Gazumping is when a seller accepts a higher offer from a different buyer after already accepting yours — often days or weeks into the conveyancing process. It’s legal in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland because offers on property are not binding until exchange of contracts. It’s effectively impossible in Scotland, which uses a different, binding-earlier legal system.
Why gazumping happens
When you make an offer and the seller accepts, the property is described as Sold STC — “Subject to Contract”. Nothing is legally agreed. Either side can walk away with no penalty right up until exchange, which on the open market typically happens 10–14 weeks after acceptance.
In that window, a rival buyer can make a higher offer. If the seller accepts, the original buyer is “gazumped” — their sale is pulled from under them, and they’ve usually already spent money on surveys, searches, and solicitor time.
What to do if you’re being gazumped
- Ask directly. Approach the seller (or their agent) and confirm whether they intend to proceed with your offer or switch to the new one. Sometimes simply pressing the point is enough — some sellers feel obliged to honour their acceptance.
- Consider raising your offer — but only if the new figure still represents value to you. Don’t get drawn into a bidding war for a property you’ll resent paying over-market for.
- Accelerate exchange. The faster contracts exchange, the smaller the window for a rival. Chase your solicitor daily. Offer to instruct searches immediately and accept the risk.
- Walk away if it becomes a pattern. A seller who gazumps once may do it again. If the communication turns adversarial, it may not be the right property at the right price.
Can you protect against gazumping?
Partial protections exist but none are cast-iron:
- Lock-out (exclusivity) agreements — a short legal contract during which the seller may not negotiate with anyone else. Uncommon in UK residential but enforceable.
- Buyer’s insurance — policies exist that reimburse wasted legal and survey fees if the sale collapses before exchange. Check the small print.
- Speed above all. Every day of delay is a day for a rival bidder.
Gazumping in a cash sale
Gazumping is rare in direct cash sales because there is usually no active marketing period between acceptance and exchange. When you accept an offer from a cash buyer and they’re a principal, they aren’t entertaining competing offers — and with exchange often possible within 24 hours of acceptance, the window simply doesn’t exist.
If you’re selling, that’s part of the appeal: certainty over the last 2% of market price.
Related
- Gazundering — the opposite: buyer reduces their offer at the last moment.
- Sold STC — what “subject to contract” actually means.
- Exchange of contracts — the legal point at which gazumping becomes impossible.