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Meryllyn Page
Conveyancing
It is an essential condition of the contract that the deposit is paid either before or at exchange of contracts. The deposit is held by the depositholder. The Contract defines the deposit holder as the vendor's agent and if there is no agent than it is normally held by the vendor's conveyancer. Provided the deposit cheque is held by the estate agent, the vendor's conveyancer or the vendor at or before exchange the deposit is taken to be paid on time.
The deposit or any part of it can be paid by cheque or in cash. Any cheque is acceptable as payment of the deposit, it does not have to be a bank cheque. If the deposit is not paid on time or the deposit cheque is not honoured by the paying bank then the purchaser is in breach of an essential term of the contract. The vendor can terminate the contract at any time before the purchaser makes good the deposit.
If the contract provides, the deposit can be paid by instalments then each instalment must be paid on time, otherwise the vendor can terminate.
DEPOSIT