So, hypothetically speaking, I’ve skimped & saved for years and I’m now able to buy a house. I look at a housing estate that’s being built and I agree to buy one of the houses. I give the auctioneer a deposit of €6.000, line up the financials, give notice to my landlord and wait for completion to go ahead & move in.
Except, I don’t. The auctioneer informs me & six other people who have also paid deposits that the houses are being sold as a block to one purchaser.
“Where could this happen?” you might ask. “The Congo, Afghanistan, Iraq? (no disrespect intended to such hotbeds of corruption.)
No, this happened in Ballinrobe, County Mayo?
“Ah sure that was years ago,” you would say. “Big business can’t blatantly walk over the little guy in a modern democracy like Ireland”.
Wrong again!
Oh! By the way, they’re all getting their deposits returned. That’s nice.