Offers

Offers Selecting a Price Range
Before you look at a property at all, it is vital to work out what price you can afford to pay. We can help you by estimating the size of loan which the Building Society or Bank will be prepared to make to you and the likely costs of the repayments. If you are selling a property as well, we can also help you estimate the selling price you are likely to achieve.

Finding a Property
Choose the area you want to live in, then go and see as many properties as you can within your price range. Remember that the Edinburgh Solicitors' Property Centre (ESPC) their website (www.espc.co.uk) and the Weekly List contain details of the vast majority of the properties for sale in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. Even a property which does not seem suitable at first glance may be worth a visit. Talk to the sellers about the price they hope to get. When you find a property you want to submit an offer for, telephone us immediately so that we can note interest with the selling agents and arrange a valuation or survey.

Having a Valuation Carried Out
It is essential that a valuation be carried out in every case, to confirm your own valuation of the property and also to confirm that there will be no difficulty in arranging any loan. In some cases (e.g. if a property is for sale at a fixed price) it may be essential to have the valuation carried out immediately. With regard to the worth of a survey report or valuation, please read the leaflet issued by the RICS.

Submitting an Offer
Once the property has been surveyed, if a 'closing date' has been fixed, it only remains to calculate the amount of the offer and submit it to the selling agents. The price offered should be the highest price which (a) you can afford and (b) you are prepared to pay for the property.

If the property is for sale at a fixed price, then you may submit an offer even before the valuation is carried out, although such an offer will be 'subject to survey'. This means that if the survey discloses that the property has any significant defects or if it is not worth the amount you thought it was worth, you are not obliged to go ahead and buy it.

If the property is being sold at an 'offers over' price and no one else has noted an interest in the property, it may be possible to negotiate an agreed price with the sellers.

House Purchase - Missives
"Missives" is the name given to the group of letters exchanged between solicitors which, collectively, make up the contract between purchaser and seller. The missives therefore include the offer and qualified acceptance and any other letters in the contract all as detailed below.

Offer
The offer will contain details of the property, the price to be paid for the property, the date of entry (when the price will be payable in exchange for the title deeds and the keys) and the items included in the sale, such as any carpets and curtains. In addition, there will be a considerable number of technical clauses dealing with planning matters, rights and obligations in the title deeds and insurance. If the property has not yet been surveyed for the purchaser, then the offer may be 'subject to survey' which means that it cannot be properly accepted by the seller until such time as the purchaser has received a satisfactory survey report on the property. However, this form of offer can only be used in certain exceptional circumstances, particularly where no one else is submitting another offer for the property.

Qualified Acceptance
In nearly every case, the acceptance of the offer will contain a number of qualifications. These will normally be quite technical although they may also change the price, the date of entry and the items to be included. It must be stressed that it is possible for the seller to grant an acceptance which contains no qualifications at all, and, if he does so, there will be a binding contract for the purchase and sale of the property. Although this does not always happen, it should be understood that it can happen and that it is accordingly unwise to offer to purchase a property unless you are prepared to proceed with the purchase on the terms set out in the offer.

Concluding Missives
If the terms of the qualified acceptance are entirely in order, then the purchaser can complete a binding contract (or 'conclude missives') by simply delivering to the seller's solicitor a formal letter accepting in full the terms of the qualified acceptance. Often, however, it will be necessary to make some further amendments to the terms of the qualified acceptance and, in this case, there will be no binding contract until a letter is received from the sellers accepting the terms of the further amendments.

Once the missives have been concluded, neither party can withdraw from the bargain without incurring considerable liability to the other party to the contract. The contract will also usually contain terms which stipulate that, if the purchaser does not pay the price at the date of entry which has been agreed, then he will be liable to pay interest to the seller at fairly high rates and, if there is a lengthy delay, say 3 or 4 weeks, then the seller may be entitled to withdraw from the contract altogether and resell the property, recovering any loss and costs as well as interest from the purchaser. This can be a particular problem where the purchaser has been unable to sell his own house.

Formal Letters
All of these letters such as the offer and qualified acceptance, are signed by the respective solicitors on behalf of their clients and it should be understood that although the client has not signed any letter, he or she will be bound by the terms of the contract contained in the offer, acceptance and other formal letters.