Petition · past parliament

Make the practice of Gazumping illegal in England.

Rejected 12 signatures

What the petition asks

Having had an offer on a house verbally accepted, received a letter from the estate agent accepting the offer, the property taken off the market, paying fees for someone to come in and offer more should be made illegal. This will avoid people suffering the heartbreak of losing there perfect home.
Causes heartbreak, financial loss, and wastes valuable time to homebuyers. I recently suffered this myself and am certain hundreds of others have. Vendors can wait with bids, there is no need to accept offers then cause distress and upset.
At the moment it is only down to vendors morals not to allow gazumping but it should be in law, as it is in Scotland.
This practice needs to stop.

Why it was rejected

There was already a petition about this issue. Duplicates are rejected so signatures collect in one place.

Timeline

19 Feb 2016 Petition opened for signatures
26 Feb 2016 Rejected by the Petitions Committee

Key facts

Signatures 12
Status Rejected
Rejected 26 Feb 2016

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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.