Hi all,
We are in the process of buying a house and we have already made an offer. No signature, the offer has been made by email.
Initially the bank said the price is ok and we did the offer. Then, the bank re-assessed the house and came up with the decision that the house's price is too high and they re-evaluated at a lower price telling us that the offer we have made based on their initial assessment is not realistic.


Bref!



We were thinking to send another offer exposing the situation and offering a lower price.
Is this allowed in Switzerland?


Thank you for any suggestions or ideas,

Yes. It's quite common.

Providing they don't accept your first offer......

What would happen in this case?



Thank you?

I guess you would be on the hook.....



If you send a second, lower offer, explaining why it is lower, high chance they may decide to accept your first offer. I don't know if your offer had a validity on it, but until is is accepted or refused, not so much you can do, especially as it's in writing.


Yu may be lucky and they come back with a counter offer in which case you're off the hook as soon as you receive the counter and refuse it.

You would have formed a contract with the counterparty, depending on the terms of the offer as set out. That is how offer and acceptance works.

Call them today and rescind it verbally, oral contracts are binding in Swiss Law. But follow it up with an email or better yet registered letter expressly rescinding your first offer... if you absolutely want to be in the clear.

In practice you could probably wiggle out of it anyhow, but you might be left on the hook for something like a sizeable deposit. If there were terms of the offer in German or French about this, just because you don't speak the language is not necessarily a defence.

Making an offer on a property is not a joke. You are a big boy now Sailorimc.

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krlock3.

Nothing. As the exact details of the sales contract are still not known, subject to negotiating, and a real estate contract is only binding once signed in front of a notary. Would be different for a good where no written contract is needed, like a car. There you could not back out unless you can give notice of your withdrawal before the other party has knowledge of your offer.

Note: For real estate sales even a pre-contract, where you agree on a deposit and other modalities, must be made with a notary. Other wise it is not binding!
https://www.weka.ch/themen/recht/all...t-zu-beachten/

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On Strike - ChatGPT knows more than I, so use it (or doesn't it?)

Two months ago we made an offer on a house, which was also supported by the bank. Selling party agreed by email and verbally.



An appointment was then made with the notary, but the selling party backed out literally last minute before coming to the notary for signing the intention agreement "vente en terme". (They received a better offer and without consulting us, accepted it immediately).


We then informed with the local lawyer's association what our options would be, but even though we would technically be able to sue, we'd have to prove what kind of monetary losses we would be suffering. It would have been a different story if the deal was cancelled after signing the intention agreement at the notary, which normally includes a certain % of down payment.



So in short, yes, in theory you can be facing legal action, but the payback for the other party would be minimal.

When I made an offer on my property, it was stated in the bidding documentation from the estate agent that the deposit would be forfeitable in case the offer was accepted and then the buyer was to pull out. However, I must have missed the small print that this was only after notary signature, or they were trying to pull a fast one. Indeed, when we had some doubts, we were reminded of it in no uncertain terms by the estate agent.

So I am quite surprised by this but defer to the wisdom of aSwissintheUS - experience of his posts suggests he is an authority to be listened to!

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krlock3.

In our case we didnt sign anything. We have sent the offer by email, and this info was included in a Word Doc, with no signatures of us, nothing like this.


Thank you,