Why do house sales fall through, and what can I do about it?

A substantial share of agreed sales in England and Wales never complete, and the reason is nearly always structural rather than dramatic. Everything from offer to exchange runs in series — mortgage, then valuation, then searches, then enquiries — while a whole chain has to arrive at readiness on the same day. The longer that takes, the more chances there are for one link to fail.

Step by step

1. Identify which failure you are actually facing.A chain break above or below you, a lender withdrawing or down-valuing, a survey finding, a title or lease defect, or a change of mind. Each has a different remedy, and treating a lender problem as a chain problem wastes weeks.
2. For a chain break, find out exactly where it broke.Ask the agent to map the chain and tell you which link failed and why. Sometimes only one property needs remarketing and the rest of the chain will wait; sometimes the whole thing has to be rebuilt. You cannot decide without knowing.
3. For a down-valuation, get the comparables.Ask the lender's reason and gather recent sold prices for genuinely comparable properties. The routes are a second valuation, a renegotiation, a larger deposit, or a different lender. All four are used; none is automatic.
4. For a survey finding, convert it into a number.Get written quotations for the work. A costed defect is a negotiation; an uncosted one is an argument, and arguments are what collapse sales that could have been saved.
5. For a legal problem, ask what the standard fix is.Missing building regulations paperwork, a lost guarantee, a defective lease clause, an unregistered right of way. Most have a conventional solution — an indemnity policy, a deed of variation, a retrospective consent — and your conveyancer will know which applies.
6. Salvage the work if it collapses.Searches usually remain valid for a period and can sometimes be assigned or reused if the same property revives. A survey belongs to you. A seller's protocol pack, certificates and guarantees stay assembled and shorten the next attempt considerably.
7. Ask what you owe.Conveyancers commonly charge for abortive work, sometimes at a reduced rate or under a no-completion-no-fee arrangement. Search fees are disbursements already spent. Check what your retainer says rather than assuming there is nothing to pay.
8. Decide quickly whether to remarket or wait.Every week off the market costs momentum and, in a chain, risks the links that survived. Ask the agent for viewing and enquiry data from the original marketing before deciding whether to relist at the same price.

Tips

• Sellers: assemble certificates, guarantees and consents before listing. Paperwork nobody can find is the quiet cause of a large share of collapsed sales.
• Buyers: do not take new credit of any kind between application and completion, including interest-free instalment plans. Lenders recheck and do withdraw offers.
• Ask weekly for the single outstanding item and who holds it. Named blockers move; general chasing does not.

Common mistakes

• Waiting for the agent to volunteer information — Agents manage many chains. Asking a specific question — which link failed, what is the outstanding item, who holds it — produces answers that a general chase does not.
• Relisting at the same price without asking why it failed — If the collapse was caused by a survey or a valuation, the next buyer's surveyor will very likely reach the same conclusion.

If it doesn't work

Questions people ask