refunding deposit of car
Discussion
sunnyb13 said:
Do I have to give his deposit back legally? or can I hold onto it? As I took the advert offline from ebay, and relisting will cost money.
IANAL but my take would be did you say refundable deposit or not on the paperwork?I always write something like:
Car details, sold as seen and tested Non-refundable Deposit £X Remainder to pay £XXX with both names dated & signed.
sunnyb13 said:
Friday chap comes over looks at it, handshakes for an agreed price and leaves a £100 deposit, saying he will collect Tuesday.
I'd say he reneged on the deal. Maybe he agreed to buy in haste, then went off and looked up everything to check on the internet. But that's his problem not yours.Of course you're allowed the keep the deposit. That is the whole point of it - commitment to buy. Tell him he's got 7 days to pay the balance and remove the vehicle or he forfeits the deposit and the car will be put back up for sale. Don't engage in any discussion about it and ignore his inevitable threats about burning your house down.
Unfortunately there are too many weak-ass snowflakes who just roll over and give them the deposit back and it's exactly this behaviour which fuels this nonsense as they know in many cases they can get away with it.
If I'd been in your shoes, he wouldn't have been removing any panels and wheel nuts on my driveway. I'd have ensured that the money was paid first, and then he can do whatever he wants to it once it's off my property. I'm not sure why you thought that was good idea and allowed it to happen?
Unfortunately there are too many weak-ass snowflakes who just roll over and give them the deposit back and it's exactly this behaviour which fuels this nonsense as they know in many cases they can get away with it.
If I'd been in your shoes, he wouldn't have been removing any panels and wheel nuts on my driveway. I'd have ensured that the money was paid first, and then he can do whatever he wants to it once it's off my property. I'm not sure why you thought that was good idea and allowed it to happen?
sunnyb13 said:
Thank you. Not looking for opinions/sympathy. Looking for a legal steer.
Legally:You’d say that the contract of sale was completed when he paid the deposit. At that point the car became his; you were storing it pending him collecting it; it became his to insure and not yours to insure; his obligation was to pay the balance of the purchase price and take delivery; your obligation was to hand over the car to him on collection in the same state it was when he purchased it.
Or if he says he didn’t agree to buy the car when he first looked at it, you could say that he paid a deposit to give him the option to purchase the car on Sunday; that having paid the deposit you were unable to sell the car elsewhere until he had decided whether or not to buy it; on his return on Sunday he decided that he did not wish to exercise his option to purchase.
Either way, you get to keep the £100.
He may say that the sale was conditional and the condition was him inspecting the car fully and being satisfied that it matched your description (which he will then say it didn’t).
Or he may say that you represented something about the condition of the car, and relying on that he bought it. Then when he came to collect it he found the representation was untrue so he elected to rescind the contract.
In those two cases he’d get the £100 back.
Short version: either of you could put up a viable argument about the £100. The outcome would depend on (a) what specifically happened; (b) who is prepared to say what needs to be said to support their position even if that isn’t what happened; and (c) who is believed.
However: you have the £100. For that reason alone, in your shoes I would hang onto it and let the would-have-been buyer come after you. Don’t hand it back; next thing you know he will be asking for a bit for for his wasted time.
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