Where an offer is not accepted within six months of the date of
the letter of offer through delay or the need for clarification the
purchaser should be asked to confirm in writing that they wish the
offer, unamended in any respect (except as specified), to go
forward for consideration.
Where the offer cannot be accepted locally it should be
ensured that it is submitted in good time for the acceptance letter
to be issued within the 6 month period.
If the submission is made within a month of the crucial day
the case should be marked prominently for urgent attention or give
advance warning.
An offer can only be formally rejected by the Board so an
attempt to negotiate further or to re- open negotiations (whether
on Head Office instructions or otherwise) could in law amount to
the rejection of the offer.
If a compliance caseworker is unable to secure a better offer
and proposes to accept (or recommend acceptance of) the original
offer they should request a letter on the lines suggested above,
unless advised to the contrary by Head Office.
In English law a contract normally requires consideration to
make it binding the purchaser’s offer to pay is matched by HM
Revenue & Customs agreement not to take any further
proceedings.
Scottish contract law does not have this requirement but it
is still desirable to set out the consideration in a Scottish
offer.
HM Revenue & Customs agreement not to take any further
proceedings must be in relation to specified liabilities. These
should be set out in tabular form.
The current standard forms of offer all include an
acknowledgement of failure to meet obligations, usually on the part
of the person(s) signing the offer.
