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I am not sure if this is in the right section, so please move if necessary.
I am seeking advice on behalf of a friend. She owns a Stud Farm of Mountain and Moorland Ponies. Each year, foals are bred and then some are sold to loving new homes, some are retained.
The foals start arriving from May onwards. Last year my friend had someone enquire about foals for sale, stating they wished to buy two foals as pets for the Family.
The Family went to visit when the foals were a few weeks old and picked two foals they would like to buy, and then also fell in love with a third foal and ended up leaving a non refundable deposit on the 3 foals, and they were thrilled with them, coming to visit 5 or 6 times over the Summer to see how the foals were progressing and to get to know them. Each time they visited foals, all the Family came and my friend provided Lunch or Afternoon Tea for them all. Inbetween visits, there were numerous messages sent to the buyers with updated photo's and video's and chat.
A date was arranged for pick up of the foals after they'd been weaned in October. The foals were picked up by a transporter at 6am in the morning and made the 4 hour journey to their new home. The transporter informed my friend when the foals had arrived safely and said the Family were very excited to get the foals. My friend messaged the buyer the next morning to enquire how the foals had settled but got no reply which was unusual as usually they replied almost straight away, my friend messaged again and still no reply.
The following morning, the buyer messaged my friend and said the foals would have to be returned to my friend due to a Family situation but wouldnt say what. My friend told the buyer that she wouldn't be able to return all of the money as she'd turned down numerous other potential homes for the foals believing they were sold, added to which the foals would be less appealing to re sell now as they were getting passed their cute baby stage, and going into their yearling age and also , we were going into Winter, and people are much less likely to buy ponies with Winter around the corner! The buyer accepted what my friend said, and agreed to let the foals return and for half of the money to be returned to them, this is all recorded in text messages.
The foals were returned the following day to my friend, and my friend refunded half of the foals cost as agreed with the buyer.
It is now some weeks later, my friend still has the foals and has been so far unable to resell them due to the fact it is now Winter and the foals are in their yearling gangly stage, and moulting out their cute fluffy foal coats, and she is of course having to have them all in every night and having to feed them all , when had this Family not bought them at the beginning of Summer, she could have sold them umpteen times!
Yesterday, out of the blue, the buyer of the foals contacted my friend and said they want ALL of the money for the foals back, not half as had been agreed in text messages. The buyer has now said that unless an agreement is made to pay the full amount back to her, then she will pursue a claim in the small claims court! She has given my friend until 16th January to respond.
I would like to ask Legal Beagles where my friend stands legally on this matter please? The buyer agreed to my friend buying the foals back for half their selling price , and understood why my friend could only offer a refund for half the price, this was confirmed in text messages by the buyer, surely the buyer cannot go back on this as my friend only agreed to take the foals back on this condition , and she is now stuck with them paying out daily to feed and shelter them . Please can anyone advise?
Many thanks.
I am seeking advice on behalf of a friend. She owns a Stud Farm of Mountain and Moorland Ponies. Each year, foals are bred and then some are sold to loving new homes, some are retained.
The foals start arriving from May onwards. Last year my friend had someone enquire about foals for sale, stating they wished to buy two foals as pets for the Family.
The Family went to visit when the foals were a few weeks old and picked two foals they would like to buy, and then also fell in love with a third foal and ended up leaving a non refundable deposit on the 3 foals, and they were thrilled with them, coming to visit 5 or 6 times over the Summer to see how the foals were progressing and to get to know them. Each time they visited foals, all the Family came and my friend provided Lunch or Afternoon Tea for them all. Inbetween visits, there were numerous messages sent to the buyers with updated photo's and video's and chat.
A date was arranged for pick up of the foals after they'd been weaned in October. The foals were picked up by a transporter at 6am in the morning and made the 4 hour journey to their new home. The transporter informed my friend when the foals had arrived safely and said the Family were very excited to get the foals. My friend messaged the buyer the next morning to enquire how the foals had settled but got no reply which was unusual as usually they replied almost straight away, my friend messaged again and still no reply.
The following morning, the buyer messaged my friend and said the foals would have to be returned to my friend due to a Family situation but wouldnt say what. My friend told the buyer that she wouldn't be able to return all of the money as she'd turned down numerous other potential homes for the foals believing they were sold, added to which the foals would be less appealing to re sell now as they were getting passed their cute baby stage, and going into their yearling age and also , we were going into Winter, and people are much less likely to buy ponies with Winter around the corner! The buyer accepted what my friend said, and agreed to let the foals return and for half of the money to be returned to them, this is all recorded in text messages.
The foals were returned the following day to my friend, and my friend refunded half of the foals cost as agreed with the buyer.
It is now some weeks later, my friend still has the foals and has been so far unable to resell them due to the fact it is now Winter and the foals are in their yearling gangly stage, and moulting out their cute fluffy foal coats, and she is of course having to have them all in every night and having to feed them all , when had this Family not bought them at the beginning of Summer, she could have sold them umpteen times!
Yesterday, out of the blue, the buyer of the foals contacted my friend and said they want ALL of the money for the foals back, not half as had been agreed in text messages. The buyer has now said that unless an agreement is made to pay the full amount back to her, then she will pursue a claim in the small claims court! She has given my friend until 16th January to respond.
I would like to ask Legal Beagles where my friend stands legally on this matter please? The buyer agreed to my friend buying the foals back for half their selling price , and understood why my friend could only offer a refund for half the price, this was confirmed in text messages by the buyer, surely the buyer cannot go back on this as my friend only agreed to take the foals back on this condition , and she is now stuck with them paying out daily to feed and shelter them . Please can anyone advise?
Many thanks.
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