Gazundering is back, here’s what the government’s reforms mean

A buyer knocked £15,000 off the price the day before exchange. It is happening more often, and the fix is still years away.

Moving home comes with a long list of costs, the deposit, the survey, disbursements, removals, and it is tempting to look for places to cut when the budget is tight. Dropping the survey is one of the more common shortcuts buyers take, and it is usually a false economy: the cost of fixing a problem the survey would have flagged tends to far outweigh what you saved by skipping it.

That pressure on budgets cuts both ways. With the housing market still cooling and sellers increasingly having to accept less than their original asking price, one of the problems we are now seeing is the resurgence of gazundering, as reported by BBC News and other sources. One seller told the BBC her buyers cut £15,000 from the agreed price the day before exchange, leaving her to either accept the loss or start the sale process again from scratch.

Gazundering is the lesser known relation of gazumping, where a seller drops an accepted offer in favour of a higher one from someone else. Neither practice is illegal. Both rely on the same gap in the system: a sale in England and Wales is not legally binding until contracts are exchanged, so either side can walk away, or renegotiate, right up to that point.

According to the Conveyancing Association, gazundering remains a fairly rare occurrence overall, but one that is growing as more homes sit on the market and sellers face stiffer competition to secure a buyer. That weaker negotiating position is exactly what makes late renegotiation possible, a seller who has already committed emotionally and financially to their onward purchase is often left with little choice but to accept the cut.

In June 2026, the government set out plans to reform the home buying and selling process in England and Wales, including measures aimed squarely at gazumping and gazundering. The centrepiece is a move towards legally binding conditional contracts earlier in the transaction, closer to the point an offer is accepted rather than the point of exchange, backed by financial penalties for anyone who pulls out without good reason.

The catch is timing. The government’s own timetable has these changes landing by the end of this Parliament, in 2029. The Conveyancing Association is now pushing for that to be brought forward, arguing buyers and sellers should not have to wait years for protection against a problem that is already getting worse. Scotland, by comparison, has operated a system of binding missives for decades, which is largely why gazumping and gazundering are far less common north of the border.