Stuck With Charges And No Flat

Source : TODAY, Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Letter from TAN SHAU JIE

BUYING a flat is indeed an eye-opening experience.

As Singapore permanent residents, my sister and I decided to buy an HDB flat.

We exercised the Option to Purchase and paid a deposit of $2,000 to the seller.

After the application was submitted to the HDB, I received a cancellation of appointment letter, stating that the seller had backed out. It happened to us twice within six months.

Although the sellers returned the deposit (after numerous lawyer’s letters), we had to fork out the bank cancellation charges amounting to $5,500 due to the two failed transactions and other miscellaneous fees.

We can only recover the amount from the sellers by suing them, which would cost $4,000 or more each in lawyers’ fees.

On both occasions, the sellers refused to refund our deposits.

According to the HDB website, if a seller refuses to refund the deposit, the buyer can take legal action or settle the dispute through mediation.

The fee for engaging a lawyer is higher than the deposit claimed.

Furthermore, we had to bear the bank loan cancellation charges amounting to over $5,000, even though it was never our intention to cancel the purchase.

Buyers, it seems, are in a no-win situation. We did not get our flat and ended up paying various charges.

Can a third party keep the deposit until the transaction is completed to protect the interests of both parties?