If a stakeholder steals escrow/deposit in land sale contract, is the seller obligated to refund the deposit?
<p>In a more drastic case, if in a Sale and Purchase Agreement, the vendor authorizes the purchaser's solicitor as the escrow/stakeholder to receive not just the deposit but the purchase price on his behalf (required by law), and the contract states that if it is voided when neither parties at fault, the seller should refund the purchaser all money paid to the seller while the purchaser returns the seller's documents/property: but the stakeholder steals the money paid, is the seller still obligated to refund it? Or is it the job of a compensation fund to refund the purchaser?</p>

<h2>The purchaser’s solicitor is the purchaser’s agent</h2>
<p>That means, vis-a-vis the vendor, the solicitor <em>is</em> the purchaser. An act or omission of the agent is an act or omission of the purchaser. Therefore, its the purchaser’s fault the money went missing and the vendor can do whatever the contract says they can do - probably require the purchaser to complete and, if the don’t sell the property to someone else and sue for any shortfall in excess of the deposit.</p>

contract-law real-estate escrow