Agreed purchase price, but seller sold to someone else!

I tend to agree that any cash sale would go before a part Ex... but this really should of been explained to you. If this person is a dealer with a good rep, maybe she thought the horse wasn't for you and thats why she didnt take any deposit, just a thought.

Your main concern tho is contacting the transport company, I think it's highly unlikely to get a full refund as that vehicle would of been booked out of a 'slot of time' and they may have turned other business away for that perido but they should be able to refund less any normal deposit they would of taken, obviously the nearer to the date it is cancelled the less % you will get back.

I run a transport company and when people have paid in full, which they often do to save time messing around with cash on the day, I will always refund less their deposit, obvioulsy it depends on how close to their travel date they cancel as to what % they get back but they are made fully aware of that in the T&C's of the company...

Good luck with it all and I hope you're not left too much out of pocket...
 
I think you really really need to speak to a lawyer as what sounds reasonable, fair or moral, may be entirely different to what you are entitled according to the law. Most lawyers should offer you a first consultation for free to establish whether you have a claim.
 
The dealer will not take my phone calls now. She knows she acted dishonestly.

I rang this morning and because my number showed up on her mobile she did not answer. So I rang from my home phone and a member of her staff answered. She will not take my call. How dreadful is that. I'm in tears.
 
There was a contract in place.

Speak to a solicitor.

I deal with business to business, but if I remember rightly - the contract was made, the dealer broke it (doesn't matter about other issues such as other buyers coming along with cash, etc., unless that was stated as part of the deal you did with the dealer), so the dealer has to procure that horse or one the same.

Don't quote me on the above though. Go and get legal advice. If you win the case, you 'should' get your costs back. Depends on all the circumstances.
 
Thank you everyone. Yes, there was a contract in place. A verbal one, and i have responses on texts which will prove the verbal contract.

I'm very tempted to name and shame this dealer.
 
YOU NEED TO SPEAK TO THE TRANSPORT COMPANY before assuming all your £600 is lost.

Last time I booked a racehorse lorry to collected 5 mares and foals from a stud in Oxford to Devon, I booked, gave instructions where my horses were to be collected. Arranged for the stud manager to meet the lorry and load the horses with their docs and didn't pay anything until the horses were delivered safely to me in Devon. It was COD in my case.

Most I'd have paid the transport company is a small deposit before the job was done but since you've paid the full amount I'd see if they'll be willing to help you. Try them first.

As for the dealer, I half expect she thought someone else might come along with an offer minus the PTX. Why else would a dealer refuse a deposit. If they 100% expected the sale to go through, they wouldn't have any reason to refuse to accept one. And would prefer to have one incase YOU dropped out and they lost other potential sales. Next time, smell a rat if someone accepts your offer but wont take a deposit.
 
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I wouldn't go naming and shaming anyone unless you have your facts 100% accurate regarding this... or it might not just be her who ends up in court! Think carefully before opening your mouth. As upsetting as this may be for you, its not a good road to go down.

For this to be a legally binding contract you have to show 5 things...

1, A valid offer
2, A valid acceptance
3, Communication of that acceptance
4, Consideration
5, And an Intention to Create Legal Relations (ICLR)

Based on what you have explained its not clear if there is an acceptance of your offer but even if there is an acceptance there is no communication of that acceptance. The acceptance MUST be communicated.
Secondly, there must be consideration. Consideration is usually a deposit but not necessarily so. For consideration to be valid, there must a benefit and detriment on both parties or there is no contract.
Finally, there must be an intention to create legal relations, if the seller had no intention of selling to you then there is no contract regardless of how you may feel about it.

If you got to CAB or a solicitor, they will go through this exact 5 stage process and come up with the same answer based on what you have told us, there is no valid contract primarily because there is no evidence of communication of acceptance and there is no consideration and maybe even no ICLR
 
This is awful on you but in this market i can see why the dealer sold the horse.

If she had someone with cash in hand to buy outright, of course its more appealing than a bit of money plus another horse coming in she has to feed and keep before it sells.

Its not right though, specially if she is now ignoring calls.
 
I am sorry for your disappointment. I feel sure you'll be able to get at least mostof your money back from the transporter.

If you feel this is a good dealer why don't you visit to see if there is another horse that suits you? You could then come to some agreement that would take into account the money you'd lost on the transports costs. This time get everything in writing.
 
myhorsefred said:
She texted agreeing to the sale, so I guess I have something in writing. Although, I understand a verbal contract is just as binding as a written one.

I have a text from her anyway, agreeing also to transportation next week, also saying she did not want a deposit.
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Yonks since I studied law, but it used to be the case that only 'contracts for the sale of land needed to be evidenced in writing' so they are in breach of contract..keep your evidence.
 
Very easy to look back on something like this and say "I told you so" but perhaps this should be a lesson to all. Even if you buy a house - unless you have actually exchanged contracts you can be gazumped at any time during the time leading up to exchange.

I feel you were very previous in booking and paying up front for transport and it also sounds like you were going to buy this animal without any kind of vetting taking place.

You should never ever rush into buying a new horse - every step should be thoroughly thought through or, as you have found out, you can be taken very seriously advantage of by all!

Now - get onto your transport company and demand your money back - we still have not heard an update on this from you so would assume by your silence that you have not bothered to chase them. Forget about the horse - you are not going to get it now. What was wrong with the other horse you wanted to PX?
 
Thanks everyone.

mcnaughty - I rang transporter but cannot get hold of him as he is in ireland i think. have left a message though. transport was due to take place on tuesday of this week.

no, i didn't bother with a vetting, but that's not the issue here.

nothing wrong with my current horse thanks.
 
Also, re: example of a house sale above -contract law and land/property law are completely different things.

A verbal agreement stands in contract law and is enforceable, whereas verbal agreements do not stand in land/property law and are not enforceable.
 
I can understand the OP being upset, I would be too. BUT what does she think could happen? The dealer has sold the horse to someone else, who presumably has removed it from the dealer's premises. How does the OP think that she can enforce the contract, does she expect the dealer to get the horse back from some-one who has paid in full for it, in order to sell it on to her? I really cannot see that happening, or any judge even trying to enforce that.
The only thing to do now is move on, learn from the experience and try to get as much money as possible back from the transporter.
 
Vicki_Krystal said:
I have to say that on knowing who the dealer is i am VERY shocked!

They always get mentioned on here as one of the 'GOOD' dealers out there so i can understand the OP being more than upset.
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Everyone seems to have posotive things to say about the dealer in question...

There are two sides to every story and often when people 'feel' they have been dupped things can easily be over exaggerated when they are upset/disappointed.

I dont see the dealer as doing anything wrong, see previous post.

If there is nothing wrong with the horse you have now, why PX it?

I would of been ringing the transporter before today regarding your money back. You dont really seem concered about the £600 you seem more concered about getting her in court, personally I think if you read my previous post regarding the 5 points I dont think you have any realistic chance of getting a solicitor to act for you.
 
lea840 - i think i have the 5 points you mentioned above in text form on my phone.

reason for px'ing not the issue in discussion here.

i did ring transporter before today. could not get an answer. I tried again this morning - still no answer. transporter is in ireland - i expect he will ring me back. the whole reason for my concern is because of the £600, not only about getting this dealer in court.

I will ring an equine solicitr in the morning, as soon as the offices are open.
 
But the question in the OP was 'Can I hold her to the sale?', not 'Can I expect her to pay the transport costs?'. Most of the answers have told you that you cannot hold her to the sale.
How does this transporter do business if there is no-one there to answer the phone every day?
 
I would certainly ring that equine solicitor tomorrow,

I do not know who has a proper legal backround in the answers here however the one I know has some legal experiance reply tells me you certainly need to seek furthur advice as a verbal contract is a binding agreement.

The majority of replies here will be from the likes of me who have no legal experiance and are just posting what they think should be the case call it common sense or not. My instinct tells me the dealer acted very irresponsibly and once a sale has been agreed the horse is not for sale and you are buying it end off!

I have always been paranoid about this happening when I have bought a horse, so much so once I even got my friend to ring up the advert for me to check they said sorry its sold. Luckily I have always bought from as it turns out decent sellers who stick to their word as I do.

good luck and keep us informed as I would be very interested to hear what that advice actually says.
 
thanks for your replies.

lea840 - you say you don't think the seller did anything wrong?

Let me put this to you:

1. I agree verbally to buy your horse, you accept verbally and also via text.
2. We agree that I will travel across the country and pick the horse up later that afternoon.
3. I travel seven hours to you to collect the horse and when I get there you say, 'oh, sorry i sold the horse half an hour ago'. Do you think that is fair?

The only difference in my case is that I was sending someone else to pick up for me and on a different day.
 
I totally feel for you OP.
I'm very involved in the market and buying and selling (I'm not a dealer btw), this is not unusual, a cash sale will always go through, over a partX. Now although this is totally unfair and it sucks, it's what happens, even with a 'proper' written agreement on occasion.
With regards to the text messages, yeah they are evidence, but will they hold up? Highly doubt it. I get that you are royally p155ed, I would be too, but you need to take a step back, and think 'Is it really worth my time?'.
You can't get the horse back anyway, if you 'name and shame', you'll probably end up coming off worse and the legal route, well it's rather hit and miss (more miss here IMHO), plus it'll cost you a bomb.

But as numerous people have said, forget about the dealer for now, and concentrate on getting the £600 pounds you have shelled out, back. After all, being horseless and £600 down in the bank is worse than just being horseless, right?

If this were me (has been on a few occasions), I'd chalk it up to experience, and move on. Why waste time, when it could be spent looking for another horse, plenty of fish in the sea etc etc.
Life is too short!
 
SophieLouBee - thanks for your comments.

It is shocking that this regularly happens in the horse world - when you say that a cash sale will always go before a part ex, even if a contract/firm agreement has been made. Do horse dealers think they can operate outside of the law then? Surely something needs to be done about unfair/dishonest treatment of buyers in the horse market.

Why is it ok for dealers to treat people like this and accept cash, even though they have agreed a sale previously. Just because, 'oh well, its the horse world, and that is what regularly happens' doesn't make it right!

Not having a pop at you SophieLouBee - just saying that its not right or fair to agree to sell and then sell to someone else who happens to appear on their yard with cash. Disgusting.
 
Been informed by 3rd year law friend, that bearing in mind what you've said you would have a contract, and you should be able to claim for the £600 back plus any other expense you will incur trying to find another horse, such as travel expenses. He's mentioned damages in lieu of specific performance (section 50 of the supreme court act 1981), which it might be worth investigating.

ETA Section 18 rule 1 of sales of goods act says that where there is an unconditional contact for the sale of specific goods (that particular horse) in a deliverable state (it was obviously in a deliverable state because you paid for the delivery and you could have just picked it up), the property (effectively ownership in this case) and the goods passes to the buyer when the contract is made and it is immaterial whether the time of payment or the time of delivery or both be postponed.

Please bear in mind this is being dictated over a phone and so if the above is slightly misworded that's why. He's told me to include the following,

Disclaimer: Its from a law student (albeit a very good one) so not intended to be taken as legal advice. He can accept no liability for the statement.

But that doesn't mean he's not right
 
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sun-shine - thank you very much. and can you please thank your law student friend very much also. i am so grateful.

I doubt I will be able to buy this horse now, but i am tamping mad. I set my heart on this horse too.

thanks again sunshine.
 
I would also be right royally peeved off, i do not know the law so you say yes you had a contract, but you will not now be able to have that horse but the dealer would have to pay you costs if it went to court and i would assume any other cost you incur in the process of find another horse.
I could be completely wrong, just my understanding of matters
 
myhorsefred said:
sun-shine - thank you very much. and can you please thank your law student friend very much also. i am so grateful.

I doubt I will be able to buy this horse now, but i am tamping mad. I set my heart on this horse too.

thanks again sunshine.
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No worries :D He likes being able to talk about Law so he was quite happy :D Do go after them for the transport costs though if you can't get them back. I should start up a racket like that and charge for transport myself. Not give them the horse and keep the transport money. Make enough for a very nice holiday :D
 
Yes agree that you should go after them for the transport. If you phone trading standards tomorrow they will dictate you a standard letter and will take on your case - I wouldn't go down the legal route personally.
 
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