Browse Forums Building A New House 1 Dec 31, 2013 12:57 pm Hi All, I hope everyone had a great Christmas. I have an enquiry regarding my purchase of Land. I found a block of land (BattleAxe) which i agreed to pay $350,000 for, I placed a holding deposit of $1,000 and asked my solicitor to review contract. The deposit was placed late December (21st) and my solicitor was already on leave and the agent agreed to give me until the 20th of January to organise exchange of contracts. I just had a call from the agent to inform me the Vendor wants to raise the price of the land (which i put a holding deposit on) by $10,000 to $15,000. What rights do i have if any having paid the holding deposit at agreed price of $350,000? Kind Regards Balk Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 3Dec 31, 2013 10:52 pm seano Which state are you in - it may make a difference. Hi, Im in NSW. I forgot to mention, days after placing the holding deposit i got a letter from the real estate agency saying the below; Code: Congratulations on your purchase, we confirm the vendor accepted your offer to purchase the above mentioned property at the purchase price of $350,000. We have forwarded the sale summary to your solicitors. So im very confused at this point. Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 4Dec 31, 2013 11:08 pm Unfortunately holding deposits mean absolutely nothing in NSW. A signed contract is the only thing binding on either parties. As it stands the vendor has every right to sell to any other party. They cannot keep your holding deposit either way - ie. even if you withdraw your offer. They might be bluffing because they think they have you emotionally attached - I'd tell them your offer stands as is. Either they accept, or you can negotiate higher if you wish. Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 5Dec 31, 2013 11:42 pm seano Unfortunately holding deposits mean absolutely nothing in NSW. A signed contract is the only thing binding on either parties. As it stands the vendor has every right to sell to any other party. They cannot keep your holding deposit either way - ie. even if you withdraw your offer. They might be bluffing because they think they have you emotionally attached - I'd tell them your offer stands as is. Either they accept, or you can negotiate higher if you wish. Hi, Thanks for the information. I have stood firm on my offer and it seems they are not going to take it. I am not emotionally attached and will walk away from the sale, only thing is there is no one currently offering more. There are two unsold blocks left and the owner believes its worth more then he initially thought. Why risk a sale for $10,000? im fine to look elsewhere and will ask for my deposit back. Thanks again. Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 6Jan 01, 2014 9:12 am What does your solicitor say? Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 7Jan 01, 2014 10:30 am I'll tell the agent if they want to negotiate, you will be willing to pay $340k. I'd also lodge a caveat over the property and let the vendors know about it. This will also scare off other buyers. I'll also Start looking at other properties in the meantime. Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 8Jan 01, 2014 11:04 am _lucinda What does your solicitor say? My Solicitor mentioned that Gazumping is not illegal and my options are very limited. I will be speaking to Fair Trading NSW to see if they can shed any light on my situation. I am very close to walking away from this deal as the owner has taken my deposit ( a sign of good faith and has thrown it into a river). Im not emotionally attached, so walking away isnt an issue. Thanks Balk Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 9Jan 01, 2014 11:06 am JB1 I'll tell the agent if they want to negotiate, you will be willing to pay $340k. I'd also lodge a caveat over the property and let the vendors know about it. This will also scare off other buyers. I'll also Start looking at other properties in the meantime. Hi, The listed price was initially $350,000 and i agreed to pay said price. Your saying i should send them an email asking if were renegotiating to offer $340,000? i think this will just anger them ahahaha What will the Caveat provide? I have already started looking. Thanks Balk Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 10Jan 02, 2014 10:29 am I'd simply say my offer stands at $350k, if you don't accept it I'll take my deposit back thanks. Call their bluff and walk away. I remember seeing a vendor on "Selling Houses Australia", who was struggling to pay mortgages on his old house and the new one he was moving into, who wouldn't accept $5k under his asking price, and had the house on the market for several more months then finally got his asking price, in the mean time he had paid way more than $5k in mortgage repayments. To some people money is everything, and once they get an idea of what something is worth they will refuse to sell it for less even if it costs them in other ways. Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 11Jan 02, 2014 10:56 am Ive sent the below to the RE Agent yesterday; Hi XXXXX, Due to the below notification that the owner is increasing prices by $10,000 on the lot of land i already paid a holding deposit on and due to the fact the owner is not acting in good faith i will not be proceeding with the purchase of this lot at $360,000. If the owner wishes to proceed with the original agreed price of $350,000 i will advise my solicitor to continue otherwise can you please advise when i can collect my "Holding" deposit? Kind Regards XXXX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I have no intention of paying more then the originally agreed price, if they wont accept this i will be walking away with my deposit. Thanks Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 12Jan 04, 2014 1:43 am Balk JB1 I'll tell the agent if they want to negotiate, you will be willing to pay $340k. I'd also lodge a caveat over the property and let the vendors know about it. This will also scare off other buyers. I'll also Start looking at other properties in the meantime. Hi, The listed price was initially $350,000 and i agreed to pay said price. Your saying i should send them an email asking if were renegotiating to offer $340,000? i think this will just anger them ahahaha What will the Caveat provide? I have already started looking. Thanks Balk If they have the cheek to negotiate after the verbal agreement there is no reason you can't either A caveat will stop the settlement of the property to anyone other than you. I'd apply for one to teach them a lesson. Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 13Jan 04, 2014 2:06 am I agree absolutely with everything JB1 has posted. It is a professional approach. I would have demanded that the deposit is refunded immediately. I would have also advised them to contact me if they want to resume negotiations AFTER the deposit has been refunded. If they did come back, I would offer a lower amount, certainly no more than the figure that JB1 has suggested. Nothing has been mentioned about the seller having another buyer. By offering the same amount, you have let them play their game and mess you around without any risk to themself. The seller has not shown you any respect. Never let a smartass play you for a patsy! 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 14Jan 04, 2014 6:03 pm SaveH2O I agree absolutely with everything JB1 has posted. It is a professional approach. I would have demanded that the deposit is refunded immediately. I would have also advised them to contact me if they want to resume negotiations AFTER the deposit has been refunded. If they did come back, I would offer a lower amount, certainly no more than the figure that JB1 has suggested. Nothing has been mentioned about the seller having another buyer. By offering the same amount, you have let them play their game and mess you around without any risk to themself. The seller has not shown you any respect. Never let a smartass play you for a patsy! Hi, I appreciate your response. There currently is no other buyer and to be fair (I know i shouldn't be as the vendor clearly isn't) i am willing to drop this sale quicker then you can say "Land" if they try and screw me around again. I have received a reply to my email as per below; Code: Hi, XXXXX I Will let you know Monday after seeing the vendor. Have a good weekend. Regards XXXXX Maybe he is realising im not going to just accept a price hike, either way not emotionally attached and may have found another block of land. At the end of the day, They need to sell that block, I dont have to buy it. Thanks again Balk Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 15Jan 04, 2014 8:50 pm Hi Balk, Good attitude. I hope that they are not tardy in refunding your money. At least they don't have your signature. Life has its twists and turns and often an initial setback can end up being an advantage. Good luck with everything. 3in1 Supadiverta. Rainwater Harvesting Best Practice using syphonic drainage. Cleaner Neater Smarter Cheaper Supa Gutter Pumper. A low cost syphonic eaves gutter overflow solution. Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 16Jan 06, 2014 5:51 pm So i got an email (not even a call) to say the owner wont accept the original offer. At that point i asked for my deposit back and have collected it this afternoon. Glad this "BS" is over, excuse my french. Thanks for all your replies! Balk Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 19Jan 06, 2014 9:32 pm seano I hope it now sits on the market for a long time, and they ultimately end up lowering the price, or having to accept a lower offer. I believe in karma I Hope so. Its interesting to note that when i went to collect my cheque they gave me the wrong one initially (Same amount, made out to someone else) and when i questioned it she mentioned the address of the block to which i said yes thats right. Turns out they were refunding the holding deposit for block number 4 (which i was told was sold already). Makes you wonder why they are refunding deposits to people? so far 3 out of 10 blocks have been refunded according to the receptionist. Interesting times we live in. Re: Holding Deposit on Land - Vendor wants to increase price 20Jan 06, 2014 10:31 pm The agent should be questioning the motives of there clients, if they're advertising one figure and only accepting a higher figure, what is the seller trying to achieve? If i were the agent and they have refunded 3 of 10 clients in similar circumstances i would be treading carefully, as this is a morally and unprofessional practice. Reputation is something that cant be bought, and these days referrals work of somebody who knows somebody that knows somebody. The agent makes their cut from actual sales so it would annoy them they are wasting time, money and energy with buyers and then pi**ing them off! I certainly wouldn't recommend the agent i bought my land off, never been stuffed around more in my life, and if anyone asks im more than happy to tell them who they are Just to makea point about this, an approach that some people have found sucessful in negotiating these rises down, Is to provide some workings to the builder, specifying… 4 81717 Fair Trading can issue orders to rectify and complete but once the matter goes to NCAT these orders are automatically vacated. You will have to terminate contract and sue… 21 29710 How are you doing Ben? Extremely interested in hearing what you are doing or plan to do! 12 15156 |