Gazundering: what it is and how to respond

The survey is done, the searches are back, removals are pencilled in. Then the agent rings: the buyer still wants the house, but at a lower price, and they want an answer soon. That is gazundering.

What gazundering is

Gazundering is a buyer asking to cut an agreed price late in the sale, often close to exchange and often with no new reason. It is the mirror image of gazumping, where a seller accepts a higher offer after accepting yours. Both are possible for the same reason: in England and Wales an accepted offer is “subject to contract”, and GOV.UK says that means the price can still be negotiated, for example if a survey finds a problem.

Is gazundering legal?

Yes. “An offer is not legally binding in England and Wales until contracts are exchanged” (GOV.UK), so a buyer can ask to pay less at any point before exchange, and no law stops them. You are equally free to say no. Which? makes the same point about gazumping: it isn’t illegal, because nothing binds until exchange.

Scotland is different. There a deal can become binding much earlier, once missives are concluded, and pulling out after that can cost thousands of pounds in damages (mygov.scot). The advice on this page is for homes in England and Wales.

Sort the request first

Not every late request is the same, and the right answer depends on which kind you’ve had:

• Evidence-based: a survey found a defect and the buyer has written quotes, or the lender’s valuation came in below the price. Engage with the evidence; see our guides to survey renegotiation and down valuations.
• Market-based: “prices have dropped” or “a similar house sold for less”. Ask for the comparables, then check what similar homes actually sold for with HM Land Registry’s free sold-price search.
• Leverage: no reason, or a vague one, close to exchange, when you have spent money and planned your move. Treat it as a negotiation.

Whatever the kind, don’t answer on the phone. Tell your agent you’ll reply in writing by a set time, and ask for the reason and any evidence in writing first. If there is a real reason, that puts it on the record.

Work out what saying no could cost

The real question isn’t whether the request is fair. It’s what refusing is likely to cost you if the buyer walks, and that is a calculation, not a feeling. Relisting means:

• Agent fees again, on the new price. Citizens Advice says commission can vary from less than 1% to 3.5%; check whether VAT, at the standard rate of 20%, is added.
• Time. The months your agent thinks it will take to find a new buyer, plus the government’s average of around 120 days from offer accepted to completion (MHCLG reform roadmap, June 2026).
• Risk. The same roadmap says “around one in 3 transactions fall through”, and a new sale can fail too.
• Waiting costs you wouldn’t have if you completed now: rent, bridging interest, bills on an empty home.
• Your own purchase. If you’re buying too, the money you’ve spent on it and the chance of losing it, and whether your mortgage offer would expire before a new completion.

Put those together and there is an offer below which relisting is likely to leave you better off, and above which accepting is. Knowing that figure before you reply changes the conversation.

Check your leverage

• Other offers. Your agent must pass every offer to you promptly and in writing, unless you told them in writing not to pass on a particular kind (the Estate Agents (Undesirable Practices) (No. 2) Order 1991, Schedule 3), and GOV.UK says that applies right up to exchange. Ask whether anyone else offered.
• What the buyer loses by walking. Citizens Advice points out that a buyer whose purchase falls through may already have paid for a valuation, a survey and legal work.
• How close they are. A buyer with a mortgage offer and searches back has more to lose than one at the start.

Avoid empty threats. If you say “the price stays or I relist”, be ready to relist.

Hold, counter or accept

Hold firm when your numbers say relisting is ahead or close, and nothing about the property has changed. Say you remain committed and ready to exchange by a date, and ask the buyer to confirm by a deadline.

Counter with conditions when the gap is worth closing: a figure between the two, on condition of exchange by a fixed date and no further reductions.

Accept with conditions when your numbers say the cut is cheaper than starting again, which it can be if you’re paying rent while you wait or your onward purchase is at risk.

None of this binds before exchange. Whatever you agree, route it through both conveyancers with an exchange date attached; an agreement that exists only in a phone call can be reopened next week. If you’re in a chain, talk to your conveyancer before agreeing anything, because a cut you accept may be passed down the chain.

If you’re the buyer: asking fairly

Sometimes a buyer has a real reason to revisit the price. How you ask decides whether the sale survives. Raise it the day you have the evidence, not the week of exchange. Bring the survey pages, written quotes or the lender’s figure. Leave out anything you knew when you offered. Name a figure and show the sum, offer an alternative such as the seller doing the work, and say when you could exchange if it is agreed.