Contract Races

If you are anxious for a quick sale of your house and have several interested buyers, you might think it would be a good idea to issue a contract to them all and sell to the first person ready to complete. This is called a "contract race" and in fact you are not allowed to do it unless you tell each buyer what you have done — your Solicitor has a duty to inform everyone concerned if he is asked by his client to issue more than one contract.

Contract races will often cause buyers to withdraw their offers because they are reluctant to risk wasting surveyors and solicitors fees — so from a position of several potential buyers, you could end up with none.

So, could you get around the rules by using a different solicitor for each contract? Unfortunately not — a Solicitor has to inform other parties if he knows a second contract has been issued, even if he did not do it himself.

Article first published October 2002
Last reviewed August 2006