Morrow - Anti gazumping house sale reforms are taking too long

29 June 2026

Morrow, the national financial services provider, while welcoming the government’s proposal aimed at speeding up the house selling process, is concerned that the likely implementation won’t happen until 2029 at the earliest.

Amit Gupta, Financial Services Director at Morrow, believes that although the changes are well intentioned and long overdue, leaving legislation until 2029 demonstrates a lack of focus and political will to make changes happen. The Scottish system where accepted offers are legally binding once the buyer’s and seller’s solicitors have exchanged letters is an example that English law would do well to follow.

He said, “Having worked within the property finance industry for over 12 years, the proposal is well overdue and will be a much welcomed change. Buying a property should be a joyous life event but currently is often far from this. For too long we have seen the devastating effects on both sellers and buyers having been left vulnerable, partly because of elongated legal bureaucracy. There is a sense of irony around the fact changes will likely only take effect from 2029 onwards – 3 years from now! Hopefully, this is something that this government will recognise as a priority and not wait for three years to see it implemented.”