The Escape Clause

by D. Stirling

I went to make an offer on a building and was told there was a 'no escape clause' offer already there, and was therefore rejected until it ran out in 18 days. Why was I not allowed to even make the offer?

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Nov 26, 2015
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starstarstarstarstar 		Escape Clauses
by: Ross

When a property owner accepts a conditional offer with no escape clause, s/he cannot accept another offer, whether firm or conditional, until after that first offer is released. And that would only occur if that buyer was unable to fulfill their condition(s).

Normally, only if the buyer has another property to sell does their offer contain such a clause. But when the first offer is subject only to financing or home inspection, for example, it is common for such an offer to firm when the lesser conditions are fulfilled.

If the seller had accepted your offer, and the first offer had firmed, the seller would have sold their property to 2 parties. Thus, they could not accept such a risk.

Though extremely rare, the seller could have negotiated and accepted your offer provided it included a condition which would permit them to cancel your agreement if the first conditional sale were to fall apart. But as I said, this is quite uncommon.

I hope this answers your question. Feel free to visit anytime.

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