Making and withdrawing an offer

[Geoffy]

I have a question:

If I am using an agency to find a property and I make on offer on a property, I sign a receipt that says the offer I'm making is a non-refundable depoist IF I WITHDRAW MY OFFER OR LOWER MY OFFER, can I then ask for my money back if I do this?

Will I have a leg to stand on?

[oaktree]

It really could depend on a variety of factors
a) the wording of the receipt and whether it makes it crystal clear that the deposit you pay is non refundable and in what circumstances; does the recipt say that you have inspected the property and found it suitable for your purpose? or,
b) the reason why you might be withdrawing your offer or reducing it, ie have you discovered something regarding the property that you thinks justifies your actions (changing your mind would hardly be justification
c) what stage have the agents got to with your application? have they incurred costs?
Other agents may operate different policies with regard to deposit taken to reserve a property

[Geoffy]

I said I wanted him to start my offer at £260 and I could go up to £275.
The landlord had the property on the market at £300 and would take £275 BOTTOM-LINE.

I've since decided that I don't want to go up to £275 and keep my offer at £260...

Where do I stand?
This is exactly what it says:

******

Received with thanks, a deposit of £260 as a holding deposit and offer for:

Property Name: ADDRESS

Property Address: ADDRESS

Weekly offer /ourspace/ is instructed to present to the landlord:

Starting Offer: £260

Maximum Offer: £275


Received on behalf of Our Space Ltd

Signed: SIGNED

Negotiator name: NAME

Date: DATE


Tenant Signed: SIGNED

Tenant name: NAME

Date: DATE

Signing this receipt you authorize /ourspace/ to negotiate on your behalf. This is a non-refundable deposit unless the landlord rejects your offer. Receipts must be produced for claims.

[oaktree]

So you instructed the agent to negotiate upto £275 on your behalf but have now changed your mind; had the landlord accepted the £275 offer? if so, under the disturbingly simple terms of the receipt you are likely to lose your deposit - whether it would stand up to much scrutiny however is doubtful.

The agent appears to want to be paid just for talking to their client on your behalf which is a bit strong imho. Just because you make an offer, it in no way ties you into entering into a tenancy regardless of whether your offer was accepted or not so the agent has hardly run up any costs.

If they haven't actually spoken to their client yet you may get away with reducing your offer to the base level. Of course, if the landlord won't budge on £300 then you should get your money back anyway.

The lesson to be learnt here is to make sure you really want a property before making an offer.

[PaulF]

It really could depend on a variety of factors
a) the wording of the receipt and whether it makes it crystal clear that the deposit you pay is non refundable and in what circumstances; does the recipt say that you have inspected the property and found it suitable for your purpose? or,
b) the reason why you might be withdrawing your offer or reducing it, ie have you discovered something regarding the property that you thinks justifies your actions (changing your mind would hardly be justification)
c) what stage have the agents got to with your application? have they incurred costs?
Other agents may operate different policies with regard to deposit taken to reserve a property

The answers to the above are:
(a) - this is an unenforceable term under the UTCCR's
(b) - changing you mind is allowed if you are not happy with what is being offered and you ahve to be given sufficient time to absorb everything - and the receipt should have been endorsed "Subject to Contract".
(c) - It doesn't matter unless they have informed the applicant beforehand what maximum reasonable costs they might incur

[oaktree]

Non or part non refundable deposits are enforceable under UTCCR if they are worded correctly (this one isn't even close) The Office of Fair Trading have agreed to deposit receipts that are worded in such a way as to give the applicant all the information they require to make an informed decision and the right to cancel within 48hrs

OFT will offer advice and guidelines to anyone requesting it.

But I'd bet that this guy still has to fight to get his money back

[dazalock]

So how should it be worded to make it enforceable?

[oaktree]

So how should it be worded to make it enforceable?

Speak to the OFT, they will advise on acceptable wording