it happened to me yesterday-at lunchtime was told my offer was accepted, by teatime was informed by estate agent that the vendor had been approached directly and accepted another offer.

today I am an emotional wreck (I had been waiting for months fot the house to come on the market)

maybe I should toughen up-it was the 7th house we'd offered on

anyway, I'm new to this site-looks great btw

Now I'll be the first to admit my ignorance, but wasn't there some kind of legislation introduced to stop this sort of thing happening after the gazumping craze of the late 80s? If not, the process should be much more rigourously managed with some penalties against the vendor if he allows this practice to happen.

Any property experts out there who can shed light on this sort of thing.

If it's any consolation, it took us 2 years to find a suitable house in Sheff [i]andp/i] make a successful offer. In the end we were so desperate we started bidding on houses we really didn't want - thank Bhudda we never had those offers accepted.

Gazzumping still happens whether it's illegal or not.
Is it illegal for a vendor to accept another offer 'outside' the juristiction of the estate agent? I don't think it is (not sure tho).

I think legalities come into play when the vendor accepts an offer then someone comes into the esatate agent and puts in a higher offer, the estate agent accepts that one instead (obviously because his/her/their commission will be higher) and you are then gazzumped.

Since the estate agent has said that the vendor accepted to offer directly, then their is nothing the law can do about it (or that is what I'm lead to believe... and would love some clarification on that).

What I would do is this, go to the vendor and ask what the price is they are now selling at and see if they would accept another offer. Try and establish if the new offer they received was via the estate agents or direct. You may find that the offer went throught the agents and then you have a gazzumping case on your hand. Obviously if you took it to court you would have no concrete evidence. Maybe that is something to think about.

I've mentioned this in another post elsewhere.

I'd rather the estate agent charge a fix fee based on the asking price at the start as appose to a % of the actual selling cost.

The advantage is that they gain absolutely finanial benefit if it sold at £70,000 instead of £69,000.

This would cut out the Gazzumping.

Yes, they would still achieve an higher offer for you because they would still want your custom if you decide to move house again in future and you can always not accept a poor offer in which case, they lose out.

2 years to find a house! that must have been stressful- I hope it doesn't take us that long- imagine the prices by then!

thanks for the feedback-I might ring the agents tomorrow

Gazumping should be against the law, when an offer has been accepted, that should be a legal contract and enforcable by law.

thing is - this is a rented house which is now empty so I don't know who the vendor is as I have only delt with the agents.

I wonder how they found out who the vendor was in order to approach him directly. Maybe they knew him anyway or asked a neighbour.

Property guide is out tomorrow. In a way I almost hope there isn't anything I like, as I'm so stressed already!

There's an article in tonight's Star about this. The government is proposing a seller's pack which will contain everything which will help the buyer decide. Legislation should contain anti-gazumphing rules, too. As usual, it's the estate agents and valuers who are opposing it.

Originally posted by hatter
thing is - this is a rented house which is now empty so I don't know who the vendor is as I have only delt with the agents.

I wonder how they found out who the vendor was in order to approach him directly. Maybe they knew him anyway or asked a neighbour.

Property guide is out tomorrow. In a way I almost hope there isn't anything I like, as I'm so stressed already!
Given the facts you have stated above... it seems even MORE likely that the Estate agents are involved in the gazzumping mate!

I would't take it laying down!

At the mo nothing is legal until contracts are signed and exchanged, any party can pull out at any time with any compensation. It all down to gentlemens agreements.

You need to push to get them locked in as soon as possible, we did this with a house we fell in love with, a solicitor can sort it.

i was lucky buying my house as i was the one renting it at the time and couldn't be bothered to move, glad i was so lazy, looking at the prices two years on!
i was shocked that 'the mortgage code' isnt government legislation, just some pappy logo and bobbins.

I think that an offer should be accepted in writing and once it is, no more offers can be taken. The written acceptance could be used as legal evidence should the person still be gazumped.

What about using the same method as at an auction? You have to stump up a 5% (I think) deposit at the time your bid is accepted. This makes it legally binding subject to the usual surveys, etc. The vendor cannot back out then.

Found the house you've been looking for mate (http://www.invisiblepuzzle.com/subterraneanfortress/index.htm):D

I think the whole system is ridiculous and needs a complete overhaul. I am currently buying and you just spend weeks upon weeks waiting around for other people to do very little. All that needs doing for me to be able to exchange is the vendors solictor to reply to my solicitor about a single minor question. This question was asked over a week ago! This is the 21st century and still solicitors do everything by snail mail.
Apparantly in Canada you buy law have to complete no more than 5 days after accepting the offer. All the searchers and stuff are done by the vendor before the house goes on the market. That's what we need here, plus the internet sites to mature to the extent that we no longer require estate agents.
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