Been gazumped, need advice

Qedis

Hi,
I put in an offer that was accepted on 5th April 2013, when a Sales Memorandum was issued by the estate agent, naming the buyer, vendor and both solicitors, with instructions to issue a draft contract asap. My solicitors requested contract details from the selling solicitor on 8th April... and heard nothing until yesterday, 24th April, when i recieved a call from the EA saying the vendor had a higher offer. At the same time, the vendors solicitor wrote to mine, saying they had no instruction to proceed because of this.

I know gazumping is not illegal, but it seems here that the vendor has deliberately instructed his solicitor to drag their feet over the past 3 weeks. Do I have any grounds to complain at the vendor or his solicitor, or should I move on? I'm being asked if I want to match the other offer... if I do, this same thing might happen again and again.
thanks
Qedis

Dan-Dan

You have no grounds at all until exchange of contracts , and if it were me , i`d write it off and move on , and also , i really really feel for you , i can imagine its horrible and really really annoying

Kayalana99

Sounds like he was hanging on in hopes to get a higher offer...Id pull out, even if you do match it the person with the other offer might raise up again and the vendor has messed you around enough now.

pstuart

Do what we did once in this similar situation, verbally offer 20% over the asking price (tell them that you've really fallen in love with the place) then do nothing.

The vendor came back to us after a month to say that he was concerned that he had heard nothing from us.
At that stage I explained that we weren't interested .

He accused me of messing him about, I explained that he started it.

Its called a reverse gazump and should only be used in cases like this.

Mallotum_X

pstuart wrote: »

Do what we did once in this similar situation, verbally offer 20% over the asking price (tell them that you've really fallen in love with the place) then do nothing.

The vendor came back to us after a month to say that he was concerned that he had heard nothing from us.
At that stage I explained that we weren't interested .

He accused of of messing him about, I explained that he started it.

Its called a reverse gazump and should only be used in cases like this.

Like this idea, would serve them right.

Qedis

Thanks for the posts. I should have said the vendor is a property developer who as recently bought the block of flats and is selling units one by one. There may be an opportunity to buy other units, but i think I'm better off walking away.

hazyjo

Did you know they were still marketing it? Was your offer subject to them removing it from the market?

Jx

Ivana_Tinkle

Sounds like they got the higher offer at the same time as you put yours in and have strung you along until the other buyer had a survey done. What scumbags. It's extremely dishonest but there's nothing you can do. If you put in a higher offer it won't make any difference, since they won't pull out of the sale to the other buyer - they'll just string them along as they were doing with you.

Presumably your solicitor hasn't done any work yet, so at least you shouldn't be out of pocket.

Qedis

Yes, Ivana, that is correct, minimal costs so far. I'm thinking of putting in a slightly higher offer, but only on the condition that their solicitor is instructed to proceed with exchange of contracts within x days... or I pull out completely. I dont' want to get in a bidding war.

Stratus

So the EA says they have a higher offer. Yeh, I bet. This is a common EA strategy to get you to up your offer. The problem is you never know whether it's true or not. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. I'd be prepared to move on and make sure the agent knows this. Just be prepared to get a call back from them in a few days informing you that the previous buyer is no longer able to proceed. It's a dirty old business at times.