Buyer requesting Holding Deposit refunded

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JakeR

Member
28 April 2022
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Hey, first time here still trying to figure out what to do and where my legal rights are here in this one..

So we are selling our van, we had it listed while we were travelling and then had a buyer confirm, they came saw the van twice, were happy with it and agreed upon an amount $48600 as well as a deposit amount $8000. 2 weeks after this they then asked if we could take it to a friends workshop for them to do a inspection (not on the agreement and no mention of it prior to that) we said sure and took it in as we had previously had a pre purchase inspection done and fixed the issues that were raised then, the workshop that they asked it to be taken to was a friend of theirs who then went and pulled out a bunch of things on the van that made it not to pass a road worthy, we then chatted to them and we wanted to take it to another mechanic to get another opinion as we had already done an inspection and most of the things this shop raised were not previously brought up so wanted them to be confirmed, we also still said that we would 100% be providing them with a roadworthy vehicle on the agreed date which was the agreement.

They agreed on the phone then next morning before we went to the 3rd party mechanic as agreed we received a message saying they no longer wanted to buy the vehicle on the term that they werent happy with the report and demanded the return of the deposit (this is now 3 weeks after initial agreement)

We have not returned their bond as it is in my belief that we are not obliged to do this, the van was off the market for 3 weeks being held on a deposit for them, we then also made plans for a work trip which we have now had to push back costing us money and cancel bookings and making us sell the van for a lot less then we could have. We just received a letter from a solicitor.

Do they have any legs to stand on here and what rights do i have as the seller in this situation.. ive included the letter from the solicitor as well as the agreement message.. the mention of the km of the vehicle we due to us travelling so didnt have a exact reading to actually give and they also were in the vehicle and i showed the man the dash with the reading on it.. not on paper but it happend, there was also a physical inspection done at time of viewing where they were happy with the mechanical condition of the vehicle and refused to see my sec sheet that i had available or the vehicle maintenance history which was also offered in person.
 

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