A Quiet Word About Gazumping
Gazumping is among one of the most difficult situations an agent will ever be caught up in. Estate agents are legally obliged to pass on every offer in writing under the Estate Agents Act 1979. It is against the law for them to refuse any buyer that asks them to submit an offer, even if a seller has already accepted a previous offer and taken the house off the market.
There is little an agent can do if a seller is determined to accept a higher offer and, once we have passed the offer on and offered our advice and guidance, we cannot force a seller to ignore it, especially if they are being offered several thousand pounds more for their property.
Unfortunately, whatever the reasons, there is no way to prevent gazumping and each occurrence has to be evaluated on its merits and your feelings about the matter. Campbells will explain all the options available to you and help you decide the best course of action if either of these tricky situations arises.
Fortunately it doesn’t happen that often, no matter what the media would have you believe, and we’ll always try hard to dissuade your sellers if they try and do it because we don’t like it either!
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