Housing market - sale made without my bid

[Libelula21]

A property went up for sale on my street. The owner, a housing association, told me it would be sold ‘on the open market’.

I got my solicitor to put in a note of interest about ten days ago; she never called me back with any info about other notes of interest.

All this week, I’ve been leaving messages with my uncommunicative lawyer to call me back so that a) she can update me on other NoI’s and b) I can put in a bid.

I finally get through to her this week, and she tells me she’s just received an email from the other side saying they’ve accepted a cash offer.

Presumably they’re allowed to do this without going to a closing date, but do I have any grounds for complaint against my solicitor, whom I’ve been actively trying to reach since last Friday.

I’m worried that the housing association made their decision (I don’t know how much was offered) without full market information, because they didn’t receive my offer.

I’ve not much experience in this.

Yes I believe the seller can accept an offer at any point, until a closing date is set, but the seller may prefer to wait until a certain number of notes of interest before setting a closing date.

You could also have submitted an offer at any point but may need to be particularly stand-out e.g. a cash offer or high offer with no conditions attached, to be of real interest if there are already NOIs.

In my (limited) experience, I’ve only been told the number of other NOIs once the closing date is set. And, although it’s annoying, solicitors are often very busy completing conveyancing processes so a few days with no communication is not unusual.

Estate agents will usually be open to direct verbal offers with a follow-up via a solicitor so possibly try this next time.

Thanks @Notjustamum10 .
I wish I’d spoken direct to the EA, but a lesson learnt for future.

I’m not a cash buyer, but neither am I in a chain.