On Wed, 1 Sep 2004 19:56:35 +0100, Janet Baraclough..
wrote:

The message
from Mike Mitchell contains these words:


As for gazumping and so on, simply make the offer (for English/Welsh
properties) binding at the time of the offer with a significant
deposit.

In English/Welsh property law neither an offer, or a deposit, binds
the seller or buyer to complete the contract. Your solicitor should have
told you that. Er..you are employing a solicitor to conveyance your
property sale, aren't you?

Change the law. And, duh, I'm employing the local rat catcher to act
on my behalf! Doesn't everybody?

I've bought and sold in England and Scotland and much prefer the
Scottish, both as a buyer and seller.

As a seller, I can understand! As a buyer, I'd be extremely put off by
the Scottish system. And once I'd bought my house there and had spent
a few years living in it, if I decided to move, I'd get it valued and
play fair with people by stating a fixed asking price.

What do you intend to do if someone offers to buy your English house
at the asking price, and a week later someone else offers you a thousand
more, cash purchase?

I refuse it, simple as that. You obviously have no concept of an
Englishman's word is his bond. Avarice is a deadly sin, you know.

MM