Gazumping costing £300 million each year

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by Kay Murchie

After you’ve agreed a price for a property and the seller accepts a higher offer from another buyer, this is known as Gazumping and according to research by personal finance website Fool.co.uk., it is costing homeowners almost £300 million annually.

When a sale is gazumped at the last minute, the costs of surveys, legal fees, searches and home information packs are all wasted. The research also showed that 1 in 10 homeowners have been gazumped while trying to sell their property.

In spite of these figures, gazumping is not necessarily frowned upon. Fool.co.uk established that one fifth of buyers confess that they would consider gazumping a purchase.

A spokesperson for Fool.co.uk said that a house is one of the biggest purchases most people will ever make. It can take many months to find the perfect home and if anything spoils that dream, it can be emotionally draining, particularly if it is the result of being gazumped.

However, it’s not just emotions that get hurt when you are gazumped, finances take a beating too.

When questioned, at least 73% believe that gazumping should be made illegal where as 10% were so worried about being gazumped that they decided to stay in their current property.