file suit seek injunction restraining sale of property by seller to third party
2) seek orders to direct seller to refund advance money paid to him of Rs 12.50 lakhs
3) since there is no forfeiture clause seller cannot forfeit advance money
Seller of property rejecting to return advance
My friend in February 2020 went into an agreement, to purchase a House. As advance her father paid 12.5 L through Net banking. The advance details were mentioned in agreement. Full amount to be paid on or before registration is also mentioned in the agreement. But there is no mention of advance if agreement is cancelled. But after checking the Vastu of the house, my friend decided not to purchase the house. And asked the seller to return the money. Seller accepted orally but said as he had no money presently to repay, after sale of House he would return back complete money. My friend accepted to sell for other party. After this came Lock Down. Recently another party made an agreement to purchase the house. The party given 4.5L advance with an agreement to purchase. My friend came to this and again demanded the amount from Seller. But seller rejected to refund saying because they didn't buy house as promised he had some monetary losses. Now, if we go to court what could be the outcome of this case.
Asked 4 years ago in Property Law
Religion: Hindu
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9 Answers
Your question is in the agreement of sale there is no clause for refund of advance. An advance of 12.5L is paid in February 20 but after that you decided to cancel the deal for vastu reason. Legally Vastu is not a valid ground for cancellation of agreement. You option is to blame the reason for cancellation on him. Your reason is the delay in spite of repeated reminders by you. Issue him a lawyer's notice seeking refund of advance with interest as the seller has failed to execute the agreement within reasonable time. After that file a suit for refund of advance with interest in City Civil Court, Hyderabad. In the suit seek injunction against sale of property till the suit is decided or advance is refunded. Because of injunction his transaction will become uncertain as he cannot sell his house nor you are ready to buy the same. That will force him the refund you advance.
Dear Sir/Maam
1) In most sale agreements there are clause with respect to recession of contract and penalty with respect to such recession.
2) If your agreement did not have any penalty clause, the buyer cannot claim the advance money as penalty on his whims and fancies.
3) You should file an injunction suit against the seller, to put pressure on the seller to refund the advance money.
Thank you
Your friend's father has to first cancel the agreement entered between both and demand refund of the advance amount.
Subsequently he can file a money recovery suit on the basis of the legal demand notice.
Since he has evidence for having given the amount, he can very well get back the amount with interest if he files a money recovery suit.
You can seek the said amount from him or pray for cancellation of the said transaction
But as per the agreement, we have agreed to pay the rest of the amount within 45 days. Does this make the agreement to be void now. After 15 days from the date of agreement, we informed the seller that we are not proceeding further to buy the property. He also agreed to return the entire advance once his flat is sold. These discussions are verbal and we did not make any written agreement about it. Now the seller says he will not refund the amount. Also, warned us that we will not get any money in return even if we go to court due to non performance of contract within 45 days. Is this true? Are we going to lose the amount in the court of law for breach since we cannot prove about the cancellation we made. We have call records saying we want our money back but nothing in written??
Asked 4 years ago
In the absence of any forfeiture clause in contract seller cannot refuse to refund advance money received by him
file suit to direct seller to refund your advance
seek stay order restraining seller from selling the property
You are not coming with correct details. In you first question there no mention of 45 days limitation. When you paid 12.5L you will certainly get it back and with interest. Even if there is no mention of refund in the agreement. File a suit in equity. He has to refund you.
Dear Sir,
1) As I mentioned in the above answer, if there is no express clause in the agreement that mentions penalty on recession of contract, then the advance money has to be refunded by the seller.
2) File suit for recession of agreement and refund of money with addition to injunction to put pressure on the seller to refund back the advance.
Thank you
If you have not communicated your decision to cancel the agreement in writing, then you may be at fault as per the seller's contention.
However the seller cannot deny the return of the advance amount received by him.
As per law the agreement is valid for three years from the date of execution of this agreement, hence you may approach court with a money recovery suit to recover the amount from the seller, before that you may communicate in writing to the seller about your decision to cancel the booking/agreement and demand return of the booking amount, you may send this letter by registered post.