Is this allowed. Mum just found out flat she is buying is also being bought by someone else?

[Blossomhill]

Spoken to solicitor and basically the seller is selling to my parents and another man. Both sets have paid out all of the fees so I guess he is waiting to see who signs first.
Is this allowed. Apparently so, I just cannot believe it. My parents have paid out £700 on costs so far and really cannot afford to lose this money.
Anyone know if this is really allowed. I am just stunned and my poor mum is at breaking point

No idea. But what a w*nker of a seller.

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The sooner they change the laws in this country the better. The whole buying a house thing is enough to tip anyone over the edge.

We have his address and if things fall through I have a good mind to go round and demand he pays all of the legal fees. My parents have worked so hard for their money and don't have loads. I am jsut so cross he could do this. My parents are selling the house they have lived in for 25 years.

Do your parents really want this flat? If so, get your mum to ring the solicitor and ask them to fast track the sale. Our solicitor asked us if we wanted to fast track and complete within a week (subject to the seller's agreement) as ds2 was about to make his arrival into the world. We chose to wait for various reasons, but the option was there. I think it cost more but if it means "winning" the sale and "saving" the £700 then it might be worth it.

Thanks badhair. I'll mention it to mum!

That is so f**king out of order.. of course the solicitor won't say anything as he is getting his fee. I would see if CAB have got anything to say and if your parents don't get the house see if they can claim the costs back as it must be fraudulent (sp) in some way?

No not fraudulent, unless the seller agreed to take the house off the market when he/she agreed the first sale. Disgusting, immoral yes, but sadly not fraudulent or illegal.
We lost a house because of this when we were looking a couple of years ago. And another one to gazumpers. And another one because it turned out that our landlord's girlfriend was the seller, and he made her pull out so that we would be stuck paying rent to him for even longer. B*stard.
The entire housing market is geared to sellers, and with the market being so static at the moment Blossom's seller is obviously hedging his/her bets.

We had to put out house back on the marker today (our buyers pulled out yesterday) and we would never consider doing anything so underhand.

Let's hope the person who's house we are buying doesn't pull this stunt. After reading this I think I will ask the estate agent to make sure that no other sales have been agreed.

A seller may accept more than one offer and instruct their solicitor to send draft contracts to more than one potential buyer. The solicitor must inform all potential buyers that more than one contract has been sent out and that the first contract which is returned signed and ready for exchange will get the home. This is known as a contract race and is quite legal. There is nothing your parents can do except withdraw if they do not want to incur the necessary costs in getting the contract completed quickly.

At what point did the seller's solicitor inform your solicitor of the other buyer? I think they are supposed to let you know as soon as they accept the second offer and are supposed to flag up if it is a contract race. If they have left it very late after accepting the second offer, your parents may have a case for recouping their outlay.

How can it be allowed that 2 parties put up a lot of money (about 700 each) and knowing full well only one will get the property. My mu would pull out but is so scared as she has paid out so much and can't really afford to do it again. The whole thing stinks.

How close is she to completing and how much more would she have to pay out to do so. If she's really keen on the house and has already paid out most of the fees it might be worth trying to see it through.

We put on offer on a house a few years ago and were told the offer had been accepted but the owner had also accepted another offer and the first to complete would get the house. We weren't prepared to risk it so pulled out. A few weeks later we had a call from the estate agent to ask if we were still interested as he other buyer had also pulled out. Tough luck seller, not a chance, in the meantime we'd found another (better) house with reasonable sellers.

Agree with the others, the situation stinks.