deposit but I will do as you suggest and write to them instead.
Its the fact that none of them are telling me anything that's annoying about it and when I paid the deposit I understood that it was nothing more than a booking deposit that I could get back if I was not satisfied with what I was buying iykwim

Peregrinus

Grecco wrote: »

I avoided discussing it with my Solicitor until I had done my own research on the land. It was 3-4 weeks at most. At no stage did I tell him to do any work and if he did then he should have let me know.

You can't really suggest, as you do in post #3, that your solicitor should have known of the clay pigeon development if you're now telling us that you never instructed him to do any work or incur any expense on your behalf. Without instructions from you to do (and pay for) planning searches, how could he possibly know about the clay pigeon development?

Grecco wrote: »

As far as I know its not my Solicitor that is holding back the deposit but I will do as you suggest and write to them instead.

You say in the OP that the estate agent said he'd return the deposit when he got the contracts back from your solicitor. I've assumed - perhaps wrongly - that the solicitor hasn't yet returned the contracts. If you don't know this to be the case then in your letter to your solicitor ask (a) if he has returned the contracts yet, and (b) if he knows of any other factor that might be delaying the repayment of the deposit.

Grecco wrote: »

Its the fact that none of them are telling me anything that's annoying about it and when I paid the deposit I understood that it was nothing more than a booking deposit that I could get back if I was not satisfied with what I was buying iykwim

Well, as by your own admission you spent a while avoiding both of them, you're not ideally positioned to complain about their slow responses to you.

You should at the very least have kept your own solicitor in the picture - told him that you would not be signing the contract until you had completed your investigations. I think you may have put him in an embarrassing position with the estate agent, with him trying to cover for delay and buy you time when he actually had no idea what was going on. No solicitor likes to be in the position of being left, without instructions, to fend off enquiries from the other side in the transaction, and it leaves a particularly sour taste when, in the end, no transaction eventuates. He may now have you marked down as a bit of a time-waster, as clients go.

Shauny2010

From the Auctioneers and House Agents Act 1973:

2.—(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, any provision (whether express or implied) in an agreement entered into after the commencement of this Act and relating to the sale, lease or letting of property (not being personal chattels), whereby the purchaser, lessee or tenant is required to pay or bear the cost of auctioneers' or house agents' fees or expenses in respect of the sale, lease or letting, shall be void, and any moneys paid under or on foot of such a provision shall be recoverable as a simple contract debt in a court of competent jurisdiction.

Ring the Auctioneer and tell him you want your money back pronto.

Shauny2010

I forgot to add you could also complain the Estate agent to the Property Services Regulatory Authority.
In-fact when you get your deposit back send in the complaint anyway. Estate agents are scumbags at the best of times

CaoimheSquee

The EA does not have to await for contracts to be received back from solicitor. The EA has no involvement in the legal process other than getting updates or trying to push things along.
You are entitled to your deposit back. This money should be only held in holding account and if buyer pulls from sale this is usually returned within 10 working days.
Do you have a receipt from when you paid it to them as it should have some small print on that with regards to refunds.
I would advise write to them though and keep following up.
Your deposit with the EA is totally separate to any monies owed to solicitor.

Uno my Uno.

Call the Estate agent and tell him you want your Deposit back without delay, then call your solicitor and update him on the situation. The EA must return your deposit.

Its a terrible double standard to expect them to hop to it now that it suits you after you avoided their calls for several weeks. It can be of no surprise that they are no longer inclined to treat you as a priority. You have put both the EA and Solicitor to a good deal of work and effort for no result and wasted everyones time. You owe the EA nothing but your solicitor is entitled to be paid for the work done on your behalf.