Has my solicitor put my first house in jeapordy??

alberto2012

I have recently put a written offer in for my first house, the offer has so far been verbally accepted.. (last week)

I have had a mortgage agreed in principal..

On recently reading the copy of my solicitors 'offer letter/ contract' that was sent to the sellers solicitors it states...

"This offer, is open for written acceptance by Monday 16th July, otherwise it shall be deemed to have been withdrawn"....

Now, obviously that date has passed, and after asking my solicitor if the written acceptance had been received, I was told no...

So where does that LEGALLY leave my offer?
I would say VOID??

What's to stop another potential buyer coming in with an offer?:mad:

After questioning my solicitor I was told
" this is normal practice"
"dont worry"
"ive been in the business 17years"
etc etc

Does anyone have any advice regarding this??

arbrighton

Are you in England/ Wales, or Scotland?

DVardysShadow

alberto2012 wrote: »

"This offer, is open for written acceptance by Monday 16th July, otherwise it shall be deemed to have been withdrawn"....

Now, obviously that date has passed, and after asking my solicitor if the written acceptance had been received, I was told no...

So where does that LEGALLY leave my offer?
I would say VOID??

What's to stop another potential buyer coming in with an offer?:mad:

After questioning my solicitor I was told
" this is normal practice"
"dont worry"
"ive been in the business 17years"
etc etc

Does anyone have any advice regarding this??

Yes

• I think you are in Scotland, and I know nothing of Scots processes, so you can ignore me on specifics, but in terms of general contract law concepts I have some thoughts
• In the Scots process, offers are binding. So the risk is that if your offer has no expiry date, your vendor could umm and arr for a couple of years, leaving you with no property to buy and no freedom to make another offer because this one could come up.
• Your solicitor has wasted his 17 years in business if he does not know that his client deserves a simple explanation which even a Sassenach could give

alberto2012

arbrighton wrote: »

Are you in England/ Wales, or Scotland?

Scotland...

Littleweedj

This is a common practise in Scotland and mainly used in order for the seller to give a quick response if they will accept the offer. Although it was more popular when the housing market was really bouyant and many buyers were offering on the same property with sealed bids on a closing date.

However, your solicitor should have informed you by 17th July if your offer was accepted or rejected. I'd contact them immediately for a definite answer so you know the current situation.

alberto2012

Littleweedj wrote: »

This is a common practise in Scotland and mainly used in order for the seller to give a quick response if they will accept the offer. Although it was more popular when the housing market was really bouyant and many buyers were offering on the same property with sealed bids on a closing date.

However, your solicitor should have informed you by 17th July if your offer was accepted or rejected. I'd contact them immediately for a definite answer so you know the current situation.

It has been verbally accepted. 1 day after I placed my offer..

I just feel I cant relax until we are given a 'written acceptance'...
As whats to stop someone else bettering my offer?

What are my options at this stage?...
Can I insist the house be taken of the market?...

How long should I give the seller's solicitors before chasing them for a written acceptance?

Cheers

pokey128

Hi,
we saw a house we liked in Edinburgh and wanted to offer on it. We phoned our solicitor the next morning to do so and were told that the sellers solicitor had just that morning accepted an offer on the house. We asked that our offer be put forward and advised that we were in a good position and had mortgage agreed etc. The solicitor wouldn't hear our offer as it would be bad practice to unaccept an accepted offer albeit only veerbally accepted. If the seller wanted to go with us she would have had to change solicitors.
In the end we backed down and found a better place.
I'm sure everything will be ok with your offer
good luck

jennifernil

There is usually quite a bit of "Toing-and-froing" between the 2 solicitors before the missives are concluded, so you need to allow some time for the formal acceptance.

Your solicitor should have taken a little time to explain this to you, but once accepted verbally, it is uncommon for the sale to fall through.