Help! My chain has broken down!

When selling and/or buying a house in the U.K, you may very well find yourself in a "chain".

A "chain", when used in reference to the process of buying or selling a house, is a sequence of linked house purchases, each of which is dependent on the preceding and succeeding purchase. One of the greatest challenges in reaching completion is for the chain to work properly and within the correct times frames for all involved.

Many property transactions fall over because the chain breaks. The more links the chain, the greater the chance of a sale falling through.

There can be numerous reasons why chains break because so many people are involved - buyers, sellers, mortgage lenders, estate agents and solicitors. The chain is only as good as the weakest link and will only move as fast as the slowest transaction.

If one person forgets to sign a document, return a phone call, gets cold feet, loses their job, finds a problem with their property during survey, or has their mortgage offer withdrawn, then BOOM! the chain is broken.

Being stuck in a chain can be stressful and expensive – and could mean that you don’t get the home you want. If just one party drops out, then the whole chain can collapse, and you and everyone else on it can be back to square one!

Melfyn Williams, of the National Association of Estate Agents commented in an article in the Telegraph in 2003:

"Chains certainly add to the stress and frustration for homeowners. This is often not helped by the buyers and sellers themselves, who sometimes fail to provide full information to agents when asked. However, most professional agents should make all reasonable efforts to ensure that the information they are given is true. When people say they are 'cash' buyers, the agent should be asking, 'What do they mean by the term cash - money in the bank or cash from another sale?'

"The house buying and selling process is quick in the initial stages, as it is not in an agent's interest to slow the process down. Unfortunately, there is no form of compulsion on "third parties" - for example, local authorities or building societies - to provide information to solicitors or agents within certain time scales".

Sadly, the house buying processes in Great Britain have not been overhauled since he commented all those years ago, although many aspects of the conveyancing process can now be done on-line, such as searches and enquiries.

Imagine this nightmare scenario .... You might be selling your house and have that transaction going through, while at the same time transacting on your new dream home. If the chain breaks, then there is a strong chance that you could lose your new home. You may have already "mentally" moved into your new home, and changed your life in readiness. You may have also spent money on a a survey, or getting advice about planning and development for the property and perhaps even incurred mortgage fees, searches, and other professional fees. These can amount to thousands of pounds.

So you need a Plan B, if the chain breaks.

Never fear, Open Property Group is here and we have a solution to buy your house fast, whatever the reason or problem.

We speak to the person who has broken the chain or effectively had a fall through, and then make a guaranteed cash offer to purchase that property. This re-instates the chain and means that you can sell a house fast and without hassle.

This is always generally referred to as "chain breaking", however we like to think of our service as "chain repairing", because we get the chain back on track and enable everyone involved to move homes.

Estate agents, auctioneers and homeowners use our quick purchase house buying service. We buy all types of residential property throughout England and Wales no matter what the location, condition or problem. We pay competitive prices of up to 85% of market value. We offer a guaranteed completion date agreed by the seller and ensure a smooth transaction.

There are absolutely no fees, nor agents or auctioneers costs, and we pay the sellers legal fees on completion too. If you sell your house to us, we can assist with home removals, clearance and re-location services as part of our package too.

If you wish to sell your property fast to re-instate a chain, or need us to buy a property elsewhere in your chain to keep the chain in-tact, then do not hesitate to contact us. We are waiting to make a genuine cash offer to repair the chain and make sure everyone involved completes.

We are genuine cash buyers of property, and can provide proof of funds, and can move fast - we have been known to complete within 7 days, and this can be sooner if required.

So if you're suffering from a chain break-down and want to sell a house fast, then you have nothing to lose by giving us a call and seeing if we can help.

Open Property Group have a mission to raise standards and improve customer experience.

Give us a call on‎ 0800 990 3939 to receive a no-nonsense cash offer for your property or send us an email at ‎info@openpropertygroup.com