Totally normal. Stops time wasters putting in multiple offers and going sale agreed and then backing out.
Standard practice.
That amount will be taken from the amount you are paying as your whole deposit.
Its something that snuck in in the 1980’s. Basically the Agent making sure they have the money to pay their fees at the end of the deal. Thats literally the only reason for it. There is no legal basis for it and they cannot demand it. As with most things though, we have lazily accepted it and now its accepted as normal
Congrats got the same email myself today 😂
Yes this is normal and it counts as part of the price.
Thanks everyone, much appreciated 🙏 I feel 10k lighter already
Adding to the answers already provided you or the seller can walk away any time before the contract is signed and you will get the deposit back.
If deposits didnt exist people could waste time with fake bids and no reprecussions.
make sure to check the banking details with someone in the office – don’t assume they are giving you the right one either, if over the phone. It either matches or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t then you may need to make a trip into see them in person to ensure you’re speaking to the right person.
Also make sure you promptly get a receipt – this can be used with the bank to show what’s happened to the funds.
Totally normal and gets rid of the spoofers. My last house went sale agreed 4 times and fell through each time when it came to transferring any money. Maddening. Congrats on the gaff 👏🏼
It’s fairly standard. However you don’t always have to pay it.
When we bought our house we were in the process of selling our old house. We were selling, and buying through the same estate agents. We sat down with them and told them we wouldn’t have that kind of cash on hand until our sale completed.
They said it was cool and the fact we were effectively going to be homeless if we couldn’t line up the chain over a deposit it was clear we were serious.
Everyone was okay with it and we proceeded as normal.
We had to drop a refundable 5k deposit on a site while we do percolation tests etc to make sure we can build on it. Same thing
Very normal.
Also, you can still pull out of the deal before the contracts are signed and get this deposit back if needs be.
I did. We had a surveyor go in and say “do not buy this Kip, here’s the reasons why” (not his exact words)
So we got ours back. Estate agent was pissed off, but few of them have any morals so I was bothered.
Congrats and best of luck.
I really don’t understand why this is being downvoted. Estate Agents fees are so high that they needed some way of securing them and came up with the idea of a “booking deposit”. Before that vendors would often get to the end of the case and renegotiate their fees.
It’s normal, mine asked for 8k
It’s normal, but €10k is double the booking deposit I paid to three different estate agents just over 2 years ago. I had two house purchase fall through and our third stuck. Each time was €5k. (Brannigan Estates, Alliance Auctioneer and DNG).
Never ever ever transfer money to an account in an email without ringing the person/company and confirming details. There have been loads of cases in the UK of emails being intercepted and bank details changed.
I just bought a house in the north and the solicitor wouldn’t even send the details in an email it was ring the office to get them.
Filthy northerner here, do you need to have a separate deposit for the mortgage as well? So I would need a 20k deposit to buy a 100k house?
I’m surprised you got so far into buying a gaff without knowing this tbh!! Congrats on getting to Sale Agreed 🙌
22 comments
Perfectly normal and shows you’re serious about buying the house.
If the sale falls through before signing contracts it’s refunded.
Congrats on the future purchase.
Perfectly normal, see point 5 in the link:
https://www.mortgages.ie/go/first_time_buyers/mortgages_explained
Standard practice.
Totally normal. Stops time wasters putting in multiple offers and going sale agreed and then backing out.
Standard practice.
That amount will be taken from the amount you are paying as your whole deposit.
Its something that snuck in in the 1980’s. Basically the Agent making sure they have the money to pay their fees at the end of the deal. Thats literally the only reason for it. There is no legal basis for it and they cannot demand it. As with most things though, we have lazily accepted it and now its accepted as normal
Congrats got the same email myself today 😂
Yes this is normal and it counts as part of the price.
Thanks everyone, much appreciated 🙏 I feel 10k lighter already
Adding to the answers already provided you or the seller can walk away any time before the contract is signed and you will get the deposit back.
If deposits didnt exist people could waste time with fake bids and no reprecussions.
make sure to check the banking details with someone in the office – don’t assume they are giving you the right one either, if over the phone. It either matches or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t then you may need to make a trip into see them in person to ensure you’re speaking to the right person.
Also make sure you promptly get a receipt – this can be used with the bank to show what’s happened to the funds.
Totally normal and gets rid of the spoofers. My last house went sale agreed 4 times and fell through each time when it came to transferring any money. Maddening. Congrats on the gaff 👏🏼
It’s fairly standard. However you don’t always have to pay it.
When we bought our house we were in the process of selling our old house. We were selling, and buying through the same estate agents. We sat down with them and told them we wouldn’t have that kind of cash on hand until our sale completed.
They said it was cool and the fact we were effectively going to be homeless if we couldn’t line up the chain over a deposit it was clear we were serious.
Everyone was okay with it and we proceeded as normal.
We had to drop a refundable 5k deposit on a site while we do percolation tests etc to make sure we can build on it. Same thing
Very normal.
Also, you can still pull out of the deal before the contracts are signed and get this deposit back if needs be.
I did. We had a surveyor go in and say “do not buy this Kip, here’s the reasons why” (not his exact words)
So we got ours back. Estate agent was pissed off, but few of them have any morals so I was bothered.
Congrats and best of luck.
I really don’t understand why this is being downvoted. Estate Agents fees are so high that they needed some way of securing them and came up with the idea of a “booking deposit”. Before that vendors would often get to the end of the case and renegotiate their fees.
It’s normal, mine asked for 8k
It’s normal, but €10k is double the booking deposit I paid to three different estate agents just over 2 years ago. I had two house purchase fall through and our third stuck. Each time was €5k. (Brannigan Estates, Alliance Auctioneer and DNG).
Never ever ever transfer money to an account in an email without ringing the person/company and confirming details. There have been loads of cases in the UK of emails being intercepted and bank details changed.
I just bought a house in the north and the solicitor wouldn’t even send the details in an email it was ring the office to get them.
Filthy northerner here, do you need to have a separate deposit for the mortgage as well? So I would need a 20k deposit to buy a 100k house?
I’m surprised you got so far into buying a gaff without knowing this tbh!! Congrats on getting to Sale Agreed 🙌