Refund if contract signed unamended within seven days

Refund if contract signed unamended within seven days

The Conveyancing Committee has been asked to indicate the correct practice in the following circumstances:

The vendor’s solicitor has issued a contract to the purchaser’s solicitor containing the following special condition: ‘If the purchaser signs the contract documentation without alteration or addition, and it is returned with the full deposit to us within seven days of today’s date, then the purchaser will receive a refund of £2,000. Time is of the essence in this regard’.

The Conveyancing Committee is of the opinion that the insertion of such a special condition is not proper practice because:

• the purchaser’s solicitor could not in these circumstances advise his/her client properly in relation to title and other essential matters, and

• it might introduce a conflict of interest between the purchaser’s solicitor and the purchaser, and

• it might act as an inducement for the purchaser’s solicitor to overlook some aspect of the transaction to which he/she would otherwise object.