Is gazumping fair?

Silly them.

I think Scotlands conveyancing sounds much fairer. I think sealed offers are put in to the vendor and opened at a set time. If your offer is accepted then the house is yours. You can't back out, get gazumped or offer less, as far as I know

When we sold a house there were 2 offers and we chose the young first time buyers rather than the other. We included lots of extras in order to help them out. They pulled out just before contracts were exchanged leaving us high and dry. Then they approached us and asked if we would still give them the bits of furniture and white goods we were going to include. We said we would sell them to them and they said 'Oh we thought they were free' Needless to say they got nowt for owt..blooming cheek..

The situation in Scotland is different, you need your mortgage offer before you start looking at property's, and when you and the seller agree a price subject to survey there's a financial penalty if you or the seller back out.

Thankfully no such thing here. An offer to purchase is a signed contract, and if accepted is signed by the seller. The contract then becomes legally binding.

Whilst morally wrong, in my case I had a purchaser who was adamant they wanted my house and offered the asking price ..BUT they had not sold their house, and in the meantime as a result of divorce, the BS were threatening repossession (my ex husband disappeared with a barmaid ! and was no longer paying the mortgage, and my job did not pay enough as it was only part time because my daughter was 6 and I could not work full time)....so when another couple came along who had sold both their flats (were marrying) and offered a higher price I jumped at the chance ! Luckily I worked for a solicitor who managed to keep the BS at bay .......and they moved in very quickly ........mind you, I had it done to me by a builder of a new house ...offered me it as one price which I could afford, then four weeks later said it was now £15,000 dearer....so I had to let it go, having sold my house, and move in with a friend who was on their own, with my daughter until I found another affordable house ! Couldn't afford to lose the sale of my old house by delaying it ! Two sides to every story !

I was an estate agent for 30 years. During that time there was always gazumping or gazundering depending whether it was a buyers or a sellers market. Both are as bad.
Until we change our conveyancing system it will stay the same.
In Spain where I lived for 15 years you made an offer. If it was accepted a 2000 euro (non returnable) deposit was paid. It stopped frivolous offers. The property was then taken off the market. At exchange, a 10% deposit was paid directly to the vendors. If the purchasers changed their mind the deposit was forfeited. If the vendors changed their mind the deposit was returned PLUS 10% from the vendors.
Seems a much better system to me.

We sold up a year ago , we turned down an offer of £10k less as it was on the proviso we took house off market while we waited for offerer to get their house ready to market, prob 2 months. Too long for us. Then a second similar offer came from a couple who were just about to market their house but thought it would sell quickly. We accepted provided they were on the market in 2 weeks, they asked for 6, we settled on 3, so we accepted. Then first person came back straight away as she saw we were marked as SSTC online , said she’d give us the asking price and she’d get a bridging loan to buy immediately, so we went with her , not so much for the extra £10k but also because there’d be no chain. Other people not happy but they still hadn’t put their house on the market. We thought the house suited the one more than the other and we’d have less hassle and indeed it went smoothly from then on

We once were buying a house and had agreed the price and paid for and had the survey done etc and were quite far along in the sale. Then the estate agent called to say that the vendor had accepted a higher offer on her house and unless we Couid match it, she would go with the new offer. I was devastated but a week later found another house in s better location and our offer was accepted. About s month later the previous estate agent called me to ask if I would now like to buy the original house as their new buyers had Pulled out.
I said no as we’d found another house. Then the original vendor called to plead with me to re start the sale on her house, saying it would make sense as I’d already paid for the survey ! She didn’t give a toss about the fact we’d spent all the money on solicitors and the survey when she dumped us without a second thought.
I said no because I’d made an agreement to buy another house and plus I’d never be able to trust that she’d not drop us again if a higher offer came up again.
We’d been in our house for 6 months and I saw they still had a for sale board up. Served the cow right ?

We got into a gazumping situation when buying a house that the owners were selling privately. We made a full asking price offer, but they told us another family had come along and offered £20k more. We really wanted the property so went to £30k more and secured it. We will never know if they were pulling a fast one, but I guess everything has its price.

We sold our last house 23 years ago to a youngish couple who had sold their house. While waiting for it to go through the system, the estate agent rang to say we had been offered a higher price. She couldn't believe it when we refused to get involved with gazumping. The Scottish system sounds much fairer.

No wonder house buying and selling comes so high on the list of stressful times.
We sold last year -one couple came 3 times to view (estate agent did all the viewings) they made several offers under the Offers over price we turned them down each time. The “serial viewers” then wanted a fourth viewing - we said no and were beginning to smell a rat.Then another couple made us an offer which we went with. The “serial viewers” put a hand written note through the door upping the offer by £15K over the one we’d just accepted. We were devastated to think that someone thought we were the kind of people to gazump, also we did not trust the serials. We did not even acknowledge the letter under advice. The serials laid in to our agents blaming them for them not getting the house - no it was their own fault.
Long story short, because our purchaser was self employed (v busy and had gained and not lost work through covid) he had trouble getting a mortgage. The worst was the bank advertised by 2 Geordie lads who first said yes to him, but after a month declined. All in all it took 7 months to complete.
We had been decent but went through a nightmare in the process. I would not agree again to wait so long for someone to find a mortgage.

In England we need a system more like that in Scotland.
And don’t get me started on the conveyancing companies and ruthless solicitors playing with people’s heightened emotions.

I have only ever bought one house, in 1965. I still live here, and hope to until they carry me out ?
Gazumping should be banned. There are always people without morals, willing to 'take advantage'.
Years ago a friend of mine was devastated when her husband walked out on her, leaving her with 3 young children and no income. She then found that the mortgage and household bills hadn't been paid for 6 months. Presumably he'd spent it all on his new woman.
She needed to sell the house quickly, before the mortgage lenders foreclosed on it. She knew that they would be happy to sell it just for what they were owed, as that happened to someone she knew. They were left penniless.
A nice couple came to view, and offered the asking price, and she told their sympathetic ears all her troubles.
Just as the sale was completing, they drastically reduced their offer, knowing that she had no time to look for another buyer. The unscrupulous b******s got a bargain. She was moved into temporary Council accommodation with her children, and had a nervous breakdown.
There are some dreadful people in this world!

I have been complaining about the English system for at least 50 years. If an offer is accepted, a deposit should be paid, as with buying a new house. It should then be legally binding subject to survey.

My son bought his first home last year and was terrified about this happening - a friend of his had it occur twice.

On completion, the vendor popped round with a card and bottle of wine for him, it was the house of a relative that he'd sold and told my son that he'd had two higher offers but didn't want to let my son down as he'd given his word!

I have moved 19 times as an adult, and met all sorts during these moves. Once we had sold our house and this man came and offered us first of all £5000 and then £10000 more. I looked him in the eye and said but I have given my word, he said but you could make more money. I replied that if you were such a sleazy person prepared to go to such lengths, you would be totally untrustworthy and showed him the door. I also rang the estate agent , who was a local firm and had a good name, and told him what had happened. Yes I got less money but can look myself in the mirror and know that I have stuck to my principles I also knew someone whose agreement was that the almost new staircarpet would be part of the sale. So 3 days before the move they said they didnt want the carpet,assuming that they would get the carpet for nothing. Ha ! picked the wrong person. She checked again that they didnt want it etc, and then stripped the carpet and gave it to a charity, Took the spare rolls of wallpaper she was going to leave etc( I always leave the spare wallpaper, and a little book with size of room - how many rolls of wallpaper, the electrian, plumber etc etc so that they have somewhere to start . It has always been appreciated )

Grantanow

In the Middle Ages in England sellers of goods were constrained to set a 'fair price'. Our modern marketplace is largely unregulated on price so 'fairness' is no longer a common bond. I remember David Cameron yacking on about 'fairness' but no-one could define it unequivocally (including him).

There are laws that regulate fair price as you put it. Anyone knowingly selling or buying at well below reasonable (market) price for goods could be subject to investigation for ether simply knowingly under/over selling or under the money laundering rules in place.grossly inflating property value attracts attention as does grossly undervaluation of property.

Maybe if the gazumper was obliged to repay the gazumpees fees it wouldn't be so attractive a trick?

The process is needing to be changed. If an offer is made in writing and accepted again in writing, that should be it. If either the seller or buyer pulls out surely there has to be penalties eg seller pulling out after offer all expenses incurred by buyer should be due. If buyer pulls out after making offer seller should expect compensation for loss of any other offer and expenses.

Don't have gazumping here in Scotland....Offers for house go to a closing date and then the seller can choose which offer they want to except.....So sad for young people trying to get on the housing market...have their offer accepted then being told that the seller is accepting a higher offer....Personally I couldn't do that to anyone....

Your scenario of buyer being offered a job etc etc is very rare as a reason for dropping out. Gazumping is not allowed in Scotland and their system is much fairer all round.as soon as you "show interest" by putting offer in you're tied by contractual obligation so everyone thinks very hard befor making off the cuff offers or by hedging their bets by offering on a few properties 'just in case' gazumping is heinous and not to be encouraged. It encourages bad behaviour and can be deeply upsetting for the gazumpee.so? NO should be outlawed!

Bluesmum

My grand daughter has been gazumped four times and has now lost her sale and given up on the idea of moving for now! Each time she offered the full asking price, the absolute maximum she can afford, and each time someone offered more! She got so depressed and disillusioned, it is just so unfair!

If her offer wasn't accepted then she wasn't gazumped.

I think it’s really lousy to accept a gazumping bid…your word should be your bond

Yes I agree with Elie, the open house system is more workable because would-be buyers know in an instant whether they're likely to be successful or otherwise with a bid. We were gazumped in the early 80s, had spent money on the survey, and even encouraged my parents to buy a smaller property on the same idyllic canalside development. We had so much riding on our purchase that we offered the asking price with no attempt to chip. However, we assumed naievely that the seller would instruct the estate agent to take it off the market but no so and when the estate told us that our offer had been rejected about a month down the line because someone had come along and gazumped us, we were desperately unhappy. This meant my parents pulled out of their purchase. Fortunately, we found something and somewhere nicer for both families, but it's not always that simple. Personally, I believe that if an offer has been accepted at the asking price, the seller should be forced to take the property off the market and not entertain any further offers.

I moved last year and finally found a nice bungalow. Agent was really nice but sellers were mares. The agent actually told me to offer £10K LESS than I was going to, he knew they wanted a quick sale and he wanted them off his books. Sale went through, one happy buyer. Had bad move before that though, as my buyers pulled out on exchange day. I cried all day.