In January 2025, Introducer Today reported almost a fifth of property sales now encounter gazundering. It’s a practice becoming more common, whatever the market conditions. Here is Open Property Group’s guide to avoiding – and resolving – this untimely bad practice.
Gazundering is when an accepted offer is reduced by the purchaser, often without warning. For example if an offer has been agreed at £259,999 but the buyer drops their offer to £241,000 two weeks later, that is gazundering. Gazundering can also be referred to as ‘price chipping’, as the buyer can reduce their offer in small increments over time.
Gazundering is legal up until a point. Any buyer has the right to change their offer until the point of exchange. When exchange of contracts happens, the transaction becomes legally binding and both parties are committed to the sales price that has been agreed.
It is indeed. Some buyers use gazundering as a tactic to unethically secure a property for a cheaper price, putting the seller under excessive amounts of pressure. Gazundering at its worst happens right before exchange – as in the day before or even the same day. This leaves the seller with a time-critical decision to make: accept the lower offer to keep the chain intact, renegotiate the sales price, or break the chain and go back on the market in hope another buyer makes a higher offer. This high-pressure situation is why many movers would like to see gazundering outlawed.
Some buyers are just cheeky and will try their luck with a reduced offer, hoping the seller will panic and accept. Others will be responding to external factors, such as a survey that uncovers issues that devalue the property. Really diligent buyers monitor local house prices and will gazunder if the value of the property has decreased between when they made the offer and the expected exchange date – more common during drawn-out transactions.
Sometimes the reduced offer is so far below the original price that the seller has no option than to walk away from the sale. This is especially true if the seller’s onward purchase depends on selling their home for a certain price.
The pitfall of being in a chain that has collapsed due to gazundering is jeopardising your onward purchase. If the top of the chain knows a home below them has to go back on the market and be sold all over again, they may look for another buyer in a stronger position to proceed, especially as selling on the open market can take more than 25 weeks to go from listing to completion.
If you have lost your buyer due to gazundering, finding a new one who can move quickly will be the difference between rescuing your chain and losing out completely. Zoopla says it takes an average of 38 days for a home up for sale with a High Street estate agent to receive an offer - a timeframe that maybe be too long for others in the chain.
It is possible to drastically cut that 38 days down to just hours. Open Property Group offers a chain breaking service designed specifically for those who have lost their buyer and need to find a new one quickly.
Speed is our priority and you’ll benefit from:
If you have been a victim of gazundering and your chain is at risk, contact Open Property Group for fast action. You’ll be our priority and we’ll become your buyer instantly, ensuring you don’t lose the home you want to purchase.
And don’t panic if you’ve been gazundered because there was something adverse in the survey. We buy properties in any condition, even those with subsidence, mould and structural faults.
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