Briefly : I saw a repossessed property for sale locally a few weeks back with an asking price of £147k and a public notice of accepted offer of £152k.

I placed a verbal cash offer above this figure which was rejected as the estate agent verbally informed me that the other party then increased their offer. This went on for a few days of bidding over the phone with me stopping at £160K. All of my bids were subsequently formally rejected by letter.

A public notice was then again issued at £160.5k. Presumably the final offer from the other party I was bidding against.

A few days later estate agent phones to say other party cannot proceed and that the property would be remarketed at £147k again. I was not asked specifically if I wanted to maintain my bid of £160k. I immediately placed an offer of £152k as I knew that this had been accepted before we came along, and feel that if it was not for me bidding against ‘somebody’ who could not proceed then I would not have bid so high. In addition, I do not feel responsible for the estate agent’s decision to remarket at £147k.

My offer of £152k has been rejected by either the mortgage company or repossession company on the grounds of “we don’t think we want to deal with people who move their offers up and down”.

No other offers have been accepted and the house is still being marketed at £147k with no public notices.

Is this legal ? I thought they were under a statutory obligation to get the best price? If it is legal, it does not make any sense !

Incidentally, I am a cash buyer who can proceed straight away, and we were required to show bank statements to the Estate Agents to prove our ability to proceed before we were allowed to view the property.

I would be grateful of any advice that anyone could offer.