Legal assistance with caravan purchase problems

Questioner

We made a down payment on a mobile home of 500 euros a few months ago. Someone offered his mobile home for sale on Marktplaats for 4000 euros. We went to look and wanted to buy the caravan, we would pay 500 euros down and pay the rest of the money in two installments of 1750 euros, the first installment in June and the second installment in July. The mobile home was offered in the advertisement with a pitch on the water and we found the pitch to be very nice and with a lot of privacy (which is what we wanted). We transferred 500 euros and the seller emailed us that we had to go to the campsite owner to indicate that we were the buyers of the caravan. So we drove to Oosterhout from Maastricht (where we live) to visit the campsite owner who started off very suspiciously because he suspected that we had paid more for the caravan, the seller of the caravan had decided to sell his caravan without the campsite owner, which seems to be unusual. The campsite owner of this campsite asks for a certain percentage of the sale (in our case 200 euros) when selling caravans on his site. This percentage is for the account of the seller of the caravan, but he passed this on to us, which we agreed to because we did not know that these were not actually our costs. There was also a fee for 2016 to be paid, the seller said that he paid 250 or 200 euros every month so that he didn't have to worry about it, but this turned out not to be true because according to the campsite owner he had only paid around 800 euros and the fee for that campsite is around 2450 euros per year. So he misled us. So we had to pay even more in fees than we initially thought. We thought that we would only pay the rental fee from the period that the caravan would come into our possession. The seller then wanted to receive the first installment of 1750 euros. We said that was fine, but that we first wanted his details plus written approval from the campsite owner that he would accept us as new guests. During the conversation with the campsite owner, he told us that he would have liked to buy the caravan himself for 4,000 euros. The seller of the caravan told us that he would give us his details as soon as possible but that never happened! We never received an agreement from the campsite owner, not even after we sent the campsite owner an email about it. We never even got an answer from him, nothing at all! And we didn't hear anything from the seller of the caravan anymore. I am almost certain that the campsite owner did not agree because he wanted to buy the caravan himself (and then rent it out) After a few weeks I suddenly received a text message asking 'where we were' because we had not shown up for the handover. While we simply assumed that it would not go ahead because we never heard anything from either party again I then said that we no longer had confidence in them because we had never received a response to our email, had not received any information and had not received approval from the campsite owner and that for that reason we were abandoning the process. Now I want my purchase price back and my travel expenses reimbursed. a friend of ours is a lawyer, although this is not his area of ​​expertise, he says we should get our deposit back.

Lawyer

That all didn't go so nicely, by the way not nice of the campsite owner either because he asks for all kinds of fees for mediation and actually doesn't want to do anything for it, a reasonable performance. The Recron conditions describe in detail what the rights and obligations are of the campsite owner, buyer and seller in the event of a takeover. It is also clear that you could expect that the rent will be paid up to and including the taking into use. In any case: you must demand that the seller fulfills his obligations and if it turns out that he is definitely unable to do so, he will be liable for damages. This area is general civil law that every lawyer and attorney must master, not particularly complicated.

Questioner

Thank you for your response. The campsite owner did not mediate because the seller of the caravan did not want to pay mediation costs and for that reason chose to sell the caravan outside the campsite owner (via Marktplaats) and the campsite owner was not very happy about that. I understand that the campsite owner wants a percentage of the sales price (in the caravan we wanted to buy that was 200 euros on an amount of 4000 euros) The campsite owner was afraid that the seller of the caravan had secretly asked for more money for the caravan and that he (in order to spend as little money as possible on the campsite owner) was officially asking 4000 euros for it. He didn't trust it and that in itself was a bizarre experience. We decided to cancel the purchase at the last minute because we no longer had any confidence in it. We heard nothing more and did not receive a written agreement from the campsite owner, which we had explicitly asked for because I don't have much use for a caravan without a pitch. and the seller has clearly advertised the pitch included! We don't want the caravan anymore because of everything that has happened (and because of the campsite owner) we are really done with it. I want him to be liable for damages. After all, we didn't ask for this and he should have arranged everything in advance with the campsite owner. I am almost certain that the campsite owner bought the caravan from him (he wanted the caravan himself and therefore did not want to agree to us as the new owners) because the seller has already sold it again, he says, and he refuses to give us our money back, but I do not agree with that. We now want to go to the subdistrict court because we cannot reach an agreement with him.

Questioner

Thank you for your response. The campsite owner did not mediate because the seller of the caravan did not want to pay mediation costs and for that reason chose to sell the caravan outside the campsite owner (via Marktplaats) and the campsite owner was not very happy about that. I understand that the campsite owner wants a percentage of the sales price (in the caravan we wanted to buy that was 200 euros on an amount of 4000 euros) The campsite owner was afraid that the seller of the caravan had secretly asked for more money for the caravan and that he (in order to spend as little money as possible on the campsite owner) was officially asking 4000 euros for it. He didn't trust it and that in itself was a bizarre experience. We decided to cancel the purchase at the last minute because we no longer had any confidence in it. We heard nothing more and did not receive a written agreement from the campsite owner, which we had explicitly asked for because I don't have much use for a caravan without a pitch. and the seller has clearly advertised the pitch included! We don't want the caravan anymore because of everything that has happened (and because of the campsite owner) we are really done with it. I want him to be liable for damages. After all, we didn't ask for this and he should have arranged everything in advance with the campsite owner. I am almost certain that the campsite owner bought the caravan from him (he wanted the caravan himself and therefore did not want to agree to us as the new owners) because the seller has already sold it again, he says, and he refuses to give us our money back, but I do not agree with that. We now want to go to the subdistrict court because we cannot reach an agreement with him.

Lawyer

Before you go to the subdistrict court, you must officially put the seller in default and summon him to fulfill his obligations under the purchase agreement between you both, alternatively you could also go to the disputes committee of the recron with a complaint, if the campsite is affiliated. I can write the letter for you, I can also guide you from az to the judge and/or disputes committee.

Questioner

Thank you for your response. The campsite owner did not mediate because the seller of the caravan did not want to pay mediation costs and for that reason chose to sell the caravan outside the campsite owner (via Marktplaats) and the campsite owner was not very happy about that. I understand that the campsite owner wants a percentage of the sales price (in the caravan we wanted to buy that was 200 euros on an amount of 4000 euros) The campsite owner was afraid that the seller of the caravan had secretly asked for more money for the caravan and that he (in order to spend as little money as possible on the campsite owner) was officially asking 4000 euros for it. He didn't trust it and that in itself was a bizarre experience. We decided to cancel the purchase at the last minute because we no longer had any confidence in it. We heard nothing more and did not receive a written agreement from the campsite owner, which we had explicitly asked for because I don't have much use for a caravan without a pitch. and the seller has clearly advertised the pitch included! We don't want the caravan anymore because of everything that has happened (and because of the campsite owner) we are really done with it. I want him to be liable for damages. After all, we didn't ask for this and he should have arranged everything in advance with the campsite owner. I am almost certain that the campsite owner bought the caravan from him (he wanted the caravan himself and therefore did not want to agree to us as the new owners) because the seller has already sold it again, he says, and he refuses to give us our money back, but I do not agree with that. We now want to go to the subdistrict court because we cannot reach an agreement with him.

Lawyer

I have given you the answer to what needs to happen first: you must send the seller a written and registered reminder to comply with his agreements within two weeks, after which you can claim damages, possibly through the court.