Approximate form of a deposit agreement in Moscow, drawn up at a low price

What is an advance?

According to paragraph 1 of Art. 487 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, advance payment is an advance payment for goods, services, and work against upcoming payments until the transfer of goods, provision of services, or performance of work.

Thus, the advance has the following functions:

counted against future payments under the contract (payment function).
serves as evidence certifying the fact of concluding a contract (evidential function). Carrying out actions to pay the advance is considered acceptance of the offer, i.e. consent to conclude a contract.
is not a way to secure obligations - it does not perform a security function. Therefore, regardless of which party is responsible for the failure to fulfill the obligation, the party who received the advance is obliged to return it.

In the case of real estate, when buying/selling under a contract: if there is no contract, then, in fact, there cannot be an advance. To fix the price, transaction date and other important conditions, you need to conclude a preliminary purchase and sale agreement. An advance payment for an apartment is simply an advance payment, which will simply be taken into account in the full payment for the purchase object.

If the buyer changes his mind, the seller is obliged to return the advance. The only exceptions are cases when the advance agreement contains a clause on compensation for damage due to the failure of the transaction due to the fault of the purchasing party.

In everyday use, “advance” is the name given to depositing money to symbolically confirm the intention. However, it is worth remembering: “advance” does not provide any guarantees, in other words, the fact that the transaction must be concluded on the terms that you agreed on does not depend on the payment of the advance.

All this can lead to quite significant financial losses. For example, the buyer has already spent money on completing the transaction, and the seller at the last moment refuses and returns the “advance payment.” No one will compensate for possible losses to the buyer.

For example, a certain citizen Ivanov signed an “advance” agreement with the seller and transferred 100,000 rubles. Three days before the transaction, the seller stated that he wanted 300,000 rubles more for the apartment. Ivanov could have simply taken the “advance payment”, but he regretted the time and money already spent on registration, evaluation, and so on. As a result, the apartment was bought at an inflated price.

Receipt for a deposit when buying a house: sample

At the time of execution of the receipt, a home purchase and sale agreement must be prepared indicating all forms of payment. The document must indicate the amount of the deposit and the remaining cost;
If there are several owners, each of them writes a receipt. The total amount of the advance payment is divided between them;
If the owner of the property is a minor, the document is drawn up by his parents, and the presence of the seller is not necessary, but is desirable;
The receipt must be drawn up upon the transfer of funds, in the presence of all parties to the transaction;
The text of the receipt should not contain crossouts or corrections, or any additions or errors.

There is no single established form of receipt. The size of the deposit is also not specified anywhere. In practice, the parties independently decide what part of the cost can become the down payment. When drawing up a receipt for receiving a deposit on a house, a form from open sources available for review can serve as a sample.

What is a deposit?

According to clause 1 of Article 380 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, a deposit is recognized as a sum of money given by one of the contracting parties in payment of payments due from it under the contract to the other party, as proof of the conclusion of the contract and to ensure its execution.

Based on this, the functions of the deposit are as follows:

payment – money is transferred towards payments due under the agreement to the other party;
certifying – money is deposited as proof of the conclusion of the contract
security - a deposit is made to secure the execution of the contract.

The main purpose of the deposit is to prevent non-fulfillment of the contract.

For example, the parties agree to conclude a contract for the sale and purchase of residential premises. The seller and buyer are interested in completing the transaction and, to ensure the seriousness of the intentions of each of them, agree on a deposit.

The agreement on the deposit must be concluded in simple written form (Article 160 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). In this case, the amount of the deposit does not matter, it can be anything!

Failure to comply with the written form of the deposit agreement will entail consequences in the form of recognition of the transferred amount as an advance.

The deposit agreement must contain:

indication of the specific obligation to secure which the deposit is transferred;
deposit amount;
details of the parties to the deposit agreement;
procedure and timing of deposit transfer.

The consequences of failure to fulfill the contract will be as follows:

if the buyer is to blame for failure to fulfill the contract, this deposit remains with the seller;
If p is responsible for failure to fulfill the contract, he is obliged to pay the buyer double the amount of the deposit.

In addition to the deposit, the guilty party is also obliged to compensate for losses caused by failure to fulfill the contract, with the amount of the deposit offset, unless otherwise provided by the contract.

Deposit for the purchase and sale of a car

The scheme for purchasing a new or used car is, in general, identical. Whether the seller is an official dealer or an individual, the buyer often leaves him a deposit/advance payment. As a rule, it is a small amount, most often 5-10 thousand rubles. For the car owner, this is a kind of guarantor, confirming the seriousness of the stranger’s intentions to buy his car. A low percentage of exceptions to the rules applies to some “private owners” who take the client’s word for it and go to deregister the car without financial guarantees.

Many people do not distinguish between the concepts of “advance” and “deposit”, which can lead to legal confusion

Few people know how an advance differs from a deposit, how the deposit should be handled and whether it can be returned if for some reason the transaction does not go through.

Deposit and advance - there is a difference

First of all, do not confuse a deposit with an advance. It is precisely because of ignorance of the difference between these terms that legal confusion and conflict situations often arise. If the buyer writes a receipt that says the following: “I... contribute... rubles towards the purchase of a brand car... with VIN number...”

, is not a deposit at all, but an advance. By law, this is only a down payment for the car, which can be returned at any time and does not necessarily lead to the conclusion of a sales contract.

The deposit, in turn, serves as a guarantor of obligations both on the part of the buyer and on the part of the seller. It appears in cases where a purchase and sale agreement is drawn up, for example, in the showroom of an official dealer for the supply of a certain car. But in the case of buying a car from a private owner, an advance payment is made.

An advance is made when making a transaction with a private person, and a deposit is made when purchasing a car from a dealer

For example, a car owner chooses a car on the Internet. Then, upon meeting, he examines it, agrees on the amount of the transaction with the owner of the car and that he will deregister it in the near future. In order to “stake out” this particular car, the seller is given a small amount, and he, in turn, writes a receipt for this money. This document must contain his full name and details, the buyer’s full name and details, as well as data about the car: make, model, year of manufacture and VIN number. This is called making an advance payment.

If at the time of the transaction it turns out that the car, after drawing up a receipt, suffered some obvious damage or the seller changed the price upward, the buyer has the right to demand the return of the advance payment. If the buyer changes his mind about buying the car, that is, the transaction did not take place due to his fault, the advance amount remains with the seller, even if this is not indicated in the receipt.

The situation with the deposit is similar, but still slightly different. It usually appears when purchasing a new car at a dealer showroom. It often happens that the required configuration of this particular model is not in stock and you must wait for it to be delivered from abroad. A sales contract is drawn up with a mandatory indication of delivery dates and late fees, and a deposit is paid (often 10% of the cost of the car). The amount of the deposit and the obligations associated with it are specified in a separate agreement.

This is a very beneficial situation for the buyer. If the dealer fails to fulfill his obligations, it is absolutely legal to recover from him an amount equal to twice the amount of the deposit. “If the party who received the deposit is responsible for the failure to fulfill the contract, he is obliged to pay the other party double the amount of the deposit.”

, – it is written in black and white in paragraph two of Article 381 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

That is, if the seller violates these obligations and the buyer does not want to wait 2-3 months instead of two weeks, he has every right to demand twice as much money as was paid as a deposit, and after that contact another, more responsible dealer. This is stated in the law, and no “internal rules” of a particular car dealership can contradict the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. If the seller refuses to pay the required amount or is ready to give only part of it, you should go to court, which in this case will definitely be on the buyer’s side. However, a pre-trial claim is often enough.

But this is in theory. In practice, it most often happens that while the claim is in the “queue” for consideration in court, while one hearing is postponed after another, the car arrives, so it becomes impossible to collect a penalty from the seller.

As for conflict situations with private sellers, cases of going to court are extremely rare. The law seems to be on the side of the victim, but the amount of legal costs may turn out to be more than the advance amount.

Let's consider another option. Let's assume a car is purchased on credit. In parallel with the conclusion of the purchase and sale agreement, an application is submitted to the bank. And now the car was delivered on time - that is, the car dealership has fully fulfilled its obligations, but the bank is ready to provide an amount half as much as what is required to purchase this car. That is, the decision on the loan was made positively, but not at all in the amount that the buyer would like.

What to do in such a situation? If the bank agrees to issue a loan, but not the one required, this in legal language is a refusal. This must be mentioned in the application for the return of the deposit. If the management of the car dealership does not meet the client halfway, the next stage is filing a claim in court. Again, in this case, the seller has no chance - he is obliged to return the money you paid earlier, albeit in the same (and not double) amount.

So, making an advance and making a deposit are similar, but not equivalent procedures. An advance appears in transactions with private individuals. And the deposit – in transactions with car dealerships, it is secured by the immediate signing of the purchase and sale agreement. Neither the advance nor the deposit can be returned if the transaction was not due to the fault of the buyer. And if this happened through the fault of the seller, then the deposit can be returned - and sometimes in double size.

It is precisely because of ignorance of the difference between these terms that legal confusion and conflict situations often arise.

What is a security deposit

A security deposit is essentially similar to a deposit, but it can contain almost any conditions for return or retention.
The security payment may or may not be refunded in whole or in part, depending on what the parties agreed upon. A security deposit guarantees the fulfillment of any obligations under the contract, and the earnest money serves largely to secure the signing of the underlying sales contract.

A security payment is not used very often, but nevertheless it is a very convenient legal instrument for protecting the interests of both parties.

We draw up a sample receipt for receiving money

We wrote above what a receipt is and exactly how it should be used. Let us say right away that the receipt form for receiving money must be filled out by hand with a blue pen. There is quite a bit of controversy about the need to write the entire text of the receipt by hand. Any corrections or cross-outs in the sample receipt are simply unacceptable. If even one mistake was made, ask the seller to rewrite the sample receipt.

Please note that notarization of the receipt is not required, since this document is simply not valid without the main document (purchase and sale agreement). Likewise, any copies of the receipt will be considered invalid, so the original document should be protected.

Remember, receipts must indicate the place where the receipt was written. Most often, the location is indicated at the top left edge. The date is also written in words.

Provide complete passport details. Starting from full name and ending with registration address. Data must be present from both the seller and the buyer. The exact reason for transferring funds and the purpose of payment must be indicated. At the very end of the sample receipt for receiving money, put your full name without any abbreviations and signature.

The receipt form must contain the following items:

Date of receipt
Absolutely all passport data
Indicate the amount of the deposit the seller receives. (the amount is written in both words and numbers).
Link to the main agreement. In this case, a purchase and sale agreement.
Description of the property for which the deposit is to be paid.
Signature of the deposit taker

After filling out the receipt, be sure to check all the data in it again so that there are no doubts.

We also invite you to watch a video from a lawyer about the deposit agreement for housing.

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We draw up a deposit agreement to receive money for an apartment

What is the difference between an advance, a deposit and a security deposit when buying an apartment

When buying an apartment, in order to “book” the property they like, the buyer often makes a cash advance payment with the condition that the seller will not sell this property, otherwise he will be obliged to return the money. Let's look at how the types of prepayment differ from each other and which option is better.

From the point of view of a buyer who wants to retain the right to buy a specific apartment, a deposit is the most interesting and profitable option. It is he who creates the obligations that the buyer requires. In fact, if the owner refuses to sell the apartment to the buyer who paid this amount, he will have to not only return what he took, but also pay the same amount “on top.”

From the point of view of the seller/realtor, an advance payment is best: it can be returned at any time, it does not impose obligations or additional penalties.

A security deposit is convenient for both parties.

Is a deposit agreement necessary?

Today, few people trust words and promises. When a buyer and seller meet and agree on a sale, guarantees must be provided that this is the person who will buy the car. A guarantee is a certain amount of money that the buyer gives to the seller up front. As a rule, this amount ranges from 5% to 15% of the total cost of the vehicle.

When transferring money, you will need to draw up a deposit agreement for the car. The main purpose of such an agreement is that the seller is confident that he has a buyer, and the other party, in turn, will be confident that the car will be sold to her.

But many disputes arise when the buyer suddenly changes his mind and wants to return the deposit. The fact is that if the amount was transferred under a deposit agreement when purchasing a car, then the seller has the right not to return the money, since such a condition is stated in the document drawn up, which has legal force.

It is worth remembering that the sample deposit for a car must be correctly drawn up, indicating all the requirements; if it is filled out incorrectly, then it can be considered invalid and everything that is indicated in it loses its legal force.

How to Write a Security Deposit Agreement

What must be included in the deposit agreement

passport details of the seller and buyer;
information about real estate, all owners and registered persons;
what amount of money is paid as a security deposit and for how long. If the deal is alternative, it is better to pay the deposit for the same period
list of documents that need to be prepared: an extract from the house register, certificates of no debt, permission from the guardianship authorities, consent of the spouse if the apartment was purchased during marriage, etc.
it is necessary to specify how, in what cases and within what period the security payment is returned
indicate in the agreement the date by which residents must deregister and physically vacate the apartment

IMPORTANT! If you buy an apartment with a mortgage, be sure to include a clause about the bank’s disapproval of the loan or the real estate itself.

The more conditions are specified, the better. Try to be as specific as possible.

We write a receipt according to the sample for receiving a deposit when buying an apartment

There is no uniform requirement for receipts. They are drawn up on a typewriter and certified with a handwritten signature, printed on printers and written by hand. A handwritten receipt is considered the most reliable since the signature can be forged, and from the text written in the seller’s hand, his good will is clearly visible to accept money for the apartment being sold.

It should be clear for which apartment the buyer is transferring a deposit, for which they indicate all the individual characteristics of the transferred apartment (its exact address, square footage, etc.) with reference to all available documents - a certificate of ownership, contracts on the basis of which it was acquired. The presence or absence of encumbrances (for example, a pledge), the number of owners, the number of residents with a list of names, etc. The more detailed the object is described, the better.
All details of the seller or sellers must be indicated - surname, first name, patronymic or surname, all passport data must be indicated .
The price of the apartment and the amount of the deposit to be transferred are indicated. Usually it is about 10% of the cost of the apartment, and attempts by the seller to change this condition upward should alert the buyer. The amount in the receipt is indicated in numbers and words .
The receipt may also contain other conditions that are important for the parties, for example, the seller’s obligations to pay utility bills and remove furniture. These conditions are not essential.

Do I need a receipt to transfer money?

It is not necessary to issue a receipt. Most often, a receipt is not issued separately: for convenience, the parties sign for receipt of money in the agreement itself.

However, if you decide to issue a receipt, the following conditions must be met:

the seller writes the receipt with his own hand in the presence of the buyer, and does not sign it, but rather draws it up in writing. Proving the forgery of a signature is not so difficult, but proving the entire document is much more difficult.
the receipt must contain: passport details of the parties, amount, basis for transferring money, date, signature of the seller - the same as in the passport.

Additional receipt

In addition to the fact that the parties enter into an agreement on a deposit, when any amount of money is transferred, it is necessary to draw up a receipt, which will be proof of the transfer of funds. This is necessary if the seller turns out to be dishonest and wants to sell the car to a third party.

This transaction is the same as any other purchase in a store. The buyer is always given a receipt, which is the fact that the latter gave his money. When purchasing a car from a private person, a receipt is not provided, but there must be a receipt, which is a guarantee.

When the seller wants to keep the deposit and resell the car, the person who transferred the funds can file a claim in court and provide a receipt as evidence.

Can the agreement be oral?

If the deposit agreement is concluded orally, the parties cannot rely on the testimony of witnesses, although they have the right to provide written evidence. If an agreement was drawn up to receive an advance or deposit, then this indicates the existence of an agreement. If doubts arise as to the purpose of the amounts paid under the contract, they will be considered an advance and not a deposit, that is, without the function of security, but only as a share of the payment that was to be made in the future. If the forms of the deposit agreement were violated, the consequences will be the same, unless otherwise proven.