- published: 16 Sep 2011
- views: 2662
Gazumping occurs when a seller (especially of property) accepts a verbal offer of the asking price from one potential buyer, but then accepts a higher offer from someone else. It can also refer to the seller raising the asking price at the last minute, after previously verbally agreeing to a lower one. In either case, the original buyer is left in the lurch, and either has to offer a higher price or lose the purchase. The term gazumping is most commonly used in the UK and Australia, although similar practices can be found in some other jurisdictions.
With buoyant property prices in the British residential property market of the late 1980s and early 1990s, gazumping became commonplace in England and Wales because a buyer's offer is not legally binding even after acceptance of the offer by the vendor. This is because, by s.2 of the Law of Property (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1989 and in order to prevent dishonesty, a contract for the sale of land must be in writing, a requirement of English law that dates back to the Statute of Frauds of 1677. This requirement was originally intended to promote good faith and certainty in land transactions.