Samantha's wife has recently passed away so he wishes to sell his house and her belongings. Samantha has agreed to sell his house to Mahesh and both parties have signed a sale agreement which provides that the settlement date for the sale is 30th June 2020. On that date, the buyer is to have vacant possession of the house and the seller is to receive the balance of the purchase money owing. Samantha places an advertisement in the local newspaper stating that he is offering for sale a secondhand Singer sewing machine for Rs7500.00. The advertisement gives details of Samantha's address and phone number. Rasangi sees the advertisement and immediately telephones Samantha, but is unable to speak to him. She leaves a message on his answering machine saying: "I will buy the sewing machine for Rs7000.00. I am posting you a cheque immediately." Later that day Anushka telephones Samantha and actually speaks to him, offering to buy the sewing machine for Rs7000.00. Samantha agrees. One hour later Venuri passes Samantha's house and sees a "For Sale. Singer Sewing Machine" sign on the front letter box. She asks Samantha the price, and he says she can have it for Rs8000.00 cash. She agrees and immediately pays Rs1000 as a deposit, promising to return with the balance as soon as she can get it from an automatic teller machine. On her way to the bank Venuri meets her husband, Buddhika, who has seen the advertisement and tells Venuri about it. She is annoyed at having agreed to pay above the advertised price, and now wants her money back.

a. Advise Samantha, Rasangi, Anushka and Venuri of any rights or liabilities they may have at each stage in these transactions.

b. In the meantime, shortly before the settlement date of the sale of the house, Mahesh tells Samantha that he is having difficulty in reaching a settlement for the sale of his old house and requests Samantha to alter the settlement date to 30th September 2020. Samantha knows of persons to whom he can let his house temporarily for a period of 3 months and arranges a tenancy for that period. After doing so, he agreed with Mahesh to extend the settlement date for the sale of the house as Mahesh requested. Shortly afterwards, however, Mahesh completes the sale of his old house and now wishes to settle on the date provided in the sale agreement. Advise Samantha with respect to the sale of the house.