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Selling Your Property When Stuck in a Chain

Property chains are stressful & introduce uncertainty of moving home.

A property chain is a series of linked transactions where each sale is contingent on another.

This chain-like structure can be vulnerable to disruptions and delays, often caused by financial issues, conveyancing problems, gazumping, and gazundering.

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What happens if my property chain breaks?

When an offer is accepted, estate agents mark a property as sold subject to contract sold subject to contract when an offer is accepted.  If vendor is suited it means they are already in process of buying their next home.  But what’s frustrating is that they are also in a chain!

A property is not sold until the money is in the bank.  A Memorandum of Sale sets out the buyer and seller’s expectations.

A property chain is formed when several buyers and sellers depend on each other for their sale to occur.  If any of the parties to the chain cannot continue, for any of these reasons:

  • not being able to get a mortgage
  • their own buyer pulling out finding out there are massive structural issues
  • land registry problems.  

When a house chain collapses, the losses are felt by all buyers and sellers within the chain.

If your property chain breaks, the solution is to sell to a cash buyer, such as Property Saviour.  We will step in, replace the original buyer by buying your property for cash.  This will reinstate the chain, enabling you to complete your onward purchase and move into your forever home.

If you’re stuck in a chain, the sale is taking too long, or you need some help because your property chain is broken, you can sell your house privately to us for a guaranteed quick sale and become a cash buyer by breaking the chain.  You will have lots of benefits of buying a house with cash, including the discount you can negotiate.

Selling your home to a genuine cash buyer like Property Saviour can really get you out of a pickle when everything seems to be falling apart around you.  Property Saviour will guarantee to buy any house regardless of issues.

How do you break a property chain?

Has your house chain fallen through? We can step in as a cash buyer to break the property the chain. We can help you with renegotiate the price across the chain meaning that it may be financially viable for all parties still to move on as planned. This only works if all parties are willing to listen and negotiate.

Understanding Property Chains

A property chain is a series of linked transactions where each sale is contingent on another. This chain-like structure can be vulnerable to disruptions and delays, often caused by financial issues, conveyancing problems, gazumping, and gazundering

Common Property Chain Problems

These are some of common causes of property chains breaking:

  1. Financial Issues: Buyers failing to secure a mortgage or experiencing changes in their financial situation can cause delays or even collapse the entire chain.
  2. Conveyancing Issues: Slow processing of paperwork by solicitors, estate agents, or legal firms can lead to delays.
  3. Gazumping and Gazundering: Buyers pulling out of a sale or sellers accepting a higher offer can disrupt the chain.
  4. Property Surveys: Discovering costly or dangerous problems during a survey can cause buyers to pull out.
A rural house next to a large farmer's field
With 1 in 3 normal sales collapsing when you are in a property chain, the odds of a chain collapsing are far higher, sadly.

How to Manage Property Chains?

  1. Communication is Key: Regular updates from solicitors, estate agents, and other parties involved can help prevent delays.
  2. Get Everything in Order Early: Ensure your deposit, mortgage agreement in principle, and necessary paperwork are ready to avoid delays.
  3. Consider Chain-Free Properties: Look for properties that don’t rely on other transactions, such as new builds, estate or probate sales, or properties sold by landlords.
  4. Sell Before Buying: Selling your property before actively searching for another can help you enter the market as a chain-free buyer.
  5. Flexible Moving Dates: Being flexible with your moving date can help adjust to or avoid chains.

How to Avoid Property Chains

  1. Sell Your Property First: Selling your property before making an offer on a new one can minimize the impact of a chain.
  2. Consider Auctions: Buying a property at auction can circumvent the traditional chain because buyers must have financing in place before bidding and completion dates are fixed.
  3. Break the Chain with Temporary Solutions: Consider short-term rental or staying with family while you search for your next property, post-sale.
  4. Utilize Chain Break Services: Some companies specialize in buying properties in the chain to keep it moving.
  5. Opt for Part Exchange: Some housebuilders offer part-exchange schemes, effectively removing the chain.

What is the average property chain in the UK?

There’s not a definitive answer to property chain length in the UK.  We do know that it takes up to 6 months to agree a sale.

How long should it take you complete on a property with a chain?

Being part of a house chain means that it might take 4-8 months to complete your sale. While some house chains can be completed in as little as 8 weeks, they can also end up dragging on for an indefinite amount of time. It’s common for house chains to fall apart before reaching completion and often require multiple “repairs.”

Some property chains have 3 links while the longest could be 11. A chain-free house move can take up to 6 months to complete. Complex chains can take much longer.



Why do house chains collapse?

Property chains can break down for all sorts of reasons, some may be avoidable with proper planning and research, but other reasons are simply beyond your control.

We’ve helped clients who have been unable to buy the property they wanted because their own house sale fell through.  Even UK Government doesn’t keep records on property chain lengths.

Some of the most common reasons are listed here.  If you have a chain situation which is not mentioned, we’ll still be able to help you. 

Ethical cash buyers with rock-solid integrity

We’ve seen it all during our 12-year property trading history. 

Our happy clients will vouch for our integrity, professional conduct, respectful communication and informative guidance throughout the whole house selling process. 

5/5

Sam and Sad really helped me out on the sale of my grandma's house. It had been empty for 3 years and after a fallen through sale I couldn't be bothered going through all that stress again.

Property chain taking too long?

We'll buy yours, so you can buy theirs.

How do you fix a broken property chain?

By selling your property for cash to us, you will fix a broken property chain.  Other scenarios are inherited property and first-time buyers.

Buyers and sellers with certain circumstances will prevent chain problems from happening in the first place. Probate and inherited properties typically have no upward chain since they are usually unoccupied once the owners have died.

Equally, first-time buyers will have no property to sell and therefore are not a risk, but in fact, a saviour to the chain. However, one can’t always be lucky enough to find those parties to complete the chain. 

You can break any property chain by selling to a property developer, someone with a substantial inheritance or cash in the bank who can buy without a mortgage, or a quick house sale company like Property Saviour.  We don’t need a mortgage and will provide proof of funds to reassure you. 

Are cash house buyers legit?

Are property cash buyers any good? Check with Companies House if they are buying used bridging loan funds as this will mean lots of delays and last-minute price reduction after a survey. Property Saviour buy with our own cash and proof of funds is provided. There are no delays and the price is guaranteed.

Please be ultra careful when considering a cash house buyer like ourselves, as they are not all made equal.  People have been scammed online with upfront valuation fees, and give false promises regarding timescales and contract exchange dates.

We will never mislead you or pressure you into a sale.  We take great pride in our outstanding 5-star reputation across Google and Trust Pilot. 

Do cash buyers offer less for chain properties?

Yes, a typical cash buyer offer less because they are looking to make a profit.  By accepting our quick cash offer for your house, flat, bungalow or cottage, although we can’t promise the full market value, you will achieve approximately 70% of the price you were aiming for.

When you consider the losses you may incur by staying put, for example, several months of extra mortgage repayments and interest, having to decline the new job with a higher salary, or needing to pay additional childcare until you move, then you may not be that much out of pocket after all. 

Our property chain rescue service allows you to negotiate a better onward purchase price because you will now be in a cash buyer position.  We helped all parties in a chain by persuading each seller to give their buyer a discount of 10% and, therefore, enabling every seller to move on to the next chapter of their lives.

We offer speed and certainty to get you moving

It’s a trade-off – with us, you get the speed and the certainty, but you sacrifice a little profit on the sale — a simple concept, but one which could make all the difference when you need to move fast.

We understand property chain problems.

The main benefits are that we can often complete it within two weeks.  We pay your legal fees up to £1,500, plus you’ll be freed up and ready to move as soon as possible.

So you won’t miss out on your dream home or get stuck waiting in that seemingly never-ending chain. 

Broken chain stressing you out?

Let's get you moving.
5/5

Sold a property through Saddat at Property Saviour. Always a pleasure to deal with him. Always comes back to you if there is a problem. Would highly recommend this company

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