Chain falling apart? We buy your house fast — and save the chain.
Your buyer has pulled out, or one link above or below you is wobbling. We buy any house for cash with no chain and no mortgage, so your sale doesn't hang on anyone else — and the people above you can still complete. Anywhere in England.
Re-list, find a new buyer
Sell to us, no chain
One weak link is all it takes. The more links, the likelier it is.
A chain is every sale and purchase that depends on the next one completing on the same day. If your buyer is also selling, and their buyer is too, then a single mortgage refusal, survey problem or change of heart anywhere in the line stops everyone. Roughly one in four sales in England falls through, and the longer the chain, the worse the odds. Selling to a buyer who isn't in a chain takes your house out of that maths.
A mortgage valuation comes in low
The most common break. The buyer's lender values the house below the agreed price, the buyer can't cover the gap, and the deal is renegotiated or dies. It happens at the exact moment everyone else has already booked removals.
A survey finds something
Damp, roof, wiring or subsidence. Even a small issue gives a nervous buyer a reason to reduce the price or walk, and a reduction at one link ripples up the whole chain.
Somebody gets cold feet
Until contracts are exchanged, nothing is binding in England and Wales. Buyers can withdraw, sellers can accept a better offer, and a chain of four needs four people to hold their nerve for months.
Dates can't be made to line up
One person needs a month, another needs it Friday. A slow solicitor, a missing search or a seller who won't move before their own purchase completes, and the whole line sits waiting.
We step in as the buyer, so your link stops being the weak one.
We don't need to sell anything first and we don't need a mortgage. That means we can buy your house on a date that matches your onward purchase, whatever has happened to your original buyer. Here's what that does to each part of the chain.
Your sale
You get a firm cash offer you can rely on, usually within the hour. There's no survey chip, no mortgage to be withdrawn and no buyer above us who might change their mind.
Your onward purchase
If you're buying, we agree a completion date that matches yours, so you can still complete on the house you want. We buy your house; we don't make promises about the one you're buying.
The people above you
When your link is the broken one, the sellers above you are stuck waiting. Replacing your buyer with one who can complete means they aren't left holding a collapsed chain either.
Your dates
As fast as 14 days, or later if you need it. You pick the date and we work to it, so you're never racing someone else's deadline.
Your estate agent
Check your agency agreement before accepting any other offer. A sole agency or tie-in clause can mean a fee is still owed. We'll tell you plainly if we think it affects you, but your contract is the thing to read.
Exchange of contracts
Before exchange, you're free to consider another offer. Once contracts are exchanged the sale is binding and you can't sell to someone else, so timing matters — speak to your solicitor if you're close.
From first message to completion, without waiting on anyone else
The same four steps we use for every purchase, with your onward date in place of a viewing.
Tell us about the house and the chain
Postcode, type, condition and where the chain stands — who has pulled out, and when you need to complete. The form takes a minute; WhatsApp works too.
Get a firm cash offer
We look at the house and your timetable and come back with a figure you can rely on — usually within the hour. No obligation, so you can hold it as a fallback.
Pick your date
Tell us when you need to complete. We instruct and pay for solicitors on both sides and work back from your date, chasing searches so nothing slips.
Complete
Contracts exchanged, money lands on your date, and you complete on your purchase. Typically 14 days from acceptance.
What we'll ask you for
- The address and what the house is like
- Why the chain has broken, and who is involved
- The date you need to complete by
- Your estate agent's name and your agreement with them
- Whether contracts have been exchanged on either side
- Your mortgage lender and redemption figure, if any
- Your solicitor's details, or ask us to instruct one
- Anything the buyer's survey or valuation flagged
Wait for the chain to rebuild vs. sell to us: a typical three-bed semi
Take a 3-bed semi worth £180,000. Your buyer pulled out ten weeks in, after their own buyer withdrew — the kind of chain collapse we hear about every week in Lincoln, Carlisle and Grimsby. You've already found the house you're buying and need to complete.
| 3-bed semi, buyer withdrew | Re-list, wait for a new buyer | Sell to us, no chain |
|---|---|---|
| Time before you have a firm buyer | About 3 months to find and agree a new buyer, if the market is kind | None — offer within the hour |
| Sale price | £171,000 (95% of value, after a survey chip) | £147,600 cash offer (fixed) |
| Agent fees (about 2% + VAT) | −£4,320 | £0 |
| Conveyancing | −£1,650 | £0 — we pay both sides' solicitors |
| EPC, valuation & survey | −£650 | £0 |
| Holding costs while you wait (about 5 months) | −£4,500 on mortgage, bills and insurance | −£420 (14 days) |
| Your onward purchase | Uncertain — the seller may not wait, and you can't complete without your sale | Completion date matched to yours |
| Chance it falls through again | Roughly 1 in 4 once it's agreed | None — no chain, no lender |
| Net in your pocket | ≈ £159,880 | ≈ £147,180 |
Worked example, not a valuation. Re-listing can leave you with more — here by roughly £12,700 — if the next buyer holds their nerve and the new chain is shorter than the last. What it can't give you is a date: you may lose the house you're buying while you wait, and a second collapse puts you back at the start. If keeping your purchase or avoiding another few months of uncertainty is worth the difference to you, selling to us is the better trade. Your own figures are in the comparator at the top of the page.
The towns where we're most often asked to step into a chain
Wherever mortgage valuations come in low or buyers are stretched, chains break. Each page below has the local detail: what a house there is worth and how the market behaves.
Somewhere else? We buy anywhere in England. Start from the county: Cumbria · Lincolnshire · or just send the postcode.
When your buyer pulls out: what to do in the first 48 hours
If you're searching for how to sell a house after a chain collapse, or what to do when your buyer pulled out, the first two days matter more than the next two months. Most sellers lose time because they wait to see whether the chain will repair itself. Sometimes it does. Often it doesn't, and the weeks spent hoping are weeks the house isn't being sold.
Find out why it broke
Ask your agent for the actual reason, not a summary. A low valuation, a survey finding, a buyer's own sale failing, a mortgage refusal and plain cold feet each have a different fix. A valuation gap can sometimes be bridged. A buyer whose own buyer has gone usually can't be saved without a new one. Knowing which you're dealing with tells you whether to wait or move.
Keep the house on the market
Don't take it off while you work out what to do. A house that sits “under offer” and then reappears looks like a problem sale to new buyers, so the sooner it's visibly available again the better. Ask your agent to start viewings again straight away.
Get a fallback in place
The worry with a collapsing chain isn't the money, it's the date. If you've found a house you want, the seller won't wait forever. A firm cash offer for a house in a broken chain costs nothing to ask for, takes about an hour, and gives you a guaranteed alternative while you decide. You're under no obligation to accept it, and having it often makes the next conversation with your agent easier.
Check what you've signed
Look at your estate agency agreement for a sole agency period, a tie-in or a withdrawal fee. These can still apply if you accept an offer from a buyer who didn't come through the agent. Your solicitor will confirm in minutes, and it's worth knowing before you decide.
Understand when it becomes binding
In England and Wales, nothing is legally binding until contracts are exchanged. Until then, a buyer can withdraw and you can accept a different offer. After exchange, you're both committed. In Scotland offers are binding earlier, so the rules differ there — if you're selling in Scotland, take advice before acting on anything on this page.
What a cash buyer will and won't pay
Honestly: less than your original buyer offered. Our offers on chain-breaking sales usually land at around 80–85% of market value, with every fee paid by us. Against that, re-listing costs months of mortgage and bills, agent and legal fees again, a survey chip, and a one-in-four chance of collapsing a second time — which is why the net figures in the comparator at the top of this page are closer than the headline percentages suggest. If you'd like to see the same maths for your own house, ask for a figure; it takes a minute and costs nothing.