Thanks for your response and advise.

I too thought Gazumping was less of an issue at the moment given the current market, although around here it doesn't seem to be as stagnant as some would make out.

The person at the Mortgage Service Centre today has already escalated the issue to the complaints department. I went through the paperwork pretty thoroughly before we sent everything back and I'm sure I would have picked up on this - I'm going to have another look through the pack just in case.

I really would like to get this resolved amicably - HSBC had been brilliant up until this point - processing everything really quickly, keeping us fully informed - it's such a shame it's all fallen appart when we need some understanding the most.

I'll follow up with HSBC in the morning I think.

Hi

I thought gazumping was a thing of the past. As I think you realise, there is not much you can do about this in England and Wales.

If HSBC have acted unfairly and the option to transfer mortgage offer to another property is not adequately covered in their terms and conditions, I would suggest that you make a formal complaint to them.

What I would suggest that you do is phone the HSBC mortgage centre customer relations/complaints team and see if you can persuade them to change their stance. Advise them that you want to avoid the Financial Ombudsman service getting involved and would like HSBS help to avoid this. HSBC would rather that you don't complain to the FOS, as they will get charged a £450 case fee and it will cost you nothing.

I suggest phoning them, as you want to try to resolve amicably as soon as possible, without peeing them off too much.

You may find the HSBC customer relations/complaint handlers can offer a more flexible approach.

Good luck

Huckster

Well, where do I start!

My partner and I are First Time Buyers. We have been saving for several years to have a deposit so we could buy our own home. Finally we have got to the stage where we have a 10% deposit for a £250k house, plus enough for the Stamp Duty, fee's and a little left over for furnishings.

Several weeks ago we viewed a property which we decided to make an offer on. we offered the fixed price that the house was advertised at and it was accepted by the vendor. As neither party had a chain we got straight to sorting our mortgage, arranging a solicitor etc to show our commitment to buying the property (and get in before Christmas). The Estate Agent marked the house as under offer on their website and promised that no further viewings would take place and that they would consider the property to be sold. This Monday we had our Mortgage agreed by HSBC and we paid the £999 non - refundable arrangement fee. On Tuesday we paid the Surveyor who would carry out the hoembuyers survey this week. An hour later the Estate Agent contacted me and explained that another buyer who had previously viewed the property had contacted them, but that they had been informed that the house had been sold, regardless of this, teh (in my opinion) unsrupuless buyer knocked on the door of the house and made a private offer directly with the vendor for 5k more than our offer which he accepted. We do not want to match it as it takes us into the 3% Stamp Duty which we don't have.

We have been able to get a refund from the surveyors and our solicitor was no sale no fee. The mortgage however, is a different story. I understand that the arrangement fee is non refundable that is fine. I spoke to HSBC on Tuesday to inform them that this had happended and ask how long we had before we had to draw down the funds. They stated that we had a few weeks and would obviously ahve to inform them of the new proprty details and that their current offer would be dependent on that. However, today they have turned around and said that they can't do this and because the mortgage would not be used for the house we originally aplied for it would be cancelled - goodbye £1k!!!

Is it just me or is this completley unreasonable - we weren't told this was a condition of the product we had applied for - where do we stand? Help!!!!