Information at your fingertips

Real estate articles and essays

Gazumping!

You have had your offer accepted and the solicitor has been instructed to act on your part. Everything is going to plan, then you get a call from the estate agent telling you that you've been gazumped.

What is Gazumping?

Gazumping happens when the vendor has accepted a purchasers offer, but then goes back on his acceptance when he receives a higher offer from another potential purchaser.

What effects can this have on the buyer?

As you will know buying a house can be a very stressful process. Gazumping will have emotional and financial effects on the purchaser.

Emotionally the buyer will feel angry, confused, upset, annoyed and more than likely put off from buying. The buyer may even feel that he/she wants to get back at the gazumping purchaser by putting in a higher bid to try to gazump them.

Financially it could be a lot worse, you may have already instructed a solicitor to act on your behalf which will more than likely mean that surveys, local authority searches, land searches and mortgage application fees have already taken place and have to be paid for therefore costing you more and losing out on that dream home.

Time limits could be another factor, you may well have sold your house and be in the middle of a chain which has now been broken by gazumping. You will have to search for a new property quickly or risk the sale of your own house.

This article was written by Tracey Aldous