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Property chain fails costs customers £560m, wider impact to the economy £1.5bn

Journalist:

ended 18. September 2025

Mortgage Strategy has reported this morning that, following research by Santander, £1.5bn is lost to the economy in 530,000 failed transactions (England and Wales) with £560m attributed directly to the consumer with the remainder to the wider economy.

Key stats:

  • This is 40% higher than estimated by the Govt earliers this year
  • 85% of those in a transaction experienced financial loss, the average at £1240 and 1/5th losing more than £2k

You can read the article here

Questions:

  • What tips can you give to buyers and sellers to get them to the best possible position? 
  • Are people avoiding selling/buying for fear that they will lose money or be unsuccessful?
  • Is it time for the Government to really get a grip and overhaul and modernise the process.

Thoughts please!

6 responses from the Newspage community

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Editor
Michelle LawsonVerified
Director at Lawson Financial
These figures are truly frightening and this money would be much better distributed elsewhere. This is a staggering figure to lose at a time when we need it most. Buyers and sellers can help by speaking to a good broker and get themselves 'mortgage ready'. Before anything, check you can achieve your plans. Getting a good agent on board and ask many questions about the property you are buying. There is some great resource around which a good adviser will have access to to help. An overhaul of the legal process to front end the searches and legal process will massively help to avoid nasty surprises as well.
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Riz MalikVerified
Independent Financial Adviser at R3 Wealth
Buyers and sellers can pull out right up until contracts are exchanged, often after spending thousands on surveys and legal fees. Introducing firmer commitments at the point of offer could make chains far more secure and reduce the emotional and financial toll on everyone involved.
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Tony RedondoVerified
Founder at Cosmos Currency Exchange
Recently, one of my clients' plans to sell their UK property and relocate to Portugal hit a major snag when the property chain collapsed the day before the exchange of contracts. Someone in the chain simply decided not to sell anymore. This cost my client over £2,650 and 16 weeks of valuable time, during which property market conditions completely changed. The only parties to benefit—or at least remain unaffected—were the solicitors, who get paid regardless of whether the transaction succeeds.
The government doesn't need to look far for evidence of a better system. The property conveyancing system north of the border in Scotland provides a compelling alternative.
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Dariusz KarpowiczVerified
Director at Albion Financial Advice
The UK's property conveyancing system is a relic from the horse-and-cart era that somehow survives in our digital age - no wonder half a million transactions collapse annually, costing buyers and sellers £560 million. When a process takes 4-6 months and allows parties to walk away penalty-free right until exchange, it's less property purchase and more expensive lottery.
The solution lies in front-loading commitment rather than risk. Buyers should get mortgage-ready before house hunting and choose solicitors on reputation, not price. Sellers need upfront information packs and should instruct solicitors early. But ultimately, we need political courage to introduce binding offers with meaningful deposits and digitalise searches - because clinging to Victorian processes whilst wondering why modern transactions fail is the definition of institutional madness.
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Kundan BhaduriVerified
Entrepreneur, Investor and Landlord at The Kushman Group
The fundamental problem is that our conveyancing system front loads risk and back loads commitment. Buyers spend thousands on surveys, valuations, and legal fees before anyone commits to anything legally binding. Meanwhile, sellers accept offers knowing they mean absolutely nothing until exchange, creating a perverse incentive structure where gazumping and gazundering are rational economic behaviours rather than moral failings.

The solution requires political courage that successive governments have lacked. Introduce binding offers backed by meaningful deposits, digitise the search process, and mandate upfront information packs from sellers.

We cling to a process designed for a world of horse drawn transport and wonder why modern buyers lose fortunes to institutional incompetence.
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Matt Baldock0
Director at Charles David Casson
The longer a sale takes to go through conveyancing, the higher the chance that it will fall through and people will not only lose a substantial amount of money, but worse have their life plans put on hold.
To minimise the risk sellers should either instruct a solicitor before a buyer is found or at the least use an estate agent that will help you prepare the 'TA' (legal) forms so that you can give potential buyers as much information as possible to help them make a decision they stick to and also to shave time off of the conveyancing process.
Buyers should make sure you are fully aware of the upward chain and if it is not complete then don't spend any money until it is. You should also have your finances agreed and a solicitor ready to go to move forward as quickly as possible. Both parties should choose their solicitor based on reviews rather than price. Cheap is rarely best.We should also be asking who is benefitting from the process not changing? Someone is making money somewhere.