Gazumping is a commonly heard term when it comes to house purchase. This is when a seller accepts a higher offer for their property after they have already accepted an offer from another buyer.

Less well-known is the term ‘gazundering’. When you work with Saracens Solicitors as your mortgage solicitor in London, we ensure that you get clear information about terms related to your house sale including details about gazundering and how to avoid it.

What is gazundering?

Gazundering is when a buyer lowers their offer partway through the sale process. This is often done at the last minute so that the seller is under greater pressure to accepting the new offer. It can be done to exploit the fact that the seller is in a weak position such as if they are part of a long chain that could collapse if their sale goes through.

A lower offer may also be tendered in more ethical cases such as when property values have fallen substantially or if they find issues with the house that they were previously unaware of. In these cases, it’s more of a re-negotiation process than gazundering. This is something that Saracens Solicitors can help with when they are acting as your mortgage solicitor in London.

Ways to avoid gazundering or limit the ill effects

• Hedge your bets by keeping your house on the market – this way, you may still have interested parties to fall back on so that you do not have to accept your buyer’s new offer. The time taken for the sale will be extended by taking on a new buyer but this might be worth it to get the right price;
• Keep the house sale moving – the more that both parties have invested in the house sale, the less likely it is that either side will want it to fall through;
• Price your house fairly – this makes people less inclined to gazunder as they will probably end up paying the same amount for a comparable home.

Saracens Solicitors can offer you even more advice on avoiding gazundering and let you know what you can do if it happens when we are acting as your mortgage solicitor in London.