"Best and Final" Offer Accepted - Then Gazumped

clockworks_2

SnooksNJ wrote: »

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

This is absolutely right in my situation.
Fell in love with a house, but offer wasn't accepted. Couldn't afford to go higher. Hoping to exchange on a property that is much better in every aspect now.

best of luck to the OP

sophieev

googler has grasped my point. It is either Best and Final or it isn't. If it is, call it that. If it isn't, then don't.

Look, I'm not thick and I know the legalities. I certainly have not "misunderstood the point" as suggested by one poster.

To a large extent this really does come down to your integrity. The question was asked above - "If you were the Seller would you walk away from tens of thousands of pounds?". My response to that - I would honour the agreement I had entered into. I would stand by my word.

And by the by, I do not think this was driven by the agent. I do not think they have anything to gain.

Tancred

Looking at it from the seller's viewpoint the current problem in most areas is gazundering, not gazumping. London is a rich person's market.

sophieev

I would imagine it is. Gazundering is equally morally repugnant.

squeeks

sophieev wrote: »

I would imagine it is. Gazundering is equally morally repugnant.

Depends on your definition of Gazundering. I don't think it is necessarily wrong to offer a lower price after your initial offer, especially if you find issues or costs that you were unaware of when you made the offer.

Mrs_Imp

squeeks wrote: »

Depends on your definition of Gazundering. I don't think it is necessarily wrong to offer a lower price after your initial offer, especially if you find issues or costs that you were unaware of when you made the offer.

But that's not gazundering, that's renegotiation. Gazundering is generally done days, or hours before exchange of contracts, when the buyer suddenly drops their price or threatens to pull out. Often the seller has to accept in order to keep the house that they're buying.

sophieev

Exactly. We all know what we are talking about here.

And just FYI - the current winning bid came from one of the original "best and final" bidders.

Effectively, "best and final" should have some meaning - it doesn't. It should play out so that the unwritten rules are abided by - they are not.

BroncoBill

Surely, if an offer is made and accepted, the EA effectively removes the property from the "Market". If it not being actively marketed but marked up as SSTC or SOLD, then it is no longer on the market? If it is no longer on the market, why does the EA have to pass on further offers? Should EA not say to interested parties it is under offer and is no longer on the market. This is what happened with mine. "My" EA said they would take the details of any other interest and contact them in the case of our agreed offer falling through (which it did!!) or I could leave it "on the market" and the prospective purchaser would be informed that we, the vendor, would be open to further offers/viewings.
Should issues of any type be found which will mean either re-negotiation and if then a price can not be agreed, the offer is either rejected by the seller or withdrawn by the vendor.
The property is then put back on the market and actively marketed when the EA will contact anyone who showed an interest in the meantime and the whole process of viewings etc will re-commence.

mrsmchapman

I had an interested party (a man) after I'd accepted my current offer, they knew of the offer but were insisted on wanting to view. My ea called me and said it was completely upto me what I did, I however chose not to go ahead with the viewing and honoured my accepted deal (currently going through) as I would like to think this is what other would do with myself (although I know that's not always the case) the man in question did say he respected by reply and should any problems occur could he be the first we called.

moneyistooshorttomention

squeeks wrote: »

Depends on your definition of Gazundering. I don't think it is necessarily wrong to offer a lower price after your initial offer, especially if you find issues or costs that you were unaware of when you made the offer.

But then...if you take this attitude to its limit...then a buyer could turn round and try to gazunder the vendor by stating that personal "issues or costs" had caused them to do that subsequently (rather than "issues or costs" to do with the house itself). It's one thing to think you are buying a house that's one standard and offer accordingly and then subsequently genuinely find that the house is a lot lower standard and then revise your offer according to it being a Wreck rather than a Standard Level House. It's quite another to try for a price reduction because of some minor house issue or, worse still, some issue thats just to do with you personally (eg being made redundant and having to take up a lower-paid job or the like). Personal circumstances simply arent anything to do with the vendor and they cant be expected to "adjust" just because something has happened to someone else's life and could be called "issues or costs" by that would-be buyer.