House Sold Under Our Feet

njturner

Hi, looking for some advise.  We put an offer in on a property last Saturday, the properties owner has passed away and a solicitor has been instructed to sell on behalf of the next of kin. Our offer was below asking price but was told by the estate agent that this is what we would have to offer, for it to be put to the solicitor.  So we offered and stipulated that this was an initial offer.  We have found out today via Rightmove that the property has been S.S.T.C and we haven't been given the opportunity to put in a best and final offer.
I just want to find out if this is normal practice (as we are new to the housing market) or if legally we had a leg to stand on with not being given the opportunity to put in a best and final, as we really wanted this property as our forever home - and yes i know we shouldn't get out hopes up or fall in love with a house until it is ours 😫

p00hsticks

Ask the estate agent why.
An executor has a duty to get the best deal when selling the property, but it could be that perhaps one of the beneficiaries has now expressed an interest in buying out the others, or any number of other reasons - another person viewing immediately before or after you could have offered asking price and this was accepted straight away. 

silvercar

England/ Wales as opposed to Scotland I’m guessing?

It’s a bit odd as the estate agent should be obtaining the best proceedable offer for their client. Either something underhand is going on (estate agent bribe?) or there was an offer from someone who can move very quickly, maybe doesn’t need a mortgage.

discuss with the estate agent is all you can do.

sheramber

The estate agent wouldn’t be the person accepting an offer,

It would be the executor of the estate  who agreed to accept it. 

DullGreyGuy

njturner said:

Hi, looking for some advise.  We put an offer in on a property last Saturday, the properties owner has passed away and a solicitor has been instructed to sell on behalf of the next of kin. Our offer was below asking price but was told by the estate agent that this is what we would have to offer, for it to be put to the solicitor.  So we offered and stipulated that this was an initial offer.  We have found out today via Rightmove that the property has been S.S.T.C and we haven't been given the opportunity to put in a best and final offer.
I just want to find out if this is normal practice (as we are new to the housing market) or if legally we had a leg to stand on with not being given the opportunity to put in a best and final, as we really wanted this property as our forever home - and yes i know we shouldn't get out hopes up or fall in love with a house until it is ours 😫

So they have received multiple offers in short order and the vendor has decided one that they want to go with. 

Assuming you are outside of Scotland then you just increase your offer. Who the best offer is from is not always the highest bidder, if someone is a cash buyer/chain free etc they may be seen as favourable over a marginally higher bid from someone who's house is still on the market. There is inevitably a tipping point where money outweighs speed

njturner

Hi All, thanks for your responses.
So yes we are in England
We put in an initial offer as guided by the estate agent to get us on the table and we knew there was another offer being made. I spoke to the estate agent on Tue and they said they had no further update but yet today its sold - surely if someone has come in between Tue and today, we should have been given the opportunity to up our offer?
We are chain free - MIP in place with a sizeable deposit ready to proceeded, so other than cash buyer, thought we were in a good place?

Hoenir

You'll get a proper answer by ringing the EA. Rather than asking on here and getting spculative guesses. 

eddddy

You're free to try offering more.

But the estate agent is likely to try to deter you from offering more, and probably won't tell you what the accepted offer is.

(As far as the estate agent is concerned, an offer has been accepted and they are counting the days until completion when they get their fee. They won't want to delay the completion by switching buyers.)


So put any increased offer in writing (email), to make sure the estate agent can't deny that you made a formal offer.

In general, the estate agent is required by law to forward any offers to the seller (i.e. the solicitor), unless, for example, the seller has said in writing that they don't want any more offers forwarded.

BikingBud

njturner said:

Hi All, thanks for your responses.
So yes we are in England
We put in an initial offer as guided by the estate agent to get us on the table and we knew there was another offer being made. I spoke to the estate agent on Tue and they said they had no further update but yet today its sold - surely if someone has come in between Tue and today, we should have been given the opportunity to up our offer?
We are chain free - MIP in place with a sizeable deposit ready to proceeded, so other than cash buyer, thought we were in a good place?

I think you are assuming it is about the cash when in fact there might be other influencing factors.

As a probate property it might be the executor need to got market to assert what it might get. Now they have your offer to compare with they might be able to convince other parties that their desire to buy the property and tabled offer was fair.

lincroft1710

It would appear you're a First Time Buyer.


Some vendors regard FTBs as a pain, they can be over cautious, hesitant and always asking questions. Fine and sensible if you are a buyer, annoying if you are a vendor. So if an acceptable offer is made by 2 prospective purchasers, one a FTB, one a non FTB, a vendor may well go for the non FTB

MeteredOut

Unlikely, but don't discount someone making a mistake and  mistakenly flagging it on RightMove on SSTC rather than under offer. Call the EA.