Goverment cracks down on gazumping

Many of us have been there: you find your dream home, only to be gazumped before the sale goes ahead. In fact, in some ways, it’s become an expected (though very undesirable) part of buying a property. Now, however, the Government has set plans in motion to reduce the gazumping effect.

People are being encouraged to use voluntary reservation agreements to tie the parties into the buying process. Echoing the system used in Scotland, these agreements will mean that local authorities will have to reply within 10 days to search requests from solicitors, thus reducing the period of time when gazumping often takes place.

It is thought that these agreements will help those buying leasehold properties in particular, as management companies and freeholders will also be obliged to supply the information required to complete within a set time frame, thus making the wait between offer, exchange of contracts and completion shorter.

These moves can only be positive, and we look forward to sharing more information with you about these proposals as they go through approvals processes in Parliament.