Under Offer sign.. when?

alberto2012

Hi,

On putting in an offer on a house, the offer has so far been verbally accepted...
The written acceptance has not came through yet....

To prevent other potential bidders coming in and 'gazumping' us!

What can we do to prevent this??

Can we insist at this stage that an 'Under offer' sign be put on the property??
Or taken off the market completely??

(we are in scotland...)

picklepick

It is up to the vendor whether they will take their house off the market or not.

Our vendor wanted proof of our financial position. ie an agreement in principle for your mortgage, proof of deposit, proof of sale of your current property with equity etc, We also had to provide our solicitors details and it was taken off the market the next day.

Ask the estate agent what the vendor requires.

Ah just seen that you're in scotland, not sure if it differs there, im in england.

googler

Has your offer been made in writing from your solicitor to the selling agent?

Has the selling agent verbally accepted this in response to your solicitor, and your solicitor is awaiting the qualified acceptance from the seller's solicitor?

Or are you at some other point?

alberto2012

googler wrote: »

Has your offer been made in writing from your solicitor to the selling agent?

Has the selling agent verbally accepted this in response to your solicitor, and your solicitor is awaiting the qualified acceptance from the seller's solicitor?

This is exactly where we are in the process...

googler

If the selling agents haven't marked it as Under Offer yet, they should do soon. However, having accepted your offer verbally, the property is, strictly speaking, Under Offer and off the market.

Marking it as Under Offer is 'taking it off the market' in Scotland. Any solicitor acting for a seller can't accept a second offer if a first has been accepted, and the first offer is still 'active'.

Solicitors acting for buyers won't make offers on properties where an offer is already accepted

This guide - http://www.findaproperty.com/displaystory.aspx?edid=00&salerent=0&storyid=20563 has some seriously out-of-date facts, but some essentials which still hold true, such as -

"The house-buying system in Scotland is often hailed as being superior to the English process. It pretty much eliminates gazumping"

" ...bound by strict Law Society of Scotland guidelines .... not permitted to accept another bid once they have agreed an offer.

Should a vendor be prepared to consider this, the original solicitor would be obliged to step down and advise their client to appoint someone else.

Fortunately, it's a rare occurrence in Scotland. As .... says: "In six years, I've only come across gazumping once. An attitude exists here that if a property is under offer, it's morally wrong to pursue it." "

Your solicitor will confirm all this with you if you ask.