"Best and Final" Offer Accepted - Then Gazumped

mrsmchapman

Sadly this is just how the English system is. It was your "best and final", not the home owners. Try not to let it get you down, I've been there to but after I'd spent out on solicitors and surveys only for our cash buyers to pull out stating "no money and we don't want to mortgage" the day before exchange! Now that was disheartening!

Hope you find another place soon onwards and upwards

poppysarah

Walk away.

Smile knowing they've overpaid for it.

julieb1987

Gazumping is a horrible thing, but unfortunately is legal until exchange day. It should be changed!

DRP

Mowie wrote: »

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.

yes i was just about to post this. I think the OP has misunderstood the term.

Any accepted offer is liable to be gazumped up until exchange. As a vendor, in principle I'd like to think I wouldn't renege on an accepted offer, but everyone who is trying to buy needs to maximise £££ so it is hard to turn away cold, hard cash.

ILW

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.

If you were the seller, would you walk away from tens of thousands of pounds?

Tancred

julieb1987 wrote: »

Gazumping is a horrible thing, but unfortunately is legal until exchange day. It should be changed!

I agree - I think the law should be changed. Once you make an offer and it has been accepted it should be legally binding on all parties, not 'subject to contract'. The contract should take place at the same time as the offer is made and accepted, not later.

ValHaller

Mowie wrote: »

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.

I agree, a best and final offer is actually the logical end of the road if a better offer comes along

Tancred wrote: »

I agree - I think the law should be changed. Once you make an offer and it has been accepted it should be legally binding on all parties, not 'subject to contract'. The contract should take place at the same time as the offer is made and accepted, not later.

It is the way it is for a reason. If people were bound as you suggest, then there would be no pulling out on survey. So even if legislation were put in place, people would just work their way around it and rather than being 'sold subject to contract' houses would become 'sold subject to legal commitment'

SnooksNJ

sophieev wrote: »

Thanks guys.

I suppose our situation is no different to anyone else's, although being in London probably makes it as cut-throat as it gets.

I just cannot keep taking the time out of my life to go through this whole process again and again, only to get shafted by some immoral low-life once again.

This is not the first time.

You would have thought that going to "best and final" - effectively sealed bids - would have carried some more moral weight but apparently not.

I am a mixture of absolutely livid and totally despondent.

Since we started our search places have gone up by 10-20% in the area we are targeting. Which we are only targeting because our first choice area - affordable 4 yrs ago - has become financially impossible.

I am not sure I have the stomach to play this game any more.

Sometimes the best deals are the one's you don't make. I hope this is the case and you find something even better.

googler

Mowie wrote: »

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 ...

... but surely the OP put in their BAFO because the seller, via their EA, invited every interested party to make their BAFO?

"It went to "Best and Final" offers a couple of weeks ago. "


(Not "We made our BAFO a couple of weeks ago")

In which case, it defeats the point of asking for BAFOs if someone doesn't make their true BAFO and comes along later with a higher offer (and the seller and EA accept it, rather than saying "No, you gave us your BAFO earlier, and someone else gave us a better one).

DRP

googler wrote: »

... but surely the OP put in their BAFO because the seller, via their EA, invited every interested party to make their BAFO?

"It went to "Best and Final" offers a couple of weeks ago. "


(Not "We made our BAFO a couple of weeks ago")

In which case, it defeats the point of asking for BAFOs if someone doesn't make their true BAFO and comes along later with a higher offer (and the seller and EA accept it, rather than saying "No, you gave us your BAFO earlier, and someone else gave us a better one).

It sounds like it worked a treat - each bidder totally maxed out their offers, and then one came along and went even higher.

Job done for the vendor! :cool: