As if buying a property wasn’t stressful enough, the added pressure of a chain collapsing puts even further strain on the process. Research published in February by Barclays suggests that homebuyers face additional costs of around £2,000 when chains collapse, with money wasted on survey fees or extended processes pushing up solicitor costs. Meanwhile, the government’s own figures suggest that one in three transactions fail, costing around £400 million a year in wasted costs.

A number of factors can cause a property chain to collapse, so eliminating your weakest links is essential.

Be honest and transparent with your buyers

Unsurprisingly, one of the biggest causes of chains collapsing is buyers reducing offers at the last minute – often after they’ve discovered issues in a survey. If you know there’s a problem, be honest about it.

Provide information early

Chains may also collapse because information on which buyers are making their buying decision comes to light later in the process than they would like. Providing information early in the process helps to reduce this risk.

Be responsive

Being responsive to buyers’ questions will also help speed up transaction times and reduce the risk that a buyer will get fed up and pull out of a deal.

Be pushy

If you have done your due diligence properly, then you should already be confident in the capabilities of those acting on your behalf. However, if you feel that things are slowing up or that such third parties aren’t being proactive enough, you might consider a chase to ensure the momentum of your sale is maintained.

Choose the right buyer

The best buyer for you might not be the one offering the highest price. Understanding the motivations of others in your chain helps you understand how solid it is likely to be under strain. A buyer looking to move in time for the new school year, for example, is likely to be more persistent and deadline-driven so be better if your need to move is also urgent. Checking a potential buyer already has a mortgage in principle in place will help ensure that finance issues don’t trip you up later down the line.

Communicate clearly

Frustration is borne of a lack of updates or delays to the selling and buying process. Warning others in the chain that there is a problem early is more likely to keep buyers onboard than trying to ignore there is an issue and hoping no-one notices.  

Consider renting

Another way to prevent the collapse of your chain by breaking it intentionally. Renting could help buy you the time you need to move forward.

Be hopeful

The government is all too aware that the current home buying and selling process is broken and is recently consulted on wide-ranging reforms, including digitisation, that will speed up the provision of information and reduce the current 120 days it takes for a deal to complete after the buyer’s offer has been accepted. A roadmap for change is due to be published by the government shortly.