When you find a home you like, you make an offer to buy it. This article explains how offers work and what a property chain is.
This article covers England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We’ll tell you where things work differently in Scotland.
The information in this article isn't intended to be advice from ClearScore Technology Limited, its group companies or its affiliates. It's not a substitute for getting advice from a lawyer, financial advisor, or any other professional.
Making an offer
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you usually make an offer through the estate agent. An estate agent is the company selling the home for the owner.
In Scotland, your solicitor usually makes a formal offer for you, in writing.
Things to know before you make an offer
Before making an offer, many buyers think about:
- Whether the price fits their budget
- How much deposit they have
- Whether they have a mortgage in principle
- The condition of the home
- The type of ownership, like leasehold or freehold
- Any regular costs, like service charges
- Whether a lender is likely to lend on the home
- Whether they need to sell another home first
- How long buying could take
A mortgage in principle is an estimate of how much you could borrow. If you got one through ClearScore, we emailed you a certificate. You can share it with an estate agent to show you’re ready to buy, but it’s not a mortgage offer. When you make a full mortgage application, the lender will still need to check your finances, documents and the property before deciding whether to lend to you.
In Scotland, an accepted offer quickly becomes legally binding, so your solicitor needs to see your mortgage in principle before you bid. It shows that you can afford the offer, which matters when bids often go above the Home Report valuation and sellers expect proof of funding. Your solicitor usually acts for the lender too, so knowing the lender and the terms early helps them spot problems before you’re committed. They also need it to meet their anti-money-laundering checks.
An accepted offer isn’t final
In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, an accepted offer usually isn’t legally binding. This means you or the seller can still pull out.
The sale becomes legally binding when you exchange contracts. Until then, either of you can change your mind. If that happens, you may lose money you’ve already spent, like legal fees, survey costs or mortgage fees. It’s possible to pull out after the contracts have been exchanged, but you should expect significant financial penalties.
In Scotland, the sale becomes legally binding when the solicitors agree the written terms. This is called concluding missives. Missives are the formal letters exchanged between your solicitor and the seller’s solicitor that together form the contract for the sale.
When another buyer makes a higher offer
The seller can keep showing the home to other people after they accept your offer. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, another buyer can make a higher offer before contracts are exchanged. If the seller accepts it, this is called gazumping.
This is rare in Scotland. Once a seller’s solicitor has agreed to an offer verbally or in writing from the purchaser’s solicitor no further offers from other parties are considered unless/until the original agreement falls through.
If more than one buyer expresses an interest in a property, a closing date and time is set by the seller. Each buyer submits a sealed offer by the deadline and the seller reviews them and picks an offer they want to accept. Please review other sources for the details of the property buying process in Scotland and seek professional advice before making any decisions.
Property chains
A property chain is a group of home sales that depend on each other. For example, you may need to sell your home before you can buy a new one. And the person buying your home may need to sell theirs first.
The longer the chain, the more chance of delays. If one sale is delayed or stops, it can affect every sale in the chain.
Tell your estate agent, lender and solicitor or conveyancer if:
- You need to sell another home
- Your buyer needs a mortgage
- You need to buy by a certain date
- Anything in the chain changes
Track your progress in the app
Your home-buying timeline includes Find a property to buy. You can tick off this step when you’re ready. This is your own checklist – we don’t check that you’ve done each step.
And remember, every home purchase is slightly different, so you should not expect the checklist to be a complete list of every step that could be relevant to your specific situation.
More help
MoneyHelper is a free service backed by the government. It has more information on:
- The money timeline for buying in England, Wales and Northern Ireland
- The money timeline for buying in Scotland
- Buying a home in Northern Ireland, from nidirect
If you need help with the ClearScore app, contact us using the chat messenger at the bottom right of this page.