What are pre-emptive offers?
Pre-emptive (or bully) offers come into play when offers are only being considered at a certain date and time at the request of the Seller. The Seller signs a Direction re: No Offer Presentations form and those instructions are included in the Remarks section of the listing (look for phrases along the lines of No offers until (date/time) or No offers until (date/time) but the Seller will review/accept pre-emptive offers). When a listing has instructions noted to hold offers, and a Buyer insists on presenting an offer anyway, that is called a pre-emptive (or bully) offer.
What happens when there’s a pre-emptive offer?
If you are the listing salesperson or broker, according to REBBA 2002 you must follow your Seller’s instructions. [Code of Ethics s.24 Conveying Offers -24.(1) & 24. (4)] If you have written instructions from your Seller for “no offers”, you cannot present any offers, and pre-emptive offers are no exception.
If your seller changes their mind and wants to review pre-emptive offers, you must make sure that you follow Article 2, Section 2.15 of RAHB’s MLS® Rules and Regulations.
If your seller has said “no offers until (date/time)” and then changes his or her mind and wants to review offers prior to the presentation date, or has already instructed you that they will review an offer before the presentation date, then you have an obligation to present the offer. But – and this is important – you must make sure that within a timely manner you follow Article 2, Section 2.15 of RAHB’s MLS® Rules and Regulations:
1.Have the Seller sign an Amendment to Listing Agreement and update the listing information to reflect that offers can now be presented.
2. Contact (by telephone) all co-operating brokerages that have requested and/or already registered an offer presentation. Let them know that offers can now be presented, and arrange offer presentations.
What if I have a buyer that wants to put in a pre-emptive offer?
If you are a salesperson or broker representing a Buyer and he or she insists on writing a pre-emptive offer, you will have to advise them that their offer cannot be immediately presented if the Seller’s instructions are “no offers until (date/time)”. Let them know that the Seller may also change his or her mind, and if/when this happens the REALTOR® representing the Seller will be obligated to inform you, and all other parties that have facilitated showings or have registered offers, that the Seller will now be reviewing offers.
