What happens when a buyer breaches a contract before the deposit is due and payable? Is the seller still entitled to the deposit if the transaction collapses due to the buyer’s breach?
Posts tagged with “Deposits”
Legally Speaking Suing for Unpaid Deposits #527 
Legally Speaking Forfeiture of Deposit #453 
Section 12 of the standard Contract of Purchase and Sale provides that unless the balance of the purchase price is paid on the completion date “the Seller may, at the Seller’s option…
Legally Speaking Collecting An Unpaid Deposit #437 
If a buyer defaults before a deposit is fully paid, can the seller terminate the Contract of Purchase and Sale and successfully sue for the unpaid deposit money? It depends on the contract.
Legally Speaking “Time is of the Essence” Means “Time is of the Essence” #412
Many REALTORS® assist buyers in locating and negotiating the purchase of new condominiums in pre-build situations…
Legally Speaking Human Rights Code Complaint Against Licensee by Another Licensee; Minor Defect in Comparison With Larger Contract Benefit Didn’t Justify Repudiation #401
“Don’t shoot the messenger”—this must have been the reaction of a licensee against whom two complaints of discrimination under the Human Rights Code were made by another licensee…
Legally Speaking Future Commission Not Deductible From Purchase Price; Deposit Lost — Failure to Act Expeditiously #398
A half-interest in a home is owned by a live-in resident, while the other half-interest is owned by non-residents…
Legally Speaking Seller Entitled to Refuse Uncertified Third-Party Deposit; Ask Gerry #397
In a case where a seller refused to accept a deposit cheque, a Supreme Court judge gave an answer to a problem we didn’t know we had in the Contract of Purchase and Sale (CPS)…
Legally Speaking Property Law Act, s.6—Seller Must Have Title to Sue; Commission Case—No Breach of Fiduciary Duty #373
A couple who agreed to purchase a yet-to-be-constructed condominium from a developer repudiated the agreement after it was built because their complaints could not be resolved…
Legally Speaking Director of a Company – Signing Officer and Guarantor, Sign Twice; Time is of the Essence Clause #347
A cautionary note to licensees preparing a contract for the purchase of property by a limited company, where it is intended the company’s performance of…
Legally Speaking Contract of Purchase and Sale – Clause 18 #344
I understand it is the standard practice of a licensee to explain the significance of the Contract of Purchase and Sale terms to the parties to it, before it is signed…
Legally Speaking Clause 9, Contract of Purchase and Sale – Seller Unable to Deliver Clear Title, Contract Unenforceable #340
Clause 9 of the Contract of Purchase and Sale continues to be a trap for the unwary licensee (or lawyer), because it is the type of “boilerplate” clause that the eye and mind skip over…
Legally Speaking Condominium Act – Loss of Owner’s Right to Vote; Contract of Purchase and Sale – Paragraph 9 Exclusions of Representations, Etc. #268
Section 125(6) of the Condominium Act states that except where a unanimous resolution is required, an owner is not entitled to vote at a general meeting, unless all contributions payable for the owner’s strata…
Legally Speaking Purchaser's Knowledge of When Approval of Financing Given; Criminal Rate of Interest; Is an Application to Discharge a Mortgage Sufficient Evidence of Clear Title? #194
What are the legal consequences for a purchaser whose Contract of Purchase and Sale was subject to raising a mortgage by October 19, 1990, when the purchasers were not made aware that the mortgage…
Legally Speaking Norfolk v. Aikens Addendum; Mortgage Insurance – Unavailable When Needed #193
Column #164 discussed a pre-Norfolk v. Aikens offer to purchase which was interpreted using the Norfolk reasons to the advantage of the purchaser who sued for the return of his deposit…
Legally Speaking Clause One – Contract of Purchase and Sale; Condominium Bylaw #188
Column #160 discussed a Vancouver case where a purchaser was successful in avoiding the completion of a purchase because the vendor was unable to remove a private easement charging his property for the benefit…
Legally Speaking Misrepresentation, Innocent; Mobile Home, Refusal of Landlord to Consent to Assignment #186
Normally, the listing agent for the owner of an existing home is unconcerned with set backs or other limitations which would affect the size and location of a home to be constructed upon the lot upon which the home…
Legally Speaking The Stakeholder Provisions of Section 48 of the Real Estate Act, and the Method of Dealing With a Deposit Where There Is a Dispute Between Parties #135
The stakeholder provisions of Section 48. of the Real Estate Act are so well known to agents that the disposition of the deposit where there is a dispute between the parties is routinely dealt with…
Legally Speaking Financing Clauses – "Satisfactory Personal Financing" – Uncertain #110
Adam B. Able, the affable agent/owner of the Point Grey Wreck Beach Real Estate Agency, was in his office balancing his accounts payable against the sales…
Legally Speaking Property Purchase Tax Act and Other Odds and Sods #104
The Property Purchase Tax Act, although it has only received first reading, is here to stay.
Legally Speaking Commission – Solicitor’s Liability for Payment; Garnishee Orders #92
The decision of an Ontario District Court Judge is good news for licensees but bad news for solicitors who are too dutiful in carrying out their clients’ instructions…
Legally Speaking Commission – Purchaser’s Default #90
You have a listing agreement with a vendor, a binding contract of sale is signed but the sale collapses because of the vendor’s refusal to complete…
Legally Speaking Back-Up Offers #89
A vendor’s decision to take a back-up offer can be risky to the vendor’s financial health, as will be apparent from your review of the following facts…
Legally Speaking Lease, Agreement To – Void for Uncertainty #85
Lance lay on the chesterfield, his headache just beginning to respond to his wife’s soothing cool hand on his forehead…
Legally Speaking Agreements for Sale #68
A recent amendment to the Law and Equity Act may mean that the time-honoured method of selling property by way of an agreement for sale (right to purchase) may cease…
Legally Speaking Offer or Option #57
The following are all abbreviated examples of the usual “subject to” clauses to be fulfilled by a purchaser, right…
Legally Speaking Locked-In Mortgages – a Further Report; Non-Refundable Deposits – a Further Comment #56
The battle to force a mortgagee to accept prepayment of a locked-in, high-interest rate mortgage which had been renewed after the initial term of five years had expired, continues on several fronts within the legal…
Legally Speaking Non-Refundable Deposits #52
There appears to be an increasing use in interim agreements of phrases such as “non-refundable deposit”, “at which time a firm contract exists” or “upon which this contract shall be binding upon the parties”…
Legally Speaking Prospectus – Receipts #49
The recently distributed Bulletin referred to the intention of the Superintendent to provide additional exemptions from the provisions of the Real Estate Act relating to prospectuses…
Legally Speaking Deposits #43
While it is not necessary to have a deposit in order to create a binding contract, having a deposit or even the promise of a deposit has proven to be beneficial to vendors where the purchasers have declined to proceed…