Gazumping…problem solved

Gazumping happens when a seller who has already accepted one buyer’s offer then goes on to accept a higher offer, pushing the first buyer out of the picture. The seller can legally decide to accept the new offer, regardless of how close the initial buyer is to having the contracts exchanged, as until the papers are signed there is no legal obligation to either buy or sell…doesn’t sound very nice does it?

According to a post in Enormoblog.co.uk on 6th February there has been an increase in the number of people being gazumped in a buyers desperate bid to secure their dream home.

Now here comes the good bit!
Greene & Co have come up with a clever little way of dealing with this situation - the Goodwill Charter. It’s simple and it works like this…Both parties pay in an agreed amount and promise to buy/sell to each other within a predetermined period. The vendor promises not to take any other offers during that time and the buyer promises to buy the property and not gazunder. If either backs out with no good reason the other gets the money.

You can learn more about it here: The Goodwill Charter