Gazumping, your views?

advice_please_2

Just watched an episode of Location location location with Kirstie and Phil.
This one had a couple putting in an offer even though house was sold STC, as they were chain free and got it in the end. Not sure if they paid a little more than original offer, but got me thinking on views of gazumping in UK?

As a buyer I would say not fair but if a vendor who say have had issues and want security of sell then yes. Swings and roundabout I guess?

Fire_Fox

This is more the board for general debate http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=149
Or run a search because this has been discussed at length before.

valk_scot

It's not at all common in Scotland where the conveyancing system is different in crucial areas which work very strongly against gazumping. So it's not so much a UK problem, more an English law one tbh.

advice_please_2

Fire_Fox wrote: »

This is more the board for general debate http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=149
Or run a search because this has been discussed at length before.

Oops

Sorry, yeah should have done a search.
Mods can you please move thread?

Davesnave

Fire_Fox wrote: »

This is more the board for general debate http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=149
Or run a search because this has been discussed at length before.

I think that this question is not more appropriate to Martin's "top shelf" board, as it has nothing specifically to do with the economy or house prices. Though gazumping may happen more in a rising market, it can happen any time.

Yes, it's been discussed before and so have questions like, "Are these we-buy-any-house companies any good?" which comes up every blooming week! (Now that is a sign of the times!)

Having had someone try to gazump us for the property we own now, I'd say the people who attempt it are morally beneath me, and the agents who support them, somewhere below that!

Just my opinion, but based on behaviour, because I've had the desire to gazump and resisted it. Apart from the moral element (some would argue it's just a business transaction) I've a fairly strong belief that one's actions have cumulative effects, so if people behave badly, whether in 'business transactions' or otherwise, this will eventually come back and bite them on the bum.

googler

valk_scot wrote: »

It's not at all common in Scotland where the conveyancing system is different in crucial areas which work very strongly against gazumping. So it's not so much a UK problem, more an English law one tbh.

What would it take to foster the same attitude in E&W, whereby it's seen as morally wrong to pursue and/or offer on a property which is already Under Offer (has had a previous offer accepted by the seller)....?

jamie11

I've been at both ends of gazumping, just one of those things.

So long as the law says I can, then I will. I believe the possibility of having a house snatched away from you at the last minute should concentrate the conveyancer's mind to get a flippin' move on with the paperwork and searches, I've lost several sales through downright tardiness on their part.

go_cat

Someone offered 10k more on our current house 3 days before we were due to exchange. Thank fully our vendor didn't accept

googler

The former housing minister was asked about gazumping in Parliament in early July, responding;

"“Home buyers and sellers in England and Wales are free to choose from a range of options, including some which give more certainty that their transaction will be completed.

“These include ‘lock-out’ agreements, where the seller enters a binding agreement not to accept another offer within a certain period; ‘option to purchase’ where the seller grants the buyer a binding option to purchase the property at the agreed price within a set timescale; ‘conditional contracts’, where buyer and seller enter into a contract as soon as terms have been agreed, subject to certain conditions being satisfied; or ‘costs guarantee’, where both buyer and seller agree to pay the other side’s costs if they withdraw from the transaction.

“Given the flexibility of the present system, we have no plans for reform in this area at the present time."

Since there's now a different housing minister in the post, if you want legislative change in this area, you could start with your own MP.....

googler

Just bumping this thread to the top to move the football spam to the bottom even quicker.....

dimbo61

Were you watching an old repeat of Location, location, location
Its been going a few years now and the WE must have the property at any cost has gone out the window.
Its more a case today of the seller cant sell for less because they paid top price in 2008/2009 before the bubble burst taking Northern Rock, bradford and bingley, HBOS with them.