A client involved in an off-plan property transaction in North West England instructed Samuel Okoronkwo Jr. to provide legal advice after encountering difficulties with the developer. The developer refused to accept any amendments to the Lease and Agreement for Lease, prompting concerns about the inflexibility of the terms and the transparency of the process.
The client had paid a £10,000 reservation fee but later chose not to proceed with the exchange of contracts. Legal support was sought to recover the deposit. Clause 11 of the Reservation Agreement stipulated that the deposit would be forfeited if contracts were not exchanged within the reservation period. Although the developer’s sales manager had verbally assured the client that the deposit was refundable, counsel advised that the written agreement would likely take precedence in court. Allegations of fraud were considered but ultimately dismissed due to the absence of clear misrepresentation and the high evidentiary threshold required.
Samuel Jr. provided general advice on the enforceability of reservation agreements and the legal weight of written terms over verbal assurances. He confirmed that the second agreement, while not ideal, represented an improvement over the initial draft and did not amount to fraudulent conduct. The matter highlights the importance of scrutinising contractual terms in off-plan property transactions and the challenges of relying on informal assurances in legal disputes.
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