Occasionally when viewing the properties across our website, you may see three magic words - ‘no-onward chain’. What this means is that the property you are looking at has no onward purchase and therefore has less chance of breaking down. What is a property chain? A property chain can be one of the most frustrating aspects of purchasing or selling a home. It is created when there is a link of buyers and sellers connected through their transactions. Each purchase is dependent on the success of the one next to it and if there is one negative step the whole chain could collapse. When do things go wrong? There can be lots of reasons why a property chain can collapse.
It could be that someone changes their mind about selling their home, they might have a drastic change in circumstances such as a job loss or bereavement, they might find serious structural problems in a home that they were planning on buying or they might not be able to agree on a price and withdraw their offer or have an offer rejected. Why do properties become available without a chain? Occasionally we will list properties which have no-onward chain. This can happen when a property seller has inherited a property and simply wishes to sell it, the seller has another home already, the seller is relocating, the property is a new build or the property on offer has been repossessed.
Why should I take notice of a chain free property? The uncertainty and worry that comes with property chains is removed when purchasing a chainless property. Instead of being part of a delicate continuum of buyers, your purchase is reduced to just two major parties. This means that you should achieve a quick and secure purchase. For an ordinary, no hold ups, straightforward property purchase, conveyancing can take between 6 to 8 weeks, though 12 weeks is a more realistic estimate of time scale. When you receive your solicitor quotes from our conveyance quote engine, you can clarify timescale before instruction.
In some cases however, the process can be much shorter and in exceptional cases, usually those with no onward chain (being therefore chain-free), the process can be completed in as little as 4 weeks. (On the other hand, it could take much longer and be fraught with delays). If a property is considered ‘chain-free’ this means that it is being sold by someone who does not need to purchase a new property after they sell. For example, the seller might be moving abroad, or might be a property investor, or a property could be being sold on behalf of someone who has passed away. Only 10% of all property transactions in the United Kingdom are chain-free.
New build properties are chain free. When you are buying a new home straight from the housebuilder, there is no onward chain. Some housebuilders even have Part Exchange offers, so you don’t have to worry about problems with selling your current home. Generally speaking, the smaller the chain, the less likelihood there will be of delays since it is usually people that cause the problems when moving house, which impacts on the process for all involved. The smaller the chain, the less people there are involved and the less risk there is of hold ups, so conveyancing with no chain increases your chances of a quick transaction.
This is of course good news if you are hoping to move into your new home as soon as possible. As long as the paperwork is completed and filed in a timely manner, there is little reason why a chain-free property sale or purchase should take much more than a month. Though please note that even without a chain there are still factors that can cause a delay. Exact time scales are impossible to determine.
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