An apartment buyer in Auckland is decrying her loss of a $60,000 deposit, but the developer says it isn’t liable to pay it back.
Bridie Campbell, 24, a student, said she used an inheritance from her father who died two years ago to put down a $60,000 deposit on a unit in the apartment complex between Union St and Nelson St but now she wants it back because no financer will loan her the rest of the money she needs for the unit.
But Darren Brown, Sugartree managing director, said today it was clear in the contract that buyers must settle once they paid deposits. Sugartree had done nothing wrong in retaining the deposit, she bought via a real estate agent and she owes the balance of the money for the unit she agreed to buy, Brown said.
“We do have sympathy for her and have put her in touch with a finance broker to assist her. We’ve done what we can,” Brown said. “We’ve built just under 700 apartments and 99 per cent of buyers did what they said they’d do and settled their purchases. We’ve had very few defaults. This is a warning to people: be careful about signing up to a contract,” Brown said.
