Purplebricks & Closing dates

Susan.B

Hi lovely MSE people  

I have a question regarding PurpleBricks in Scotland, with specific reference to closing date offers. 

We viewed a house we loved yesterday and put in a note of interest once we got home. This has been updated to a closing date today and we wish to make an offer. 

The closing date is next Friday at 12. Because of the nature of a closing date, should this go through our solicitor or the Purplebricks app in the first instance? 

If going through the app (or indeed solicitor) do we need to wait until next Friday, or can we put the offer in now for the closing? 

 

user1977

Really for your solicitor to figure out, but I would expect offers to be submitted in usual Scottish form (ie a fully fledged contract from your solicitor) and emailed by them to PB rather than going via an app.

The norm for closing dates is to submit offers at the last minute - no advantage in going early and potentially disadvantage in showing your hand too early. 

googler

If you don't put your offer in standard Scottish legal form, in writing, you haven't made an offer. This is why it's best to employ a solicitor. 

It's for your solicitor to figure out where the offer they draft for you should be posted/faxed/e-mailed to. That's what you are paying them for. 

Instruct them of the amount, the entry date you seek, and discuss any conditions you wish to add to it. It's down to them to send it to the right place. What you're paying them for. 

You can submit any time before closing date and time, but standard practice is to wait until last minute. If there's 2 notes of interest right now, and you base your offer on that, but on the morning of closing this has gone up to 22, then you should really be considering if you might offer differently.  So your solicitor should be double-checking with the seller close to closing on how many notes of interest there are, and consulting with you to determine if this will affect what you offer. A few mins after you decide, and before closing, your solicitor should be e-mailing or faxing the offer to them. Postal copy should follow, if yours is accepted.

Anecdotally, in the days before fax and e-mail, when all offers were in printed form, this situation, particularly in Aberdeen, developed to the point where solicitor's clerks would turn up at the selling solicitors' offices a few minutes before closing time with a handful of offers in their pocket or briefcase from their client. Depending on how many other sollicitors' clerks they saw coming and going, they would pull out and hand over the low/medium/high offer to hand to the selling solicitor....      

Go to the Scottish Law Society website and browse the guidance on closing dates etc. there. 

https://www.lawscot.org.uk/members/rules-and-guidance/rules-and-guidance/section-f/division-c/guidance/gazumping-gazundering-and-closing-dates/

GentleGiant01

Googler is incorrect. PurpleBricks encourage use of the app and once buyer is selected then the offer goes through solicitor 

googler

GentleGiant01 said:

Googler is incorrect. PurpleBricks encourage use of the app and once buyer is selected then the offer goes through solicitor 

"An offer on a property can be verbal or in writing. What is the difference? A verbal offer may come from either a potential buyer, a representative authorised by them or from that person’s solicitor. Of course, the old adage that a verbal offer isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on applies just as much to property as it does to most other things! It is, however, an indication that the potential buyer wants to open negotations on a purchase. Talk, however, is cheap and until the offer is in writing there is little legal consequence to having come to an agreement verbally. A written offer, to be legally binding, must come from a firm of solicitors. A written offer is the first letter that leads to the exchange of letters that constitutes the ‘missives’: the contract of purchase and sale."

https://www.mov8realestate.com/2011/09/what-is-an-offer-on-a-property-in-scotland-and-how-do-i-make-an-offer/

" In Scotland, all formal offers for property must be submitted by solicitors. A verbal agreement is never binding and an informal offer would probably be ineffectual. However, there is a risk that an exchange of letters directly between the buyer and seller could inadvertently lead to a binding contract to the detriment of one or the other."

https://www.theglasgowlawpractice.co.uk/services/conveyancing-and-estate-agency/guide-to-buying-residential-property-in-scotland.html