What is the legal test for retaining a deposit in a real property transaction?
British Columbia, Canada
The following excerpt is from Kenyon v. Crimeni, 2022 BCCRT 177 (CanLII):
20. In law, a true deposit is designed to motivate contracting parties to carry out their bargains. So, a deposit is generally forfeited by a buyer who repudiates the contract. An example of repudiation is when a party refuses to purchase what was bargained for. In contrast, a partial payment is made with the intention of completing a transaction. For a seller to keep a partial payment, the seller must prove actual loss to justify keeping the money received. See Tang v. Zhang, 2013 BCCA 52 at paragraph 30.
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