Made offer on Yacht, but heard nothing yet.

Tranona said:
Not sure where the "obligation" bit comes from. Certainly not in the OP. He has simply made an offer and has had no response. He does not need to do anything (except perhaps chase) until he has a response.

Cannot imagine how he could find himself "unwittingly contracted with Mr Awkward" just on the basis of making an offer. There needs to be a higher level of engagement with the vendor than just making an offer. Anyway a broker is involved so he will follow the correct procedure and any exchanges will be subject to contract.
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I am struggling with your advice here.

Firstly you say there is no obligation on the would be buyer to an offer being placed, but then you confirm if the vendor accepts the offer then there is a contract. De facto this means that once an offer is placed there is an obligation on the would be buyer if and until the offer is either withdrawn by the buyer, or accepted or rejected by the vendor (presumably whichever occurs first).

This basic premise of a contract being formed has as you rightly say nothing to do with the complexities involved with buying and selling a boat. Should any of these fail later then either the contract is rescinded by nature of its terms, or one of the parties will be in breach.

My advice was simply to prevent any possibility of the buyer finding himself unwittingly contracted at some later date, when he may well have thought the matter was over with.
 
Tranona said:
You started with the words "when it comes to boats" and then described the common procedure as it that was special and specific to boats.

All I am saying is that is not true. There is nothing unique to boats that is different from normal contract law and for a contract to be binding it does not need to be in writing, nor does it have to include the terms and conditions that are commonly used in written contracts for boats.
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Ok I see where your coming from :) ,
but my opening words was was a figure of speak , has we was talking about boats in this particular case.

I know a verb contract can be legally binding,
but I think one may have a job on his hands to make a case of an offer that's been verbal given without contract signed if it was with drawn?
Trying to prove any verbal contract must be almost impossible, it one man word against the other.
 
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Apologies for the thread drift
Hey quite an interesting topic though contract law. I spent 4 years preparing on my own a joint application for funding for £400,000 for my business. the applicants were a farmer and a tenant. We were granted the full amount. The farmer out of the blue said hed given it back. 1 Year later quite by chance I was sat in a Parliamentary meeting with the then secretary of state xxx xxxxx following a investigation in to fraudulent farm grants that was fully upheld in my favour, to be told you still have the award,, it had never been given back. Little bit of a ring going on.

Breach of contract, what contract. its a quasi contract. fraudulent representation. Never got to the bottom of it. It was recovered though. Allways better to have a formal agreement in place. People do all sorts for their own benefit.

Steveeasy
 
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superheat6k said:
I am struggling with your advice here.

Firstly you say there is no obligation on the would be buyer to an offer being placed, but then you confirm if the vendor accepts the offer then there is a contract. De facto this means that once an offer is placed there is an obligation on the would be buyer if and until the offer is either withdrawn by the buyer, or accepted or rejected by the vendor (presumably whichever occurs first).

This basic premise of a contract being formed has as you rightly say nothing to do with the complexities involved with buying and selling a boat. Should any of these fail later then either the contract is rescinded by nature of its terms, or one of the parties will be in breach.

My advice was simply to prevent any possibility of the buyer finding himself unwittingly contracted at some later date, when he may well have thought the matter was over with.
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There is no obligation at the point the offer is made - that is it can be withdrawn or changed at any time. The commitment starts if there is an acceptance, but as you see from the list of conditions that have to be met for a valid contract to exist, only 2 are met - that is offer/acceptance and consideration. That is why I suggested that a verbal contract based just on a conversation or an exchange is potentially shaky.

So, there is little danger of being unwittingly sucked into an enforceable contract just by making an offer. In this case (and probably most other cases) it is likely that there would be conditions attached to the offer, so better advice is not to make unconditional offers, but follow the normal practice.

In your original post#8 you were confusing the issue by introducing the idea of "offers" that had different levels of commitment, whereas in fact you were just describing a negotiating stance of trying to find a level of offer that might stand a chance of acceptance. No different from buying in the bazaar.
 
This is all really interesting. And complicated. Though I expect you guys have far more knowledge than me on the subject,

But I have to ask, in buying a boat or a berth or even a house - why then is a deposit asked for to take the item off the market, if a verbal offer is all that’s required to form a contract? Surely by implication if a deposit isn’t given then then the item is still fair game - for BOTH parties?
 
Although as said here that in law a verbal contract is binding,
I don't consider a verbal offer to be anything but just that. Until a contract have been signed.
We all have out own options on this subject, but I suggest if you went to a good lawyer and said , Mr X made me a verbal offer on my car/boat and now he says he no longer interested in buying it, I guess his advise would be move on,
If on the other hand if a deposit was paid at the time when the verbal offer was made for the said item that would be easer to prove in court that there was a contract between both party.


When buying a boat a deposit is paid for once a contract is signed ( not in all cases)
On houses just before exchanging of contracts .
In both cases it's safguard the seller from the buyer just walking away and the seller from selling to someone with a better offer.
The deposit can then go towards any lost a partly may have.
In most cases the deposit is refundable only on certain conditions, and these depend what in the contract.
This is why its important that a contract and a deposit goes hand in hand .
 
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Tranona said:
By all means put a time limit on the offer, but that does not change its nature, only makes it clear that you would like a response by a certain time.
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I don't disagree with any of your observations in this thread, Tranona ..... except for the above which I am possibly misinterpreting.

I would say that a time limit on an offer fundamentally changes the nature of the offer. It is not just a matter of one liking a response by a certain time.

If I say my offer is £50,000 and that offer is time limited to the 31st January 2018, then the offer legally expires on that date. Of course, the seller can come back after that date and say that they accept the offer but that is simply an entreatement to the buyer to enter into a new contract and carries no legal implications for the buyer.

Richard
 
Spyro said:
Have you asked the broker again if he has contacted the seller?
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I received a call from the Broker on Saturday the 30th, to say he had still been unable to make contact with the seller and is sure he may be out of the country for Christmas and New Year but will keep trying by phone and email.

This morning I sent an email to the Broker asking if he had made contact with the seller as we were keen to know what’s happening, as if not we may need to reconsider our offer.

Haven’t had a reply as yet.

Regarding our offer, the broker gave me a figure he thought the seller would accept, and we offered just under that as the boat needs work done to it.

Thanks
Alistairr.
 
Alistairr said:
I received a call from the Broker on Saturday the 30th, to say he had still been unable to make contact with the seller and is sure he may be out of the country for Christmas and New Year but will keep trying by phone and email.

This morning I sent an email to the Broker asking if he had made contact with the seller as we were keen to know what’s happening, as if not we may need to reconsider our offer.

Haven’t had a reply as yet.

Regarding our offer, the broker gave me a figure he thought the seller would accept, and we offered just under that as the boat needs work done to it.

Thanks
Alistairr.
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Doesn’t sound like a serious sale to me. Move on, tell the broker too. If he is serious you’ll probably have a response in a couple of hours. If not, heigh ho and onwards.
 
Tranona said:
There is no obligation at the point the offer is made - that is it can be withdrawn or changed at any time. The commitment starts if there is an acceptance, but as you see from the list of conditions that have to be met for a valid contract to exist, only 2 are met - that is offer/acceptance and consideration. That is why I suggested that a verbal contract based just on a conversation or an exchange is potentially shaky.

So, there is little danger of being unwittingly sucked into an enforceable contract just by making an offer. In this case (and probably most other cases) it is likely that there would be conditions attached to the offer, so better advice is not to make unconditional offers, but follow the normal practice.

In your original post#8 you were confusing the issue by introducing the idea of "offers" that had different levels of commitment, whereas in fact you were just describing a negotiating stance of trying to find a level of offer that might stand a chance of acceptance. No different from buying in the bazaar.
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I'd like to think that in reality you are both correct but just seeing this from different angles.
The Offer once accepted is not binding as it makes only an agreement to enter into a contract. Both parties have 'promised' but a promise is not of itself binding as it requires a third element which is consideration from one side to the other. Wrapped around this are the need that both parties are both able to contract and intend to contract. Being adults of sound mind etc and strangers in a commercial / private sense then their engagement in the process would fulfill these conditions. That only requires consideration to be given for a binding contract to exist. If the next call from the broker were to the effect of 'your offer is accepted and I have been instructed to give you the keys and papers to the boat' (the keys and papers and hence possession as been the consideration)then I would think that you have indeed 'bought' the boat! Should you then fail to hand over the money you would be in breech!
Crucially and where I think Superheat is coming from is that that offer would continue to exist and can be accepted until or unless it is revoked or limited in some form prior to acceptance. If the offer is left o the table you may quite reasonably receive that phone call from the broker in two months time!
 
Seller was away for Christmas and new year. On return got the brokers messages and phoned him.

Result, Offer accepted, now finalising a few details before we take ownership.

Cheers
Alistairr.

Advance warning, dozens of newbie questions to follow soon. ��
 
Alistairr said:
Seller was away for Christmas and new year. On return got the brokers messages and phoned him.

Result, Offer accepted, now finalising a few details before we take ownership.

Cheers
Alistairr.

Advance warning, dozens of newbie questions to follow soon. ��
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Congratulations.
 
Alistairr said:
Seller was away for Christmas and new year. On return got the brokers messages and phoned him.

Result, Offer accepted, now finalising a few details before we take ownership.

Cheers
Alistairr.

Advance warning, dozens of newbie questions to follow soon. ��
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Congrats Al, where you keeping her?
 
Alistairr said:
Seller was away for Christmas and new year. On return got the brokers messages and phoned him.

Result, Offer accepted, now finalising a few details before we take ownership.

Cheers
Alistairr.

Advance warning, dozens of newbie questions to follow soon. ?
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Nice one - so are you going to the windy side from the dark side - your avatar shows a stinkpot ?
 
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