My wife and I had been searching for an old house in the country to use as a sort of weekend getaway/holiday cabin. We found one several months ago that we liked, and began the process of purchasing it. The situation was a bit unusual though, because the land came in four parcels: three adjoining, and the fourth a garden plot some distance away. The owner of the land inherited it from family and didn't know much about it, and it turned out the fourth bit of land needs to be surveyed before it can be sold to us in its entirety. It is a unique situation.
So we drove in September, met with the real estate agent, the owner and his mother, signed some documents, and paid ¥100,000 down, with the other ¥900,000 due once the land survey is completed and the land transfer can be finalized. We were given a key, but also told that if something happened on either end in the meantime, the contract would be dissolved with no consequences.
Well, unfortunately something has happened: my wife has been diagnosed with Lupus. It's hard to believe that two or three months ago she was feeling fine and we were excited about buying the house and trying our hand at DIY. But since October she's been feeling poorly, and that led to multiple trips to the doctors until she was finally diagnosed last week. We decided buying the house and doing all that work would be too much for her, so we agreed to give up on the purchase. Soon after her diagnosis she contacted the real estate agent, and of course he expressed his sympathy, but he also said he doubts that we can get our money back because we paid in cash directly to the current owner. My wife has been dealing with him due to language, but right now I don't want her to get upset and start arguing with him as her condition is quite harsh at the moment.
Basically I want to know if anyone has gone through anything similar before and what steps were taken to get your money back. I thought of contacting a lawyer, but then we would have to pay that lawyer which would possibly negate the amount of the deposit coming back. This doesn't seem fair to me though, so I just want some advice on how to approach the situation. I will say that the real estate agent didn't flat out refuse to help us get our money back, and there hasn't been any contact with the current owner, who seems like a really nice guy, but I want to be prepared and have some facts or information so we can try to get the money back, hopefully with my wife's help.
TLDR: Paid cash deposit on a house with land, but can't finalize the sale until December at the earliest until a survey is done. However, wife became sick and we have had to abandon hopes for the house, but the real estate agent has said we may not be able to get our cash deposit returned.
by Soggy-Ad-7067