"Mike Mitchell" wrote
| Well, I fundamentrally disagree with all of that, but don't just take
| my word for it, look at what The Scotsman reported only a couple of
| weeks ago:
| "SCOTLAND'S system of buying houses - once greatly envied - is in
| serious crisis as a result of the property boom of the last few
| years. With demand high and supply relatively tight in the main
| urban markets, the gentlemanly sealed-bid system, policed by
| scrupulous solicitors' agents, has gone by the board. ... Nor do
| sellers always gain: the incidence of "gazundering" (where a
| successful buyer reneges on the original offer price) is on the
| increase."

Also known as "nasty English habits coming north" (and I think I can write
that, having worked in an estate agency and being English born myself).

When was the English property system /ever/ described as "gentlemanly" or
"scrupulous"?

Owain