What happens if the buyer pulls out?

If the agreement was still conditional

Conditions such as finance, a builder's report, a LIM or due diligence exist to protect the party they are written for. If the buyer cannot satisfy the condition by the date in the agreement, or cancels under it where the wording allows that, the agreement does not proceed.

A due diligence condition is the broadest of them and is usually at the buyer's sole discretion, which means the buyer can decide not to continue for their own reasons and does not have to justify them to you.

Nothing about that is unusual or a sign that something is wrong with your house. It is the risk you accept when you take a conditional offer, which is why the length of each condition period is worth negotiating at the start.

If the agreement was unconditional

Once every condition has been satisfied or waived, both parties are committed to settle. A buyer who then refuses to settle is in breach of contract, and what follows is a legal matter between the parties under the terms of the agreement.

This is the point where you take your lawyer's advice before doing anything else, including before putting the property back on the market or agreeing to any variation. What you say and do at that stage affects your position.

The deposit

Where a deposit has been paid, it is held in the agency trust account and cannot be paid out for ten working days after it is received. What happens to the deposit when your house sells covers the rest of it.

Who the money belongs to once an agreement has ended is a legal question rather than an administrative one. Where the agreement was properly cancelled under a condition, the buyer is normally entitled to it back. Where the agreement was unconditional, it forms part of whatever your lawyer is dealing with. Do not agree to release it either way without that advice.

Going back to market

Before the property goes back up, find out why the buyer withdrew. If it was finance, nothing about your house has changed and the campaign can pick up where it left off. If it was something in a builder's report or a LIM, you now know something you did not know before, and once your agent knows it too, rule 10.7 of the Client Care Rules requires known defects to be disclosed to buyers. Get the item quoted, repaired or explained before the next campaign rather than during it.

If you took a backup offer, signed subject to the first agreement not proceeding, it can now come forward. If you did not, the earlier interest is the first place to go: the underbidders, the second best offer, and anyone whose own timing has changed since.