An offer may cease to exist under any of the following circumstances;
Specified Time
Where an offeror states that an offer will remain open for a specific length of time, it lapses when that time is up. Though it can equally be revoked before that.
Reasonable Length of Time
Where the offeror has not specified how long the offer will remain open, it will lapse after a reasonable length of time has passed. How much time will depend upon whether the means of communicating the offer was fast or slow and on its subject matter? As such, offers to buy perishable goods, or a commodity whose price fluctuates daily will lapse quite quickly. Offers to buy shares on a stock market may last only seconds.
Failure of a Precondition
Some offers are made subject to certain conditions, and if such conditions are not in place, the offer may lapse.
Rejection
An offer lapses when the offeree rejects it. The acceptance of the offeree is what completes the transaction.
Counter Offer
A counteroffer terminates the original offer. In this situation, the offeror can make a new offer on exactly the same terms but is not obliged to do so.
Death of the Offeror
The position of the law in this situation is not very clear. But it appears that if the offeree knows that the offeror has died, the offer will lapse and if the offeree is unaware of the offeror’s death, the offer will not as illustrated in the case of Bradbury v Morgan (1862).
However, where an offer requires personal performance by the offeror such as painting a picture, it will usually lapse on the offeror’s death.
Death of the Offeree
The position in such a case seems to be that the offer lapses when cannot be accepted after the offeree’s death by the offeree’s representatives.
Revocation by the Offeror
The old case of Payne v Cave (1789) establishes the principle that an offer may be revoked, meaning withdrawn, at any time up until it is accepted. There are however a number of rules about revocation of an offer.
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