House deal falls through

Press, 28 May 1983, Page 6

House deal falls through

Negotiations for the sale of a Cashmere house to a young woman from the Chatham Islands for $380,000 have fallen through. The vendor, Mr C. E. Mita, said yesterday that his solicitors had informed him that negotiations would not proceed. He said he had not been given the reasons.

Mr Mita said he would make further inquiries into the matter next week, but that he did not think anything would come of them. The house would be put back on the market, he said.

“I don’t consider anything sold until it is paid for.” The woman signed an unconditional contract, which is legally binding, but it would be difficult to enforce it if she had no money, said Mr Mita.

The deal was arranged between St Albans Real Estate, Ltd, which had a sole agency for 120 days to sell the property, and Manchester Homes, Ltd, which had the “buyer.” Neither Mr D. Peebles, of Manchester Homes, nor Mr D. H. Warner, of St Albans

Real Estate, would comment on the matter yesterday. When the deal was announced, “The Press” made several telephone calls to the Chatham Islands to try to discover the identity of the young woman. She had told the real estate agents that she would prefer not to be named.

She was said to be aged 24 and to have come to Christchurch specifically to buy a house. None of the five Chatham Islanders spoken to could guess who she was.