Refuse to pay for penality charge :(

Hi guys and girls,

This is my first post and i am extremley stressed and worried!

As i have read in this forum already unfortunatley i have been charged a penality interest charge for delay of settlement.

My conveyancer is blaming the bank and broker but my broker has proof of the vendors conveyancer delaying the titles being changed over in time. My conveyancer are saying that the Bank (BANK WEST BW) didnt send out the morgtage documents in time and the broker did not communicate that to them when they would have considered settlement extension....which my broker has proof of contacting my conveyancer and letting her know all this.

They are all blaming each other but in the end i have to cop $1100 which i cannot realistically afford and it was absolutley out of my control even thought it was in the clause to have 7 days after settlement condition.

It could be the banks fault (but i think it is the vendors) and i have my broker investigating and the bank investigating in further to get some proof who is actually at fault of delaying.

Not only this but my broker or conveyancer decided not to even notify me wether i could get an extension OR even let me know that the vendors were charging me $82 a day from my settlement date! (November 17th)

My conveyancer is not on my side as usual and i have been busting my gut to find all the proof i can to find who is at fault because all the legal advice i have got are saying "That amount of money, the vendors are very unlikely to take legal action if you choose not to pay. And if the vendors are not 100% sure who is at fault they are even more not likely to take you to court...they just want you to pay"

I refuse to pay UNTIL i get proof of who did it (If bank i will consider re-imbursement) or if vendors i would expect them to waiver it. Even if it my broker i suppose i got to find out that aswell.

Do i have a right to do this investigation after settlement date (1st December) and not pay this charge which was 100% out of my control!? I cannot pay for this as i only got told i was getting charged this this wednesday...my conveyancer has been extremley unhelpful all the way through this and obvioulsy not communicated any of these delays with either the vendors, me, or my brokers.

Any advice would be FANTASTIC!! :)

Sorry about the long first post
 
I was just wondering, if you can't 'realistically afford' the $1,100 for penalties, what are you going to do when, say, the toilet breaks?
 
3 responses within 3 1/2 hours and doesn't bother coming back to check ......... can't be too stressed about the penalty fee :rolleyes:
 
Thankyou ............. thankyou very much.

I'd like to start by thanking my parents for all their support ...........
 
My settlement also has been delayed till monday the 7th Dec 09. It supposed to happen on 19th Nov 09. Seller's bank Suncorp did not release doc till yesterday. My conveyance agent sent a notice for $92 per day from first day. I just received an email from convenyance agent that it is not going to happen today.
He writes: problems with both banks today. Sellers bank could not get a payout figure until this afternoon and Rams needed to arrange bank chqs by 10 am so Rams called off settlement for today.

We have re-booked settlement for Monday and we are making a claim for penalties up to today as Rams would not hold off arranging their cheques for settlement this afternoon.

Unfortunately Rams have specific rules for settlements and are not very flexible. The sellers bank normally takes 3 days to settle and they were trying to put it through in 1 day so thats why they were slow today in arranging payout figures for settlement.

Regards

My agent keeps me informed.
 
The banks usually stipulate they require 10 days for settlement from the date of receiving the signed documents back.

The banks are making an offer to you to lend the money and you are accepting their offer when you sign. Then they are 'obliged' to act within their time frames. So unless they dily dallied after receiving the documents back I don't think you have much of a claim - although they often do reimburse customers for delays so it is worth asking.

Also consider the fact that you were not paying bank interest until settlment. So to work out your real cost your figure of $1100 should be less what you would have paid in interest.

Also it is not up to your broker to explain penalty interest, but your solicitor as it is part of the contract you agreed to.
 
Back
Top