Usually your lawyer will advise that the purchaser to lodge a caveat on the property once the Vendor has accepted the deposit or down payment from the purchaser. This is to restrict the Vendor from selling to another party and inform the other prospective purchasers that you have a caveatable interest on the said property. I noticed that you took a high risk in paying 20% of the purchase price as deposit without securing the signing of the SPA because the SPA will spell out all the terms of purchase, termination and refund of the transaction. Hopefully you have conducted a title deed search on the ownership of the property and the encumbrances if any and verify the outstanding bank loan to be redeemed by the Vendor. There are cases where the Vendor tempts the Purchaser with a low price but high downpayment and abscond by taking all the downpayment as the total selling price is not enough to cover the outstanding bank loan anyhow. Also the SPA is usually signed within 14 days or 21 days at most where the borrower's bank will be informed. Without a reasonable reason (like delaying for RPGT reasons) 2 months to sign SPA is a long time where anything in between can happen. David Wong Licensed Principal Agent (E2097) QUANTUM REAL ESTATE
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