Reasons a house sale might fall through multiple times
There is about a 1 in 50 chance of a house sale falling through 3 times in a row just by bad luck alone, so it’s pretty unlikely to happen under normal circumstances. While the reasons for a house sale to fall through can be complex they generally fall under 5 main categories;
1. Financial Issues
Around 35% of failed house sales are due to financial issues, this could be the buyer struggling to get a mortgage or their personal circumstances changing so they can no longer afford to purchase the property.
2. Property Issues
Accounting for about 25% of all fall throughs are problems with the property itself. These usually come to the buyer’s attention after a survey, if they are not disclosed upfront, and can range from minor issues such as old windows or missing roof tiles to much more serious problems such as evidence of subsidence.
3. Legal Issues
Legal or administrative issues cause approximately 20% of house sales to break down. These can range from missing documentation such as title deeds to boundary disputes. These problems can be amplified is you or the buyer has an incompetent or overworked conveyancer handling the sale.
4. Buyers changing their mind
Roughly 1 in 10 sales fall through due to the buyer getting cold feet or having second thoughts about buying the property. In the UK a property sale is not legally binding until the contracts have been exchanged and signed, which is the last process before the completion date so a buyer can pull out at any time before that. This can in theory be several months since the sale was agreed, leaving plenty of time for the buyer to decide that the property isn’t for them or that the timing isn’t quite right.
5. Chain collapse
The remaining 10 % of fall throughs are due to a breakdown in a property chain. If you are in a chain that relies on multiple sales to happen at the same time then you are at the mercy of not only your own sale falling through but any of the other sales going awry. It just takes one weak link for your sale to be put back to square one.
Improving your chances of a successful sale
Some reasons that your house sale might fall through are beyond your control but there are others that you can take certain actions to minimise the chances of them happening.
If you have had multiple buyers that have pulled out due to financial reasons or have failed to secure a mortgage, for reasons other than issues with the property, then you should be having a conversation with your estate agent. Your agent should be checking that any buyer is in a position to proceed with the purchase, this filters out any timewasters. One might slip through the net here and there but if it keeps happening you need to be asking your agent why it keeps happening and what actions they can take to stop it from happening again.
If the same issue with the property keeps coming up time and time again then you might want to think about rectifying the issue, especially if it is fairly minor after all a small repair will likely cost less than a prolonged house sale. If you have a more minor issue that you can’t afford to or is not practical to fix then you will want to disclose the issue upfront and even reduce the price to account for it. Any buyer that isn’t put off by the issue will likely want a discount anyway and being open and honest upfront will weed out the buyers that don’t have the stomach to take on a property with problems.
If you keep reaching a legal stumbling block then again you might want to think about rectifying the issue before agreeing another sale or disclosing it at an early stage. You can always have a conversation with your solicitor about what the best approach would be, it is in there interest to get the sale over the line as well since that is when they get paid. If the issue that keeps arising
is less of a legal issue and more of an administration issue, potentially slow or sloppy conveyancing then it might also be worth changing solicitors to one that can get the job done.
The final two are really completely out of your control although having a competent solicitor not slowing down the process might help get the sale complete before the buyer has chance to change their mind.
