[cappuccino]

I have just aborted the purchase of a property in response to a very bad building surveyor's report. That was the best money I have ever spent, to save me from a very expensive mistake.

Today, however, I am the victim of another expensive mistake.

I naively thought that my deposit cheque would only be banked by the estate agent as soon as the contract was unconditional (which would have been within 7 days if the building report was satisfactory).

However today, I discovered that the deposit cheque had been banked on Friday even though I had aborted the sale on Friday. I am now in an unauthorised overdraft situation as I hadn't transferred money across from my savings count in another NZ bank to my current account until I thought we were ready to proceed.

I only discovered this when I just did some online banking and found I had no money in my account! I will speak to the bank tomorrow and see if they will be understanding in this situation and not charge me unauthorised overdraft fees!


Maybe I am naive in thinking the cheque would be held for a few days till contracts were signed and agreed, or maybe I have been screwed and I have no idea how long it will take to get the money back from the estate agents!

[jandk]

Estate agents will insist on a minimum of 10% deposit so regardless their fees are in place .As a buyer you can determine the deposit we put in $5000 as a goodwill figure As that is what we had in the bank over here before we shipped money over , remember when you are buying certainly in the market at present you are in charge so dont be pushed about but i have also been in business and if you give me a cheque i bank it (every little bit helps the cashflow)!

[jubjub]

Yup they do bank the cheques the same day, but one thing to bear in mind, you have a time period in which to get your LIM & builders report, you dont have to hand the deposit over until the end of that period, by then you should have the other reports and know if you are good to go....

Hope your bank is sympathetic...

[Debbie]

We have brought twice here and on both occasions the agents have 'asked' for a deposit. Our solicitor told us we didn't have to pay. On our first house the market was against us and we paid AFTER we went unconditional. On our second place we didn't pay a deposit at all.

Not much help to you now I know but hopefully it will save someone else. I hope your bank is understanding and I would be really firm with the estate agent about getting their act in gear. They want to keep you as a potential buyer.

Debbie

[DizzyF]

Sorry to hear you had such a bad experience. We will remember this....estate agents are obviously crooks the world over!!!

[Moorf]

Was the contract conditional on receipt of a satisfactory LIM and building inspection? That's the key....

[sizzlingbadger]

When we went through the tender process we had to supply a 10% deposit along with the sales and purchase agreement. The cheque was held in a holding account and cleared as soon as we went unconditional.

If you had on the contract subject to a builders report, LIM and finance you should have no problems getting your deposit back especially if you can supply the builders report highlighting the problem areas and the reason as to why you want to back out. If you haven't got these then you've got no way of backing out as the sales and purchase agreement is a legally binding document.

Good luck hope it all gets resolved quickly. One piece of advice for next time is not to hand over the cheque until the day you want to go unconditional, that way they can't take your money before hand. Even though you're supposed to hand over a deposit as soon as the sales and purchase agreement are signed very few people hand over the cheque until all conditions are met.

HTH

[jandk]

We were also told to put on the form that the words Lawyers approval can be used so if theres a problem tell your lawyer to dissapprove as they dont need to give reasons. Dont know how correct this is in house buying here but maybe useful if it works.

[cappuccino]

Thanks for your advice guys. I have no problems backing out of the contract as it was conditional upon satisfactory builder's report and LIM. My problem is more with the deposit cheque which was banked before I expected and on the day that I aborted the purchase.

I have learned my lesson for next time and will not hand over a deposit cheque till the contract goes unconditional. (I wish my lawyer had advised me of this!!)

At least you guys who are yet to buy here can learn from my mistake!

[thewoodies]

thanks thats worth knowing - hope you get sorted out soon

[sizzlingbadger]

Great to hear you put those in the contract, it's surprising how many people don't :)

Best to put in the contract a finance clause as well, just to cover all bases.

Hope all goes well and you find the dream home soon :nice1