Legal analysis
It is effective to pay a deposit without signing a contract. Deposit is a kind of guarantee that one party agrees to pay a certain amount of money to the other party in advance when the contract is concluded or before the contract is performed to ensure the realization of contractual creditor's rights. When people buy a house or a car, they often need to pay a certain deposit first, but after some people pay the deposit, the other party only issues a receipt and does not sign any contract, so they are worried about the legal effect of the receipt. Then the deposit without a contract is valid. If a written agreement is not signed, but the deposit is actually paid, the deposit receipt issued has legal effect and the deposit guarantee is valid. Deposit contract is a kind of guarantee contract in which the parties agree that one party will pay a certain amount of money to the other party in advance when concluding the main contract, and the deposit should be recovered or used as the price after the debtor performs the debt. There are two conditions for the deposit contract to take effect: first, the deposit contract should be concluded in written form, and the oral deposit contract is invalid, and then the deposit amount and delivery period are agreed in the contract. II. The effective date of the contract and the final deposit amount shall be subject to the actual delivery. In practice, before signing a contract, one party pays the deposit first, and the other party shows the deposit receipt. This certificate of deposit is actually a deposit contract. After the deposit and receipt are delivered, the deposit contract will take effect.
legal ground
People's Republic of China (PRC) Civil Code
Article 490 Where the parties conclude a contract in the form of a contract, the contract is formed when the parties sign, seal or fingerprint it. Before signing, sealing or fingerprinting, one party has fulfilled its main obligations, and the contract is established when the other party accepts it. A contract shall be concluded in written form as stipulated by laws, administrative regulations or agreed by the parties. If the parties do not do this in writing, but one party has fulfilled its main obligations and the other party accepts it, the contract is established.
Article 586 The parties may agree that one party shall pay a deposit to the other party as security for the creditor's rights. The deposit contract is established when the deposit is actually paid. The amount of the deposit shall be agreed by the parties; However, it shall not exceed 20% of the subject matter of the main contract, and the excess shall not have the effect of deposit. If the actual amount of deposit paid is more than or less than the agreed amount, it shall be deemed as a change of the agreed amount of deposit.