Skip to content

Call for government to raise gazumping awareness

Ammar Ebrahim
BBC Jersey political reporter
BBC Verity O'Connell is sat in Trenton Square with flowers behind her. She is wearing a black cardigan and a black top. She has brown hair and brown eyes. BBC
Verity O'Connell said the government should do more to raise awareness about gazumping

A woman who lost a thousand pounds after being gazumped when buying a house has called for the government to raise awareness about the issue.

Gazumping is where a homeowner accepts a higher offer from a third party despite accepting a bid from someone else.

Verity O'Connel was gazumped in 2019 and, as her own property had already been sold, she had to move in with family and put her possessions in storage. She said such situations were a "huge potential blocker" for people trying to buy property.

The States Assembly voted earlier this month against a public consultation on bringing in presale agreements to prevent gazumping. It said the next government should address the issue.

At present in the vast majority of cases, no pre-sale agreement is currently entered into, meaning buyers or sellers can pull out of a transaction until the deal is finalised in the Royal Court.

A report in 2018 by the Residential Property Transactions Review panel found that "creating a pre-sale agreement... would create a greater deal of certainty in the transactions process and compensate losses incurred by either party".

Housing Minister Sam Mezec said: "How and when a review of the property transaction process is undertaken is something that will need to be considered in the next political term in light of the priorities and resources available to the next government."

Ms O'Connell said: "I appreciate they [the government] might not be able to look at this right now because a lot of work is going into things like rental legislation.

"But this could be a huge potential blocker to people trying to get onto the property ladder. It's about making sure people are aware and warned because we certainly weren't.

"Our apartment had sold and we had a young baby and so we had nowhere to go.

"It cost us £1,000 in lawyer fees and we had to start the whole process again."

Deputy Max Andrews is wearing a dark blue blazer, white shit and a tie with blue and white stripes.
Deputy Max Andrews said dealing with gazumping and gazundering was a matter of public interest

Deputy Max Andrews brought forward a proposition for a public consultation on bringing in pre-sale agreements for land and property transactions to help prevent gazumping and gazundering (where a proposed purchaser lowers their offer at the last minute). His proposition was rejected.

The Council of Ministers said in response to the rejected proposition that "given the complexity of the issues and availability of resources for the remaining term of government, it would be a more prudent approach for the next government to give this issue consideration in a more comprehensive and planned way."

Deputy Andrews said that was disappointing.

He said: "I think it's a very poor excuse for the Council of Ministers to turn around and to say this is for the next government to work with. This is a matter of public interest; we are seeing people being gazumped and gazundered and most of the politicians have decided not to take any action."

Follow BBC Jersey on X and Facebook. Send your story ideas to [email protected].