then your lawyer is not a very good lawyer to secure your interest as the purchaser he forgot to mention the remedy of specific performance.

haha, your lawyer really isn't too bright i think.

did he told you that the option to allow the seller to terminate is at your discretion? even if you bind him with a 100% penalty clause, if you refuse to allow him to terminate the agreement (even when he begs to you pay you 200%), you can still proceed with specific performance and binds him to sell the property to you.

out of 10 specific performance applications, 9 will be successful because real property is a specific goods, one of a kind and cannot be replaced.

haha, fresh lawyer izzit?

damages (monetary) can only be deemed as proper compensation if the goods transacted is replaceable for instance, a mass produced kettle, a mass produced television or maybe a car (arguable though). generally refers to exhaustible things. that's the basic in the law of specific performance.

since you are now aware, you better make sure that the sale and purchase agreement contains a clause for such because if it was deliberately omitted by your lawyer then you are stuck. in fact, it's a general clause whereby if the seller defaults, the purchaser is entitled to specific performance OR monetary compensation.

I see then ok but if you do intend to buy or sell another property, i think it's better for you not to engage her as your solicitor anymore. most conveyancing lawyers are very lazy so to make their job easy, sometimes they don't even go through the sale and purchase agreement, they just change the parties' name and print it out for signing.

i've seen some agreements where it contains clauses which are not applicable to the current transaction and when questioned, they give all sorts of fanciful unicorn answers

anyway, i hope that your renovation can be completed soonest =)