Well what I mean is, it will save him (and others) from being decalred bankrupt. If a judgment is made in developers favour for damages say £50K or whatever, they will have to enforce that through the Enforcement of Judgments Office, who will consider someones finances and agree a repayment figure that they can afford. The developer will have to pay their own legal fees until the money is paid back from the defaulting purchaser, poss £15K and they are stuck with an aprtment they can't sell.