There is a property that has just come on the market that we are interested in purchasing and is being advertised by the agent as a ‘Deadline Sale, unless sold prior’.

Initially we thought this meant that we could therefore submit a written offer before the final deadline sale date, which the vendor may or may not accept it. However after discussing the Deadline Sale Process with the agent, they have said that they are not taking any offers prior to the deadline sale date. They have told us that they don’t want to receive an offer with a price on it prior to either the Deadline Sale date, or unless we are invited to submit one earlier by the agent.  They have said this earlier date may occur if they decide to move the deadline sale date forward, if they think they have enough potentially interested people who are willing to put in an offer, and they don’t want to lose one or more of these potential buyers.

It has only come on the market in the last few days, and they have said they want to hold 3 open homes on it and do lots of advertising to maximise the number of potential offers on it. This obviously works to the sellers benefit.

So it doesn’t sound like if I was to submit a written offer with a price on it now, that they would present this to the vendor. Although apparently  they must present all written offers to the vendor.  It also means that there is the risk that another buyer  may just put in an offer that  the vendor finds too good to turn down, and other potential buyers may miss out on putting in an offer, if the agent doesn’t let the other buyers know they have received another offer. Although they have said they would let all interested parties know. 

Can an agent who is advertising a sale as a ‘Deadline Sale  unless sold prior’, prevent people putting in early offers in writing with a figure on it prior to a deadline sale date?

Has anyone purchased a house this way. It seems even worse than a tender, because it forces the situation of a multi offer bid on potential  buyers if they move forward the deadline sale date, and puts more pressure on buyers to submit an offer within a shorter period of time if the date is moved forward.  Whereas if it was a Deadline sale, and it wasn’t  ‘unless sold prior’ then it would be more like a normal tender, which appears more fair, as there may or may not be multiple offers.

We were thinking of submitting a very early written offer with a price on it to the agent, which it appears could force the agent to contact all interested parties to also submit a price. Guessing the agent however wouldn't like this after they told us they weren't accepting early offers, even though it is marketed as 'unless sold prior'. 

Would be interested in peoples experience with deadline sales, when it is also advertised as 'unless sold prior'. I don't like our chances as I hate these multi hidden offer situations, which are a lot worse than auctions. At least auctions, you know what other people are bidding, and you only have to bid over the next top bid, rather than offering your top price.