Gazumping: Public have had enough and want it made illegal

The overwhelming majority of buyers want the gazumping to be made illegal, a poll shows.

Some 89 per cent think it’s wrong that gazumping can take place once a seller has already accepted an offer from a potential buyer, but before completion. 

Almost as many - 85 per cent - want it to be made illegal.

Perhaps more surprisingly as many as nine per cent of buyers have fallen victim to gazumping.

Chris Hodgkinson, managing director of property purchasing firm HBB Solutions - which commissioned the poll - says: “It’s quite extraordinary that gazumping still occurs in this day and age and, in fact, it’s probably fair to say it’s rife in current market conditions. 

“Unfortunately, it’s a byproduct of a market where demand is incredibly high and stock levels remain insufficient for such a prolonged period of time. When this happens, you have buyers falling over themselves to secure the home they want and some of them do this by gazumping.

“It’s a real stab in the back for the buyer who has already committed time and money to a property under the agreement they will be purchasing it and it can make an incredibly stressful, expensive experience all the worse.

“It really is about time the government steps in and does something to permanently eradicate this practice to provide greater reassurance and stability to those undertaking the already tricky task of purchasing a home.”