Kibkom North Cyprus Forum

Sadly recently we lost the villas we were going to purchase. The estate agents is refusing to return our deposit! We are about to start legal proceedings to get our money back, has anyone been down this line before. Any help or information would be appreciated, thanks

Did you have a Deposit Agreement?

Yes we did, full refund of deposit if the vendors pull out? But sadly not been returned

war horse wrote: ↑

Wed 24 May 2023 7:16 am

Yes we did, full refund of deposit if the vendors pull out? But sadly not been returned

Have you got receipts?

Legal proceedings against the agent or vendor may cost you as much as, or more than, your lost deposit(s).

If the vendor pulled out of the sale(s) with you for a reason you cannot reasonably be held as contributory to their making the decision to pull out, you “might” have a case worthy of proceeding with.

However, if there is or are any contributory factors of your making forming their decision to pull out of the sale(s) to you, there may be a reasonable argument to put forward you are at fault, thus forfeiting your deposit.

Just saying. I only proffer an opinion going by the limited information you provided. No legal expert either.

Yes paperwork all signed!

I presume the deposit was paid to the agent?

I would really make a fuss with the Agent and don’t give up !

Sadly we have tried that, even sent her a letter from our Solicitor but to no avail, so they only route left is the expensive legal one. I know that she reads this forum and is probably laughing at us but l want my deposit back!!!

I would like to name and shame, but l understand that's not allowed on the forum as l feel it's totally wrong but l know l'm in the right so an onward battle it will have to be

I think you should name the agent, if what you say is factually correct then they should be named and we should be warned!!
Why should they get away with this bad practise how is that fair to anyone?

Facts are very different to opinions.

I did tell the story on the forum a few months back, but it was removed and l got a slapped wrist as the said agents complained and l was told off by the moderators.

It's a very true story and have months of WhatsApp
messages from the agent to prove it which will joyfully be very useful when we get to court.

We did have a house sale fall through a few years back and l have to say the agents concerned refund
our deposit immediately.

you don't have to name them, just give a location.

Or send us a message and tell us who they are as we may have previous experiences of them etc etc

There is also the Kibris Turk Emlakcilar Birligl association you could reach out too?

It's about time this practice was stopped, as well as many others, but where do you start?

We have instructed an Estate Agent to sell our property and I have told them that I will only pay a deposit to our Lawyers for the property we intend to buy. It's what we were advised to do for our last purchase. No problem they said.

war horse, someone mentioned above that going legal would probably cost more than the deposits you're trying to get back, but if you win your case in court, would the Estate Agents concerned be liable for your fees?

Well we will be paying funds to the solicitor this week to start proceedings against the emlaks concerned, as this still have not repaid our deposit money. Yes we should win and the will be liable for our costs we understand. Shame that they are not an honest couple, really sad as l had been told that a few members on the forum have used them and been fully satisfied but sadly nothing stays the same forever!

Thing is, if people had successful transactions with no need of a refund, you wouldn't hear about it.

A very interesting thread this and so unfair on warhorse to be in this position.

Absolutely agree with you to go on fighting.

Compass

Well after a long saga, we have finally got our deposit back from this Emlak, and we did issue a legal letter and after weeks of waiting we got a msg from our Solicitor today with the refund. Its was very sad it had to come to this, but it proves that you shouldn't give up. Hopefully the Emlak concerned will learn a lesson from this but sadly probably not???

Good for you and I'm glad it's been resolved to your satisfaction. May I ask what was their reason for not refunding in the first place?

The emlak said the owner of the property did'nt want to give it back? Strange as the owners were in the UK and l gave the emlak the deposit, and she said that they would hold it?

war horse wrote: ↑

Tue 26 Sep 2023 12:09 pm

The emlak said the owner of the property did'nt want to give it back? Strange as the owners were in the UK and l gave the emlak the deposit, and she said that they would hold it?

I bet their pants were on fire...

war horse wrote: ↑

Tue 26 Sep 2023 12:09 pm

The emlak said the owner of the property did'nt want to give it back? Strange as the owners were in the UK and l gave the emlak the deposit, and she said that they would hold it?

Cheeky whotsits (and I don't mean the owners)!