Auction - Contract rescinded

[distracted]

I would appreciate some advice on the issue below...

In early September I bought a garage at auction. I paid the deposit and buyer's premium to the auctioneer (as per the conditions of sale), instructed my solicitor and waited for completion. Before completion it became apparent that the seller was not entitled to sell the garage separately from his flat. After many headaches the contract was mutually rescinded and I asked for my deposit back plus costs.

NOW... my solicitor has had alot of problems contacting the seller's solicitor. My solicitor has sent many faxes and letters and has had no satisfactory answer. The seller's solicitor has sent a letter to his client asking for our deposit and costs but we have not had any feedback. My solictor says that as far as he is concerned he can do nothing more and he has closed the file! He says that we can go to litigation but the cost may outweigh the amount of money we want back.

My problem now is who should I be chasing for the money - the auctioneer or the seller?

I contacted the auctioneer, as he was initially given the deposit, and asked him for the deposit back. He says that he took his fee from the deposit and passed the rest to the seller's solicitor (the fee is larger than the amount passed to the solicitor) so the seller's solicitor must return the deposit. The seller's solicitor has told the auctioneer that he cannot return money from a client account without the agreement of the client, and the client has not agreed. The conditions of sale say that the auctioneer acts as stakeholder and cannot pass the deposit to the seller until completion or failing completion until it has been decided who is entitled to the deposit. I believe that he has breached these conditions.

I think a big problem is that the seller has paid nobody and is using my deposit to pay his bills. His solicitor says that he has no money on account from the seller, so ultimately the money in the client account can pay his fees. The auctioneer has taken his fees from the deposit and is also not worried about getting paid. I have paid my solicitor and it looks like I am also paying all the other costs.

Some advice would be gratefully appreciated.