Couple Wins Back €21,000 Despite Withdrawing Too Late From Property Purchase
A French woman born in Morocco and her husband had backed out of a €420,000 property purchase. Their withdrawal was outside the deadline. After four years of legal battles, a missing document ultimately allows them to recover their €21,000.
They had missed the deadline to withdraw from their purchase. Yet they will not lose the €21,000 deposited with the notary. The Toulon judicial court has ruled in favor of a French couple, whose wife was born in Morocco, in a property dispute dating back to May 2022. The judges acknowledge that the buyers withdrew too late, but find that the sellers cannot keep their money, according to the judgment of August 24, 2026.
On Bladi.net : Paris Court Orders Moroccan Apartment Seller to Return €5,000 Deposit
The case began on May 20, 2022. The couple signed a preliminary sale agreement before a notary covering several condominium units, for a total price of €420,000. The contract provided for a €42,000 deposit if the buyers did not follow through on their commitment. They immediately paid half of that amount, or €21,000, into the notary’s account.
The sale was to be finalized before July 29. But on September 9, the buyers announced that they intended to abandon the project. Among other reasons, they cited the discovery of a 35 m² shed built without authorization more than thirty years earlier. They said the sellers had not properly informed them of the risk of legal action by the condominium association to have the property restored to its original condition.
A withdrawal deemed too late
Before the court, this first argument failed to convince. The judges found that the condominium documents had indeed been provided to the buyers on May 20, 2022. Their statutory withdrawal period therefore began the following day and expired on May 30. By announcing their withdrawal on September 9, they had missed the deadline by more than three months.
The judges also dismissed the accusation of concealment. The preliminary sale agreement explicitly mentioned the unauthorized shed and potential difficulties with the condominium association. The buyers therefore could not claim that they had discovered after signing that information had been deliberately withheld.
But the couple had another argument. The agreement provided that the deposit would be returned if certain conditions precedent were not met. These included a check of the property’s mortgage status, intended in particular to ensure that there were no financial charges incompatible with the sale.
On August 11, 2022, however, the buyers’ notary reported that the mortgage status document had still not been received. The sellers were also unable to prove in court that the document had been sent and that all the conditions precedent had been met. This failure to provide proof turned the case around.
On Bladi.net : French Notary Ordered to Pay Moroccan-Born Couple €29,045 After Demolition Threat
The court therefore ordered the notary’s office to return the €21,000 to the couple. The deposit, intended to penalize the unjustified abandonment of a purchase, could not be retained under these circumstances. The sellers received nothing from that sum, while the buyers’ refund claim was upheld despite their late withdrawal.
The judges nevertheless refused to award them the additional €20,000 in damages they sought for abusive resistance. They also rejected one of the sellers’ claims for €5,000 in moral damages. Each party must bear its own legal costs. The ruling, issued by a court of first instance, is provisionally enforceable.
