Signal or reservation for a home, is it the same?

Signal and reservation are very colloquial terms rooted in the purchase of a home. But what exactly does the so-called reservation, signal or deposit contract require us to do? The words payment, signal, deposit or reservation only show the advance of a sum of money from the buyer to the seller.

The deposit contract is almost always equivalent to a sales contract

In the first place, we must clarify that, however widespread the expression reserve, deposit or signal contract is, they are not autonomous contracts, but agreements of the sale contract. And, when there is conformity in housing and price, there is legally a sale. This means that any of the signatories could be forced by a judge to buy or sell the home. This is especially important in many custom sheets that are signed with real estate agencies, in which they are given written power to buy or sell on our behalf, under the false belief that it is only a sign. Sometimes the deposit contract is also used for other contracts such as leasing or agreements where some essential elements (pre-contracts) have not yet been defined but this is something exceptional.

Deposit contract that allows the contract to be reversed and not

To continue, it should be clear that there are several types of deposit. There are prisons, the most common when the buyer or seller is allowed to withdraw or withdraw from the contract before going to the deed before a notary (time of delivery of the keys to the house); There are confirmatory deposit contract when you simply want to give an advance on account of the price as proof of compliance with the contract without providing for the right to withdraw, and penal deposit when the fine that the parties must meet in case of default is predefined.

In addition, it is important to know that breaching or giving up are very different things. When one fails to comply with this type of agreement, the injured party is entitled to go to a judge demanding the purchase or sale of the home and also compensation, while if the possibility of giving up by penitential carry-over was foreseen, no one can force us to buy or sell. To withdraw, it will be necessary to return the double of the perceived (seller) or to give up anticipated (buyer).

In case of doubt about the type of deposit contract, the most frequent is not being able to disassociate.

This seems clear in practice is not easy since it is common for contracts to confuse some concepts. It is customary to find clauses that state that they are penitential deposit contract and that in case of default the seller must return them duplicates or where there is talk of earnest simply without clarifying their purpose. In case of doubt or lack of agreement, it will be in a judge who decides. In general, judges require that the possibility of disengagement (penitential) be expressly collected, if not collected, will be understood as an advance on account of the price.

A reservation to stop marketing the home

All the deposit contracts have an implicit purpose: to reserve the property in favour of the buyer. Generally, the reservation is not an autonomous contract, but we consider it as something inherent in any advance. Sometimes the reservation, when intermediary real estate agencies, is usually of a very small amount (€ 500 -1000 €) and can be autonomous, provided that it is only intended to stop marketing the house for a short period of time.

If there is a delicate moment in the purchase of a home it is one of the deposit contracts. We must not get carried away by the precipitation and if we have doubts we must ask advice from lawyers outside of any of the parties, which we remember many times are three (seller, buyer and the real estate agency).