Seller withdraws after accepting offer

oldbilbo said:
I quite agree with 'bbg' and others that 'the agreement with the broker is a separate issue'.

The trouble with verbal contracts is that they're generally worth no more than the paper they're printed on.

There, I've gorn and said it. ;)
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Now you really are trying to Lakesailor me.

See Post#2
 
And let's say that you did get a court ruling in your favour.

I would doubt that ruling would compel the vendor to sell, but rather award you damages. How you would prove you had suffered damages when you hadn't bought something you wanted to (but had not incurred any expense along the way) is something I would love to hear.

And if your argument went along the lines of "well I ended up having to buy this more expensive boat ..." then the defence to that would probably be "it was a more expensive boat because it was a better one - your choice to go down that route." In law, if you are claiming damages, you are obliged to minimise your losses.

So, you might "win", but get nothing (apart from legal costs).

Nice work for the surveyors, though, in producing the valuations for what you wanted to buy vs what you ended up getting.
 
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RadiumRob said:
Thanks.

No financial costs have been incurred yet.

I suppose I'm hoping that the broker will pursue vendor for his lost fees, which might prompt him to go through with the sale after all.

Meanwhile, back to the long and frustrating search...
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While you and the broker may be frustrated there is little you can do about it unless you have a contract that says he is obliged to sell to you and laying out what the consequences are if he fails - which are likely to be no more than your quantifiable loss. For example if you had incurred survey expenses. Similarly the broker is unlikely to be able to claim anything unless his contract stipulates payment of his commission on receipt of an offer - not the normal practice, the brokerage contract normally pays commission on completion.

Move on, not worth getting worked up about. Just think what an exciting life the vendor must lead if his wife can stop him from selling the boat (assuming that is the real reason).
 
RadiumRob said:
Please can anyone advise me what rights (if any) I have in the following situation?

Negotiating through a broker, a seller verbally accepted my offer on his boat only to withdraw it from sale the following day stating that his wife had decided they wanted to keep the boat. The withdrawal was reported to the broker before I had a chance to pay the deposit.
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I think you're stuffed. The law is probably on your side but with nothing in writing the seller only has to say that he accepted "subject to contract" and thre's nothing you can do.

I know it's obviously frustrating but realistically I think you have to grit your teeth and move on.

Good luck,

Boo2
 
IIRC for a contract to be enforcable both parties must have mental capacity.

If I was the third part I would claim that I must be mad to consider agreeing a sale contract with such a difficult individual as you then ergo i did not have mental capacity!!

QED

:-0
 
Sailfree said:
IIRC for a contract to be enforcable both parties must have mental capacity.

If I was the third part I would claim that I must be mad to consider agreeing a sale contract with such a difficult individual as you then ergo i did not have mental capacity!!

QED

:-0
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Difficult? To expect someone to honour their word?

If that is the kind of person you are remind me never to do any business with you under any circumstances. Ever.
 
You have suffered no loss, therefore you have no claim. You cannot sue for disappointment.

The broker may have incurred losses and be able to claim under the terms of his contract.
 
Simondjuk said:
You have suffered no loss, therefore you have no claim. You cannot sue for disappointment.

The broker may have incurred losses and be able to claim under the terms of his contract.
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What's that noise I hear coming out of the Cumbrian Lakes... is it Lakey chewing the edge of his keyboard? :D:D
 
Well, since the subject came up I thought I'd have my turn. :D

In seriousness though, sometimes reinforcing the facts is useful to the OP. Otherwise they are compelled to take a stance based on only one opinion, which may be incorrect.
 
Simondjuk said:
You have suffered no loss, therefore you have no claim. You cannot sue for disappointment.

The broker may have incurred losses and be able to claim under the terms of his contract.
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He might suffer losses. Frinstance, he will have to spend time and money continuing his search. And if that search reveals a similar boat that he has to pay £10,000 more for, he WILL have suffered a loss.

Edit - and he may well suffer the loss of enjoyment of a boat for several months, while he continues to search.

All of these are claimable damages. But the question always comes back to "is it worth it?"
 
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bbg said:
He might suffer losses. Frinstance, he will have to spend time and money continuing his search. And if that search reveals a similar boat that he has to pay £10,000 more for, he WILL have suffered a loss.

Edit - and he may well suffer the loss of enjoyment of a boat for several months, while he continues to search.

All of these are claimable damages. But the question always comes back to "is it worth it?"
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Sorry - don't think any of this is relevant. He has not signed a contract. Just having a verbal agreement over the phone would not entitle him to any of these "losses". Even if he signed a contract any losses would be limited to those in the contract directly related to the transaction, such as survey costs. Thinking he could claim "loss of enjoyment" of something he was never offered, and never had, is just fanciful!

If he wanted all these he would have had to make them explicit terms of the conract and the vendor would have had to specifically agree.

Pigs might fly.
 
Tranona said:
Sorry - don't think any of this is relevant. He has not signed a contract.
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In general you don't have to write or sign anything to have a contract.

It's a long time since the "Contract Law" module on my otherwise engineering-based degree course, but as far as I remember you need only offer, acceptance, consideration, and the intent to create legal relations. No need for anything to be written down. The OP has all of those things, plus the added bonus of a knowledgeable witness to the formation of the contract (the broker).

Nevertheless, I agree with everyone else that in practice it's not worth fighting, mostly because there has been little or no loss. Perhaps at most a letter to the vendor pointing out that there is a contract to sell - perhaps he might use it to help persuade his wife to change her mind :)

Pete
 
bbg said:
He might suffer losses. Frinstance, he will have to spend time and money continuing his search. And if that search reveals a similar boat that he has to pay £10,000 more for, he WILL have suffered a loss.

Edit - and he may well suffer the loss of enjoyment of a boat for several months, while he continues to search.

All of these are claimable damages. But the question always comes back to "is it worth it?"
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The key word is "tangible" loss. That means hard cash spent on THIS deal not a lot of "what-might-have-been's"
 
Quite. Otherwise the OP could travel to Barbados to find a similar boat and claim the airfare.

I am calm. I have decided that having my advice repeated is a sincere form of flattery. :D
 
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