Best and Final Offer on a House: How to Set Yours

The call usually sounds like this: "We've had more than one offer, so the seller would like best and final offers by Friday at noon." You get one more go, a few days to decide, and no sight of what anyone else is bidding.

This guide covers what the round is, how to choose your figure, what to write, and what happens after the deadline. It's written for England and Wales. Scotland uses closing dates set by the seller, with offers sent through solicitors, which work differently.

What "best and final" means

A best and final round replaces the back-and-forth. Each buyer sends one offer by the same deadline, usually in writing, and buyers aren't normally told each other's figures. The seller then decides.

Three things follow from that:

• More than one buyer is usually interested. A round only makes sense with two or more. It doesn't tell you how close the other offers are, or whether those buyers can proceed.
• The highest figure doesn't always win. Sellers weigh how likely each buyer is to reach completion: their chain, their mortgage, their solicitor and the moving date they can offer.
• There can be a second round. The seller can go back to the buyers, or take an offer that arrives later.

Before you decide anything, ask the agent three questions:

1. How many buyers are in the round?
2. When will the seller decide, and how will you let us know?
3. Is the seller after anything besides the price, such as a moving date or a buyer with no chain?

The third answer can matter as much as your figure. A seller with a date to meet may prefer the buyer who can meet it. If you doubt there's another buyer at all, do estate agents lie about other offers? covers how to test the claim.

Bidding blind: how to choose your figure

A sealed round asks you to bid blind, to a deadline. Decide your figure before you think about the other buyers.

Your figure is the most the house is worth to you. Three things set it:

• What similar homes nearby sold for, adjusted for size, condition, and extras like a garden or parking. Use sold prices: an asking price is only what a seller hopes for.
• What the house needs. The cost of a new kitchen or a roof comes off what the house is worth to you, whatever the other buyers do.
• What you can fund. Your deposit, your mortgage, stamp duty and fees. If the lender's valuation comes in below your offer, the gap comes out of your own money.

Write that figure down before the deadline pressure starts. When the agent calls on Thursday afternoon, it's the number you already chose. How much should you offer on a house walks through the sums.

Your best and final can be the offer already on the table. If your offer is already the most the house is worth to you, send it again with your position and your reasons. You don't have to add something because you were asked.

Four things to get right:

• Send one figure. An offer tied to other bids ("£2,000 more than the highest, up to £X") hands the agent your limit.
• Avoid a round number if you're near one. If two buyers both land on £350,000, £351,500 breaks the tie. It only matters when offers are that close, and it's never a reason to pass your limit.
• Show that you can proceed. Attach your mortgage agreement in principle and proof of your deposit, and name your solicitor and your chain position. When offers are close, that can decide the round.
• Keep your limit to yourself. "What's the most you could go to?" is a request for it. Answer with your offer and the reason for it.

What to write in your best and final offer

Send it by email before the deadline, even if you've also said it on the phone. Keep it short enough for the agent to read out to the seller. Put in:

• the figure, once, called your best and final offer
• one or two reasons for it, such as recent sales or work the house needs
• your position: mortgage, deposit, chain and solicitor
• when you could exchange and complete, and how flexible you can be
• anything you want included, such as appliances or carpets
• that the offer is subject to contract and survey

A version you can adapt:

Our best and final offer for [address] is [£ figure], subject to contract and survey. It reflects recent sales of [similar homes nearby] and [the work the kitchen needs]. [We have a mortgage agreed in principle and our deposit ready], [solicitor] can act straight away, and we are [chain-free]. [We can work to the seller's moving date.] Please confirm that you've received this and passed it to the seller.

Then leave it. If you'd pay more, the figure you sent wasn't your best and final.

Will you lose the house if you don't go higher?

You might. If another buyer offers more and can proceed, the seller may take their offer. That's the case for deciding your figure in advance: if you lose at your limit, the house would have cost more than it was worth to you.

Losing the round isn't always the end. TwentyCi's figures, reported by The Intermediary, put UK sales falling through at 23.4% in the first half of 2026. If you're not chosen, tell the agent in writing that your offer stands if anything changes, so yours is the offer they already have.

If the seller won't budge after the round

Sometimes the agent comes back after the deadline: the seller has a higher figure, can you do better? That's a second round. Ask whether that buyer can proceed, and what the seller wants besides the price. If you've learned nothing new about the house, a second rise is bidding against yourself.

If you've learned something that changes what the house is worth to you, one smaller move can make sense. If not, say so and leave the offer standing:

Our offer of [£ figure] is the most this house is worth to us on the evidence, so it stays where it is. If the seller's position changes, we'd be glad to hear from you.

If you win, the offer is accepted subject to contract. Ask whether the house will come off the market. What the agent has to tell you after that is in the rules at the end, and offer accepted: what happens next covers the weeks up to exchange.

How Broc helps once the round is called

Set your limit before the deadline. Broc works it out for a specific address from the sold prices of similar homes nearby and, where it can match the listing, how long the house has been on the market and any price cuts, along with signals about the seller's position. With your answers about the house and your own position, the report sets your opening offer, target and walk-away, and writes the offer letter. Its walk-away is the limit this guide means.

When the agent calls a round, log it in the report's deal room: pick "The agent made a claim", then "Best and final offers by a deadline". It shows what the claim usually means and how to test it. Its next move is to restate your case at the offer on the table, with a letter that puts it again. If you decide to offer more, up to your walk-away, log the new figure as an offer you sent.

You log what the agent said and you send the letter. Broc doesn't read your email or contact the agent.

Where the rules stand (position as of September 2026)

These rules apply in England and Wales. The last point is how Scotland differs.

• An offer is not legally binding until contracts are exchanged. (GOV.UK: making an offer)
• The agent must pass every offer to the seller promptly and in writing, unless the seller has said in writing that they don't want offers of that kind. (Estate Agents (Undesirable Practices) (No. 2) Order 1991, Schedule 3)
• The agent must not knowingly or recklessly misrepresent, on the phone or in writing, whether an offer exists or what it is, or whether another buyer exists and what their position is, including their finances and how quickly they can exchange. (The same schedule.)
• The agent must not treat your offer less favourably because you won't use their other services, such as a mortgage arranged through them. (Schedule 2 of the same Order)
• Agents in The Property Ombudsman's scheme must confirm every offer in writing to the seller, and to the buyer who made it, within 2 working days, and can't make passing it on depend on your using their other services. They may tell a buyer another offer's amount only if the seller agrees and they have warned every buyer who offers that they do this. Once they tell one buyer, they must tell every buyer still in the negotiation about every offer, straight away. (The Property Ombudsman's code for residential estate agents, section 9)
• After your offer is accepted, an agent in that scheme must tell you in writing if the house stays on the market, promptly if the seller accepts another offer, and in writing if they know the seller's solicitor has been told to send a contract to another buyer. (The same code, section 9.)
• The code binds members of The Property Ombudsman. Ask your agent which redress scheme it belongs to: The Property Ombudsman or the Property Redress Scheme. Complaints go to the agency first, then to that scheme. (GOV.UK: making a complaint)
• In Scotland, offers are sent by a solicitor, and when several buyers note interest the seller sets a closing date. (mygov.scot: making an offer)

General information, not legal or financial advice.

Frequently asked questions

Written by

Broc

Broc is the badger behind trybroc.io — "broc" is Old English for badger. Where the estate agent speaks in superlatives, Broc speaks in evidence — sold comparables, days on the market, seller-pressure signals — and turns them into a number you can defend.

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