What is the difference between UNDER OFFER and SOLD SUBJECT TO CONTRACT?

cheefui

What is the difference between UNDER OFFER and SOLD SUBJECT TO CONTRACT? Is the latter refers to contract already exchanged?

zzzLazyDaisy

they are the same thing

lilyann1

Yes I agree both have offers on but are subject the the usual proceedings and nothing is definite until exchange of contracts.
I have heard that it is quite common nowadays for buyers to pull out just before exchange,so if you are interested in a property it is worth telling the agent to let you know if it comes back onto the market.

terrierlady

to me Under Offer is still negotiating, no legal work undertaken.Sold Subject to Contract means legal work is taking place, searches/mortgage applied for, but most people would say they mean the same thing.

WestonDave

I suspect they are used fairly interchangeably - both mean that the house is effectively off the market at the moment. If there is a distinction it is likely to be that a house under offer has an agreed offer on it, but the purchaser is not yet able to proceed - i.e. he hasn't sold his own house. In that case no legal work has yet started, whereas SSTC would be a house at some point towards exchange of contracts, solicitors involved etc.

courtjester

Under Offer, Sale Agreed, Sold Subject to Contract....

These are *ALL* entirely meaningless statements used purely for marketing purposes to make the agent look good. None of these statements have any legal effect whatsoever.

As far as the sale or proceedings in a sale are concerned, there is no legal implication or obligation of either buyer or seller to proceed with a sale until contracts are signed and exchanged. Up until that point either party may pull out of the sale at any time and for any reason without responsibility to the other side. So it is irrelevant that a property may be flagged as "under offer" or "SSTC" from a legal point of view.

Agents love putting "SOLD" on for sale signs as evidence of how effective their marketing of property was to attract other clients - think about it, what is the point to the general public of a sign outside a house which says "SOLD" on it....?

The ONLY point of this is to sell the agent's service to other customers - town & country planning acts make it illegal to erect signs on private property just for commercial advertising purposes and hence the phrase "subject to contract" was required by law to qualify the word 'SOLD' - in other words to render its meaning as "sold, but not yet, it could all fall through and this house may be available ...."