It can be pretty daunting when you are setting out to buy your first home. There seems to be a never ending ream of steps and paperwork to follow to complete the deal when conveyacing begins. One of the very first steps is to place your booking deposit with the auctioneer. It makes sense in my opinion to put down as small a deposit as you can get away with! This is more from a cashflow perspective and the outside possibility that your auctioneer goes out of business. Having said that the booking deposit is protected and is fully refundable when you insist that you are giving it on the basis that the deal is “subject to contract/contract denied”. These simple words will be used by your solicitor throughout the transaction up to the point he is satisfied that you can sign and return contracts to the Vendors. For instance it may turn out that there is a fundamental flaw with the planning or you dont get your loan offer from the bank. In that case the deal falls through and the booking deposit is returned to you.

Shane Healy, Healy O’Connor Conveyancing Solicitors, Cork and Dublin.