In Scotland house prices are advertised as either fixed or offers over. Fixed means that the vendor will accept the first offer at our near the advertised price (similar to the rest of the UK). However offers over means that the price quoted is the LOWEST that the vendor will accept. A blind bidding system then ensues. Anyone interested in buying the property following a viewing, should lodge a note of interest via their own solicitor. When a number of notes of interest are received the vendor\'s solicitor informs the potential buyers of the closing date for receiving bids. Each potential buyer submits a secret (closed) bid. Each bidder normally contracts a survey of the property prior to submitting the bid. It can happen that one property will be visited by a large number of surveyors within a short space of time!
On the appointed date, all the bids are opened and normally the highest bid wins. The vendor does not have to accept the highest bid. Sometimes the vendor will accept a lower bid if the buyer has some other advantage (for example, if the buyer can complete rapidly).
If you are willing to offer at least 20% over the offers over price then you can make a pre-emptive offer via your solicitor. In this case the seller can be exempted to favour your bid over any others.
The conclusion of missives occurs after the bid is accepted and this is the equivalent of exchanging contracts. In other words, the final and irrevocable step in the house buying procedure. Until the conclusion of missives a new, higher offer could come from an existing bidder or from a new bidder. The seller can then decide whether to remain with the existing bid or accept the new bid.