Hans Christian Crew

So we called the OFT and the ACCC today and it seems it's no good, even though we terminated with genuine reason within 24 hours of it being unconditional, legally they can take the deposit. They said it's entirely up to the broker whether he refunds any of the deposit or not. So it's all based on his conscience and this broker doesn't have one.

We have a family member who works selling homes in a retirement resort and if ever there is a health issue with a buyer on an unconditional contract (which is not so rare due to their age), the company have no problem letting them terminate and refunding the full deposit. We would have assumed something similar in this situation but it apparently all depends on the person or company you are dealing with.

So to sum up; The boat is the HC38 Sea Star and has been for sale with Burraneer Bay Marina brokerage for over 14 months. It has been under contract at least 3 times in that time in addition to mine.
It was under contract with me for just 12 days including less than 24 hours unconditional. He said he was keeping all the deposit due to the 12 days it was off the market and the work they had done. The work done was emails and bringing the boat 100 metres from the mooring to the marina for inspection. We had no sea trial, no survey and it didn't get to settlement. The deposit was almost $10,000 and he is aware we had already spent well over $1000 on flights and accomodation. Both my wife and myself wrote to him and the owner explaining the health situation and asking for at least some of the deposit to be returned but he refused on both occasions.
I am not sure about the rules on here for naming people so I will just say that anyone who wants to know his name can jump on their website or boatsales and you can find out very easily or you can pm me.

I mentioned in a previous post how the contract had been sent to me with virtually everything incorrect and I forgot to mention that he even spelt the owners name wrong as well. So he is totally unprofessional both to the buyer and the seller. Telling me that he would only provide the sellers details after I had signed the contract and if I didn't like it I would have to buy a different boat shows he is absolutely arrogant.
And his keeping all the almost $10,000 deposit shows he is unsympathetic and greedy as well.
So basically if you are thinking of buying or selling your boat in that area you would be well advised to try anywhere else.

In each refusal to refund the deposit he always said that it was both his and the owners decision but I can't see any point in stating his name here.

For some reason there seems to be an issue with leaving a review on google at the moment (when I go to sign in it keeps looping back) but I will do so when I am able.

We just want to move on from this now so this will be the last post on the subject. Its been a huge lesson for us both financially and emotionally but maybe others can take something from it to help them.

Thanks again for the messages of support and hopefully my next post is usual sailing stuff. Sorry for the long post.

sorry to hear your outcome Cockpit.

With over 1600 views now on this thread, I dont these developments portray a broker that does value honesty etc. as touted on a particular marina brokers website.
Maybe forget the boat for now, best of luck to your wife and yourself for the medical challenges ahead.