Gazumped!

uncreative

AArrghhh!

Buying in Scotland. We have been waiting over a week now for the sellers solicitors to conclude missives after a 7 week process of getting mortgage etc..

Mortgage offer came through after a few weeks which was stressful enough, but we found out yesterday at 4.30pm after a call from the estate agent that someone had come in with a higher offer and the seller would not be selling to us.

I cannot believe it. I cant get through to my lawyer until Monday and I am sure aside from arguing about the costs incurred so far the upshot is we wont be getting the house, but we have spent nearly £1,000 on fees so far between the bank, valuation fees and the lawyers.

But thinking practically, is this mortgage application dead now, or if we see a property of the same value that we like can we switch to that one? I guess there will need to be another valuation however.

Forget the £1,000, having to go through another mortgage application will be an absolute nightmare.

No wonder buying a house is one of the most stressful things you can do.

amnblog

This is easy to handle in Scotland. Just get the lender to request the home report for the new property.

If things have been dragging you may need to provide up to date information for wage slips etc.

uncreative

Thanks so much amn, so we wont have to go through the full application? Just another months wage slips etc and a follow up credit check?

thats good news.

This forum is AWESOME!

Pixie5740

How the hell did someone manage to gazump you in Scotland? Whilst it's not impossible it's very rare. Once the vendor had formally accepted your offer in writing it became legally binding. If the vendors then accepted a new, higher offer after formally accepting yours their solicitor wouldn't be able to continue acting for them as it's against the Law Society of Scotland's code of practice and would be professional misconduct.

uncreative

The problem is they havent accepted it in writing as the missives werent concluded;as you are right, once the missives are signed then its a done deal, despite a move in date of a couple of months away, unlike the English system.

Pixie5740

I'm not talking about concluding the missives. I'm saying that once a vendor had formally accepted your offer (prior to concluding the missives) their solicitor cannot continue acting for them if they want to accept an offer from someone else. It's a disciplinary matter.

Ask your solicitor about it on Monday.

uncreative

Ok I will ask them thanks, but there had been no formal acceptance I am sure. The legal stuff was on hold whilst we got our mortgage sorted out. We have never heard from the sellers solictors as yet. All we had done was make the offer and it had stopped there.

hcb42

I've had similar in Scotland, it does happen...

Pixie5740

I didn't say it was impossible, I just said it was rare.

Where a solicitor for a seller has intimated verbally or in writing to the solicitors for a prospective purchaser that their client’s offer is acceptable – whether after a closing date or otherwise – the seller’s solicitor should not accept subsequent instructions from the seller to accept an offer from another party unless and until negotiations with the original offeror have fallen through for bona fide reasons unconnected with the possible offer from another party. The solicitor should advise the seller to instruct another solicitor if he wishes to accept the later offer. ‘Fallen through’ could mean, but is not limited to, an inability for a solicitor to obtain instructions to progress the transaction, failure to purify suspensive conditions within a reasonable timescale and failure to meet a time limit specified in the missives.

If the OP's case is purely down to receiving a higher offer from elsewhere the vendor would have to instruct another solicitor to accept the higher offer.

uncreative

Pixie5740 wrote: »

If the OP's case is purely down to receiving a higher offer from elsewhere the vendor would have to instruct another solicitor to accept the higher offer.

Thanks Pixie.

Right! Its on! First thing Monday I am getting onto them.

Where does it stand that another new lawyer can simply pick up the sale - would the current lawyer have to tell them in some way through some kind of professional courtesy? or is there realistically anything I can do?