give seller time limit on accepting offer?

ferox666

Can't find any mention of this anywhere. I'm making a formal offer through solicitor for a property, is it normal to say something along the lines of that the offer is valid for 5 days (example) and will be withdrawn if not accepted in that time. dont want seller to unneccesarily delay for a week or two hoping for higher offer. they already verbally agreed theyd probably accept my offer so itd be good to be agreed asap so i can relax.

dimbo61

Why are you trying to push the seller already ?
Speak to your solicitor re Timescale
Better to ask for the survey to be done ASAP shows you are serious and get your solicitor to start searches as soon as offer accepted

dimbo61

You can relax the day you pick up the keys and not one minute before!!
Stress you will soon come to understand what I mean :-{

zzzLazyDaisy

So you have a seller who seems to be behaving reasonably, and you want to rub them up the wrong way? Just chill... house buying is stressful enough without adding to it!

ferox666

dimbo61 wrote: »

You can relax the day you pick up the keys and not one minute before!!
Stress you will soon come to understand what I mean :-{

Oh I can believe that ;(...feeling it already and imagining everything that can go wrong. Don't want to rush them but also want to know for sure someone cant come along and outbid me at last minute...Prob best to ask solicitor whats the norm but just wondered if it was normal to have a clause requiring acceptance within X number of days. Thanks

florence4

No, it's not normal, as far as I know. You could give them a time limit, but it's as likely to work against you as in your favour, I think. Surely you want to flexibility to withdraw your offer at your discretion? And no-one likes to be backed into a corner... Unless you are very sure that the buyer doesn't think s/he get another offer, you may well push him/her into turning you down.

k0sh

Tell them you have other houses you are considering, so you need an answer fairly smartish.

Even if they do accept an offer and instruct sol's, there is nothing stopping them showing other people the property and accepting a higher offer. I assume they are not going through an EA? If not, they should stop advertising the property when they accept your offer (as should the EA)

[Deleted User]

As above - them accepting your offer definitely doesn't prevent them from changing their mind and accepting someone else's offer (or accepting more than one and getting you into a race to contract). If anything, I would have thought if they're rushed into accepted before they're ready they may be more likely to change their mind later. Better to let them make up their minds in their own time.

k0sh

Although id you just leave it to them to "come to a decision", they could have your offer in their back pocket while searching for a higher offer.

ferox666

I'm in scotland, does that make a difference?

seller is using estate agent.

i thought if offer accepted it becomes a binding contract at that point and couldnt accept higher offer from someone else??? perhaps put condition in offer that property should be withdrawn from sale? after all I do need some certainity...and there are indeed other properties i could look at.

dimbo61

WHY not inform everyone you live in scotland ?
Things are very different in Scotland and you need to take advice from your solicitor.
Once you have made and offer and it is accepted then you enter a binding contract ( I THINK BUT PLEASE CHECK with your scottish solicitor)