Type of refusal

Refusal to refund in foreign property

A developer or seller keeps the deposit once a sale falls through. A resale vehicle refuses to redeem a unit tied to a property portfolio. An escrow agent releases funds to the seller despite a missed completion date. The refusal is presented as a contractual outcome, not as a dispute, until it is challenged.

The contractual mechanism used

This mechanism sits within the wider pattern described in the refusal to refund overview. The refusal is usually built into the purchase or reservation contract itself. A forfeiture clause lets the seller keep the deposit if the buyer withdraws. Off-plan contracts add staged payments with a clause making funds paid after a set construction milestone non-refundable. Escrow release conditions can also work against the buyer. An agent may release funds to the seller on a certificate of completion, even where the buyer disputes that completion happened. Reading these clauses closely, rather than relying on how they were described at signing, is the starting point of a refund and delivery claim.

The document that decides the framing

The same non-refund can support two different claims, and the document decides which one applies. A contractual claim treats the failure as a breach of the purchase agreement, with money and damages as the remedy. A proprietary claim treats the buyer's interest as a right attached to the property itself, such as a registered mortgage guarantee or a pre-emption entry, and pursues that interest directly against the asset. The purchase contract, the escrow agreement and any land registry entry need to be read together before choosing which claim to bring. The underlying property is described separately in the foreign real estate overview, also available in Spanish and in Portuguese.

The cross-border question

A judgment or award against the seller is only as useful as the place where it can be enforced. For property, that place is where the asset is registered, rarely where the contract was signed. Recognition of a foreign decision there follows local rules on limitation, fees and language requirements, none of which are stated here without a confirmed source. This pattern is covered in the refusal to refund series and, for property specifically, in demanding money back after a refused property refund. The firm does not charge a success fee, and its registration can be checked against the public registry referenced in how to verify a law firm.