"Best and Final" Offer Accepted - Then Gazumped

sophieev

Yes, Tancred. I am fully aware of the rules, as I think was made patently clear in my original post.

The legalities - well, that is not the point.

Am I surprised ? No, not in the slightest. Rather, I am saddened. Saddened by the lack of..... (I can't find the word)..... "honour" ? "decency" ? - whatever - involved in this whole process.

It is an area in which the very worst of humanity is displayed. Greed, avarice, dishonesty.....

Maybe it is just me, but I really do find the whole experience depressing in every sense. I find it hard to believe that anyone with a shred of decency could conclude otherwise.

Tancred

sophieev wrote: »

Yes, Tancred. I am fully aware of the rules, as I think was made patently clear in my original post.

The legalities - well, that is not the point.

Am I surprised ? No, not in the slightest. Rather, I am saddened. Saddened by the lack of..... (I can't find the word)..... "honour" ? "decency" ? - whatever - involved in this whole process.

It is an area in which the very worst of humanity is displayed. Greed, avarice, dishonesty.....

Maybe it is just me, but I really do find the whole experience depressing in every sense. I find it hard to believe that anyone with a shred of decency could conclude otherwise.

I think you are putting too much emotion into this process. It's a commercial transaction, no more and no less. The seller wants to get as good a price as he can get, so why blame him? If he needs to buy somewhere else himself he will probably face the same challenges that you are facing, so he aims to put himself in as good a position as possible.
My advice: if you really want the property, increase your offer (if you can afford it), otherwise move on. There are lots of other properties out there. One sure thing to do is not to get emotional about it, otherwise you'll only get very stressed - needlessly.

sophieev

I do not disagree with what you say. It is all correct. That does not mean I have to like it.

But this makes a mockery of the concept of best and final. Why bandy the term around when it clearly has no meaning. It was final. All of a sudden it's not final. It is dishonest. Just be up front and tell it like it is.

And just FYI - there are not lots of other properties out there - at least not decent ones and not round these parts.

Cash-Cow_3

Pull out. They are a bad seller. In fact I would not just pull out but withdraw offer. Kind of silly I guess considering they've gone for a higher offer but makes it clear that you are not going to get involved in their silly games from one buyer to another.

yoyoegg

EA playing games as always, BAFO has no legal basis in England; did they even offer exclusivity once accepted?

EA may have twisted the arm of the seller to get the increased commission.

kingstreet

The EA Act forces agents to communicate all offers to vendors, even after a sale is agreed. In my experience, once a sale is agreed, the agent wants to get on with the next one, rather than have to keep on revisiting the same one, over and over.

In my area, sales transactions are based on a fixed fee, so no extra commission is earned by chopping and changing purchasers. The agents I worked for hated these scenarios and would gladly have kept schtum if the law wasn't against them.

clockworks_2

I don't see how you can blame the estate agent here. If an estate agents charges 2% commission on house that is £400k they would make £8k.

If they sold the house for £410k they would make £8200- I don't think you would risk a sale which was already going through the motions for £200 extra for the agency of which the agent would see a tiny amount of that going into his pocket.

He's probably passed on the higher offer like he is obliged to.

I have requested to view properties that were under offer and all the agents always put me off rather than encourage gazzumping.

PS I am not an agent.

Mowie

I don't think that it makes a mockery of the term "best and final offer". The reason I say this is because it is your best and final offer, nothing to do with the seller as you are basically saying this is the most I am willing to pay and I will not be making any further offers so do not try to negotiate more. The seller hasn't tried to negotiate more and has since accepted a better offer from someone else.

It's not a nice position to be in but it is how the market works unfortunately.

Mr_Moo_2

Can't do much more than extend sympathies...... sounds like it's time to move on, and remember that a better property is always out there. Stay optimistic.

Tancred

sophieev wrote: »

I do not disagree with what you say. It is all correct. That does not mean I have to like it.

But this makes a mockery of the concept of best and final. Why bandy the term around when it clearly has no meaning. It was final. All of a sudden it's not final. It is dishonest. Just be up front and tell it like it is.

And just FYI - there are not lots of other properties out there - at least not decent ones and not round these parts.

Sophie - 'final' in this context means final from your point of view. Nothing in business is ever final until contracts are signed.

Personally I wouldn't dream of living in London at all unless I was as rich as Croesus - why don't you look in the commuter belt? You would get much better value.