Mutual House Sale Deal gone Wrong !!!

Topper Harvey

Buying a house through a private sale, deposit paid, everything agreed & least €15k spent on renovations...all very mutual. An issue has arisen on their side (change if situation) & are trying to pull out of the sale. First signing completed but they won't close . Can they pull out? Have I any recourse to return the deposit or money spent on the house so far ? Can I pursue them to close/sell ? No chain but gullible I know.

godtabh

what did you solicitor say? and why spend money on a house you dont own?

dusty207

godtabh wrote: »

what did you solicitor say? and why spend money on a house you dont own?

Is there even a solicitor involved?

LirW

Did you have a solicitor involved? If yes, talk to your solicitor asap.
Also spending a single euro on renovation works before closing the sale was the opposite of smart.

Sixtoes

Better Call Saul.

Topper Harvey

Yes agreed, but it was all very mutual, trusting & agreeable.....never previously an issue & has been ambling along until now. Solicitor advice is to give a deadline to close or court to recoup funds. After all the work done I just want the house but they seem adamant they now want to keep it. Courts are a money drain as we know & would prefer to avoid.

CeilingFly

You spent 15k on someone else's house?

Seriously?

I think this is a trolling post.

dev100

What's your preferred option ? Complete purchase or to have all your money returned to you ? Having your money returned would probably be the cheapest option unless you have some sort of watertight contract but a solicitor would be your best bet but you will start incurring costs in that situation only 1 winning is the solicitor . If it were me I'd be getting my money and be running /sprinting . What have they said about your money ?

beechwood55

This is all a bit mad...

Topper Harvey

Preference by far is to keep/buy the house but if they now don't want to sell even going down the courts route, can I force them to sell ? Given the previous goodwill, works completed, deposit paid & an agreeable initial signing.

beechwood55

It would cost money and take time...and possibly no guarantee of success.

December2012

What did you spend 15k on? I really don't understand how this could even happen to be honest.

Are you already living in the property or something?

SusanC10

Are Contracts signed and exchanged?

Did you seek your own Solicitor's advice before spending the money on renovations before completion of the transaction ?

Has the Closing Date on the Contract passed ?

LirW

No you can't. You need legal advice, if you want it or not. You made a really stupid move by trusting someone blindly with the sale of an asset that's worth several hundreds of thousands and invested money in something that's not yours yet. You need professional assistance and prepare for a fight, that's a tough one.

drunkmonkey

Topper Harvey wrote: »

Preference by far is to keep/buy the house but if they now don't want to sell even going down the courts route, can I force them to sell ? Given the previous goodwill, works completed, deposit paid & an agreeable initial signing.

No you can't force them to do anything, get your deposit back and kiss your 15k goodbye you shouldn't have touched the house until you owned it.

There's nothing mutual about this they just made a prize muppet out of you.

dubrov

Depend on whether contracts were signed or not

Topper Harvey

Yes, the 'muppet' feeling is constant. Thanks for all the reply posts.

drunkmonkey

Topper Harvey wrote: »

Yes, the 'muppet' feeling is constant. Thanks for all the reply posts.

Don't take it to heart everyday is a school day this just happens to be an expensive one. Anything with properly just leave it with your solicitor until they hand you the keys. I'd explain the situation to your solicitor and ask him to put in a call to their solicitor. Not a lot else you can do.

Atlantic Dawn

Both seller and buyer would need a seperate solicitor representing each party for a sale to be allowed go through. Have they got a solicitor handling the sale?

CollyFlower

I don't know why people think this is a 'troll' post, even if it is, these things can happen, it might give others a warning not to spend until you own!... I've heard much worse than the OP's issue.... I've heard about a House sale where the seller wasn't the owner. Lots of scams out there.

househero

Topper Harvey wrote: »

Buying a house through a private sale, deposit paid, everything agreed & least €15k spent on renovations...all very mutual. .

Is this a family sale

wally1990

I'd be sick 15K :O

the_syco

Topper Harvey wrote: »

Buying a house through a private sale, deposit paid, everything agreed & least €15k spent on renovations...all very mutual. An issue has arisen on their side (change if situation) & are trying to pull out of the sale. First signing completed but they won't close . Can they pull out? Have I any recourse to return the deposit or money spent on the house so far ? Can I pursue them to close/sell ? No chain but gullible I know.

I think you've just been conned by someone who had no intention of selling. You say "First signing completed but they won't close"; am I to assume you signed the contracts, but they haven't? As said, get legal advice.

Bigus

Good an all as boards is ,it won't sort this out.

Wesser

15 k would be alot to loose.
There are other ways to loose money on property!!
Through sheer procrastination i have lost more than that by house prices rising in Dublin in the last year .
I suppose it just feels different because you've actually spent the money.
Don't beat yourself up.over it .
You.might be able to recoup it from them??

Sixtoes

Have you asked them to pay you back?

Gael23

You need to get legal advice from a solicitor asap. It doesn't matter how much you trust someone but things like this always have to done in writing, I suspect this is a family deal gone wrong but either way you need to talk to a solicitor.

Homer

If you do, and I sincerely hope you do have a solicitor employed, they should have been the ones to tell you not to spend a penny on a property you don't yet own? We are about to close on a property and both the bank AND our solicitor told us not to order a new feckin sofa till we had the keys in our hands! Expensive lesson learnt I'm afraid for you, as much as it pains me to think that's the reality.

jlm29

Homer wrote: »

If you do, and I sincerely hope you do have a solicitor employed, they should have been the ones to tell you not to spend a penny on a property you don't yet own? We are about to close on a property and both the bank AND our solicitor told us not to order a new feckin sofa till we had the keys in our hands! Expensive lesson learnt I'm afraid for you, as much as it pains me to think that's the reality.

To be fair, I don't think a solicitor should need to tell anyone not to spend money on a house they don't own. It should be common sense

BoatMad

if the contracts aren't signed ( i.e. the seller hasn't signed and agreed completion ) , then you have no hope of forcing completion , if there are signed AND you have a time of the essence clause then you can force specific completion through the courts if necessary . depedjing on the resources of your opponents , you could be in for a long and expensive battle

personally , if thats the case, take your deposit and move on

Id love to know how you rationalised spending money on a house you dont own, it must be a family sale IMHO