Gazeal

A superb idea, this protection should become mandatory IMO. A great service, professionally administered and most importantly it gave us and our chain a lot of much needed security and confidence leading to a prompt exchange. Highly recommended - thank you to the whole team.

Using Gazeal to secure my proposed purchase gave me the confidence that I would not be gazumped. I think I really only appreciated it, once I had exchanged and completed. Prior to that, although it made sense, I felt it was just an extra expense. However, I am pleased I used Gazeal to help secure my purchase, rather than get so far and it all go pear shaped. When my purchase took a little longer than expected, I was contacted by Gazeal and offered an additional length of time, for no further charge, to enable me get to the point of exchange, without the concern of the deal falling through. The seller and purchaser both have to commit to the agreement. Despite the additional expense it gives both parties the confidence that the other is serious and intends to go through with the sale/purchase, giving the required time for solicitors/conveyancers to do their work.

I was in two minds as to whether a review was worthwhile. What I would say is that anyone that is a buyer not familiar with this hold back from signing if you can avoid. I think sellers (in the context of estate agents or large corporations) have the potential to cause issues out of nothing and buyers without the experience will get caught up in processes where money is being demanded from them despite no fault collapse of a purchase. If you really want to put one of these in place make sure your conveyancing solicitor is in the loop from the beginning and don’t rush signing it. Ultimately whilst Gazeal ought to be balanced and fair, such sellers as described above will no doubt hold significant sway and keeping them happy is important because why else would their company be needed? The layman seller wouldn’t use this service. I personally would never sign a reservation agreement like this again. I would advise all friends and family the same.

Willene has been extremely helpful with our claim. She has communicated with us efficiently through every step, which has made it an easy process.

Great if you’re a buyer pretty useless if you’re a vendor. If you’re selling and the buyer doesn’t secure a mortgage then tough they can pull out. Once the Gazeal approached the expiry you have to keep extending it as there is no penalty if completion doesn’t happen before the deadline. Ties you in, you cannot remarket for sale or put it on rental market in meantime as that would be you breaching the terms. Great.

Our buyers understood that they would have to be patient until HMRC had granted probate for my mother-in-law's estate. The delay was less than expected and the buyers were informed that we could exchange contracts. Three days later they decided to withdraw, citing that they had found a property that they preferred. Fortunately Gazeal handled all the communications with them, something that we would have found uncomfortable, and we have therefore been able to find another buyer at a slightly lower price without unduly compromising the financial position.

We were recommended Gazeal by our estate agent - our buyer has pulled out after the survey. The buyer refuses to let us see evidence that there is a problem with the house and Gazeal are not moving forward to help us resolve the issue. It seems to make the agreement worthless. I would welcome direct contact from Gazeal to help resolve the issue.

I learned about Gazeal's service from my agent. When deciding to accept an offer to sell my property, I had concerns that the buyer may withdraw the offer. The sellers will stop viewing after accepting the offer, but buyers can continue viewing other properties. Bryan talked me through how it worked. I felt more assured when accepting buyer's offer, as there is financial protection from buyer's withdrawal, by entering the agreement, various forms are filled, the legal work is also acceleratd.

I would not recommend this service to anyone. The major flaw with this is that the buyer can exit the agreement without penalty, if they are unable to obtain a mortgage/funding. This is such a major flaw with the agreement and in our opinion renders it unfit for purpose. It's pretty easy to get out of the agreement by being 'unable' to get a mortgage - which is very hard to disprove. Until this clause is removed form their agreements, I would suggest avoiding this - as it seems a great way to earn money from being 'impartial' and not providing a service (other than an office junior answering emails). I would like to know if estate agents receive a commission from this service as it may explain why soo many are pushed to use it, when it is pretty much pointless.

Perfect way to cover costs when a house buyer pulls out at the last moment - which is never a good outcome of course. Swift payment was appreciated.