Being Gazumped – If you are one of the unlucky few to be on the receiving end, being gazumped feels like a kick in the gut coupled with someone stealing your dinner money from you. In case you are new to the game, gazumping occurs when a seller agrees in writing on an offer from you for their property and they then accept another higher bidder after accepting yours but before contracts have been exchanged. Yes it is a totally legal practice in England and Wales, but that won’t fail to enrage you.
Gazumping cases have reached shocking heights more recently, and it’s not difficult to understand why. The market for homes has been as changeable as a teenager’s emotions, with prices soaring out of control and plenty of buyers also looking at properties.
That is what happens when you buy a house when prices are escalating quickly; the sellers suddenly have many higher offers post-acceptance. The more property prices jump in the weeks or months between accepting your offer and exchanging contracts, that “better” offer is looking increasingly good.
Gazumping has achieved an almost perfect storm in a housing market starved for stock. While there are fewer properties on the market and more buyers fighting over them, sellers have all the power. They also know that if they gazump you, there’s usually one other bidder in the wings to take away your home! For help from Stroud Estate Agents, visit https://www.tgres.co.uk/stroud-estate-agents/
The Emotional and Financial Toll
Not only is gazumping just outright annoying, but it is also expensive. The practice is a nightmare for buyers, some of whom have already spent hundreds or even thousands in surveys, legal costs and mortgage fees. That money goes faster than biscuits in an office break room and you don’t even know if it’s coming back.
The emotional consequences can also be significant. Buyers can fall in love with a home, situate themselves imagining life there and tell friends/family that this is their new estate. Gazumping can appear like a tearing up in the face of everything good and decent, particularly when you have enjoyed weeks watching your happily ever after finally materialising.
The Ripple Effect
Gazumping doesn’t only imbalance the waters for individual buyers: it generates an atmosphere of suspicion in the property market throughout.
Fighting Back
Against this backdrop, although gazumping remains a legal practice some buyers are pushing harder with commitments to exclusivity and other procedural changes such as faster timescales or less conditionality. With the system as it is, however, gazumping will probably always be a blight on the British property picture.