What is gazundering and how can you avoid it?

Selling your house is notoriously stressful, with many factors and processes to be aware of. Unfortunately, there is now another factor that has become popular with buyers which is adding to vendors stress. Gazundering. This is where the buyer lowers their offer on a previously agreed sale price just before contracts are exchanged.

Gazundering can sometimes be just cause, for example, new information from surveys or events in the chain. However, gazundering is often used to take advantage of sellers in lengthy chains who have taken their house off the market. These sellers often have to accept the lower offer or risk seeing their sale collapse, affecting the entire chain.

Gazundering is not a regular occurrence, but sellers are beginning to become concerned with this phenomenon. A recent survey by campaign group the HomeOwners Alliance, BLP Insurance and Resi.co.uk architects discovered that 45% of people were concerned about gazundering, compared to 40% last year. In areas of the UK where the housing market moves slower, such as London and the South East, 50% of people are anxious about gazundering.

What if there was a way you could sell your property without gazundering being an issue? Auction is becoming a more appealing way of selling property due to its security, speed and costs. When the hammer falls at auction on an unconditional lot the buyer is legally bound to purchase the property at the price agreed with completion taking place 28 days later. The worry of gazundering disappears.  

With selling through auction eradicating stress-inducing factors, such as gazundering, there’s no surprise we are seeing a rise in popularity in the auction process.