Home Loan Failed After Signing Apartment Deal in Qatar, Am I Still Liable for Deposit & Commission Cheques to the real estate broker ?
Hi everyone,
I would appreciate advice from people familiar with real estate transactions and cheque issues in Qatar.
I signed an agreement to purchase an apartment through a real estate broker and gave:
a QR 50k deposit cheque
a QR 22k commission cheque (a huge naive mistake I know) 🤡
They said it was just a formality and I will get back the cheques easily if the loan is not granted.
From the beginning, it was verbally and through WhatsApp conversations clearly understood between all parties that the purchase was conditional on obtaining bank financing from my bank. As an expat staff member, I was confident then I would obtain the loan but made it obvious I wasn’t purchasing the apartment through personal cash liquidity.
However, due to exceptional circumstances with the recent events, the bank suspended granting loans to expat staff, making the financing impossible to obtain. No title deed transfer happened, no ownership transfer process started, and the transaction was never completed.
But they refuse to give me back the cheques ! They mentionned they could make an effort to give back the QR 50K cheque but it’s impossible to retrieve the commission of QR 22 K !!!
My question is:
Can a broker in Qatar legally present and cash the commission/deposit cheques in a situation like this, even though the financing condition failed and was known from the beginning by all parties (through discussions and WhatsApp messages), despite the written agreement itself not explicitly mentioning the financing condition?
I don’t have any money on my account as I have other assets in gold etc, will I be at risk if the cheques bounced ? Even if I explain clearly they were used as guaranteeing of good faith and not as payment tools?
Also, has anyone dealt with a similar issue involving conditional cheques and failed bank financing in Qatar?
Thank you.