Gazumping and gazundering are facts of life for property buyers and sellers – and occasionally frustrating ones at that.

Put simply, gazumping is when a seller accepts a higher offer on their property, despite having already verbally agreed to another offer. They are able to do this because verbal agreements are not legally binding: a contract needs to be in writing before it can be enforced. Unfortunately, in property sales, the written contract usually doesn't appear until building surveys and relevant legal checks have been carried out, which can take as long as three months after the verbal acceptance. Until this stage is reached, buyers are prone to being gazumped and losing any money they've spent on fees so far.

Conversely, gazundering happens when a buyer waits until a sale is almost ready to complete before unexpectedly withdrawing their offer and making a lower one. Since this can collapse an entire chain of property sales, the buyer is relying on the seller accepting the lower offer to avoid starting again from scratch.

Gazumping is more common in a seller's market – in other words, when property prices are rising – while gazundering occurs more often when prices are in decline. Although neither practice is hugely common, due to the ill feeling they create between buyers and sellers, they do happen often enough that it's worth knowing how to avoid them. 

As a buyer, you can reduce the risk of gazumping by asking the seller to take the property off the market once they’ve accepted your offer, building a good relationship with them and, of course, working to get to the exchange of contracts as soon as possible. It may also be worth checking whether your seller's agent has a policy on gazumping, meaning they require the seller to turn down any offers made after the initial acceptance.

Gazundering can be trickier to avoid if you don't have another interested buyer to fall back on. If it happens, ask for the buyer's reasons for dropping their offer – the survey may have turned up some legitimate concerns, for example – and consider a counter-offer, assuming you're still willing to make the sale. Of course, you can always refuse the lower offer outright: sometimes it's worth simply calling the buyer's bluff.

If gazumping and gazundering are real concerns for your sale, you could get your solicitor to draw up an exclusivity agreement between both parties, effectively making the verbal offer binding. This might prove expensive, but it might be worth it to avoid the headaches associated with starting all over again.

Gazumping insurance, more commonly called Home Buyers Protection Insurance, is also available from specialist providers. Again, it's an additional cost to factor in, but one you might be glad of if the worst should happen.

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