Quick Links:
Under offer means the seller has accepted an offer from a buyer and the estate agent has marked the property as such, usually taking it off the open market. Nothing is legally binding at that point. In England and Wales either side may walk away without penalty until contracts are exchanged, which is commonly two to four months after the offer is accepted.
Sold subject to contract, or SSTC, means the same thing in practice. Agents use both terms, and some use one for the first few days and the other once solicitors have been instructed. There is no legal difference between them.
Can someone else still make an offer on a property that is under offer?
Yes. The agent is obliged to pass every offer to the seller until exchange, and the seller is free to accept a higher one. That is gazumping, and it is legal in England and Wales. Most sellers do not do it, partly because it means starting again with a new buyer, but the risk is there until exchange and it is the main reason to keep the under offer period short.
Is it different in Scotland?
Yes. In Scotland an accepted offer becomes binding once missives are concluded, which is much earlier in the process. This article covers England and Wales, where I work, and the rest of the buying process is set out in my first-time buyer hub.
Under offer and sold subject to contract mean the same thing and neither is legally binding
Until exchange of contracts the seller may accept a higher offer from another buyer, known as gazumping
The buyer's mortgage application, survey and conveyancing all run during the under offer period
What happens between under offer and exchange?
Four things run at once, and the buyer drives three of them.
The mortgage application goes in. If you had a mortgage in principle before offering, the full application is the next step, with payslips, bank statements, proof of deposit and ID going to the lender. The lender instructs a valuation of the property and, once the underwriter is satisfied, issues a mortgage offer. Most offers on my cases in 2026 have come through in under two weeks, though timescales vary. A mortgage offer is then usually valid for a fixed period, commonly six months.
The survey, if you want one beyond the lender’s valuation, is booked by you. A level 2 homebuyer report or a level 3 building survey can take two to three weeks to arrange and report, and anything it finds may lead to a renegotiation on price.
Conveyancing is the legal work. Your solicitor raises enquiries with the seller’s solicitor, orders searches from the local authority and others, and reviews the contract, the title and any leasehold documents. Local authority searches alone can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks depending on the council.
The seller’s side has its own work: answering enquiries, completing the property information forms and, if they are buying too, getting their own purchase to the same point.
A worked example. You offer £300,000 on 1 March and it is accepted. Mortgage application submitted 4 March, valuation 12 March, mortgage offer 18 March. Survey booked for 20 March, report back 3 April, nothing major. Searches ordered 5 March, back 10 April. Enquiries answered by the end of April. Exchange in mid May and completion two weeks after. That is around ten weeks from under offer to exchange with nothing going wrong, and the slowest item was the searches, not the mortgage.
What should the buyer do while a property is under offer?
Get the mortgage application in within days rather than weeks. Every week the seller waits for confirmation that your finance is real is a week in which another buyer’s offer looks more attractive. A mortgage in principle before you offer means the full application is ready to go the day the offer is accepted.
Instruct a solicitor the same week. Many buyers wait until the mortgage offer arrives before instructing and lose a month for no reason. Searches can be ordered on day one.
Decide on the survey early. If you are having one, book it as soon as the offer is accepted, because the surveyor’s availability and the report turnaround are outside your control.
Keep the agent informed. Agents report progress to the seller, and a buyer who sends a one-line update each week is remembered as reliable. A buyer who goes quiet for three weeks makes the seller nervous, and a nervous seller listens to the next offer that comes in.
Do not change anything financial. No new car finance, no job change if it is avoidable, and no large unexplained transfers into or out of the account the lender is looking at. The lender may re-check anything up to completion.
The period ends at exchange of contracts, when the deposit is paid to the seller’s solicitor, the completion date is fixed and both sides are bound.
What I see in practice
The thing that most often goes wrong between under offer and exchange in the cases I see is the buyer’s own survey. It turns up problems the buyer was not expecting, the price has to be renegotiated, and sometimes the purchase falls over. It is a good argument for getting the survey booked early rather than leaving it until the mortgage offer is in.
Speak to an expert
If your offer has just been accepted, send me the agreed price, your deposit and your last three payslips and I will get the full application moving the same week.
When does an under offer sale fall through?
The common causes are a down valuation, where the lender’s valuer says the property is worth less than the agreed price and the buyer cannot make up the gap; a survey that finds damp, roof or structural problems the buyer will not accept; a mortgage declined at underwriting, usually because something in the documents did not match the application; a chain breaking further up or down; a change in the buyer’s circumstances; and gazumping.
Of those, the ones a buyer can prepare for in advance are the mortgage ones. Get the numbers right before offering: how much a lender is likely to lend, the deposit and the fees. A mortgage quote run against your actual payslips before you offer means the application is a formality rather than a discovery.
If the sale does fall through, the money already spent on searches, survey and legal work is usually lost, which is another reason to keep the under offer period short. Some solicitors offer no-sale-no-fee arrangements on their own fees, though search fees and other disbursements are still payable.
If you are the one pulling out, there is no penalty before exchange, but tell the agent promptly. If you are gazumped, you are entitled to make a higher offer yourself, and whether that makes sense depends on your situation and on how far above the valuation the price is going.
Need Personal Mortgage Advice?
Every buyer’s situation is different. While this guide explains the general rules, the right mortgage for you depends on your income, deposit, credit history and future plans. If you’d like tailored advice, I can help, with 120+ lenders to choose from.
