Buyer suspects an estate agent failed to submit their best-and-final offer, raising concerns about offer handling and whether the agent acted in the buyer and seller's interests.

They argue that better updates alone would ease much of the anxiety that currently pushes people to complain about their conveyancer.

Our leasehold flat has ground rent clauses that double every ten years; multiple buyers’ solicitors have now advised their clients not to proceed.

Several viewings ended with the same feedback: people loved the flat but were nervous about what else the managing agent was failing to do.

After selling, says they dragged their feet closing the account and removing name from liability.

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Our house sale fell through at the very last minute, but the agent had new viewings lined up within days and found us another buyer quickly.

A r/HousingUK user says their conveyancing solicitor ignores emails from both them and the seller’s side, and the seller is threatening to pull out because nothing seems to be moving.

We’re stuck in a flat with service charges that keep climbing and every buyer backs out once they see the annual bill.

They’re clear that hiding a live row is likely to end in either a fall-through or a nasty legal fight after completion.

Total garbage... only got us a single viewing in 6 months.

“Sale fell through… cost me thousands… they kept the deposit from the buyer.”

A Trustpilot review says their house was under offer but progress was extremely slow and their case handler didn’t respond to emails or calls for long periods.

They did not respond even to a solicitor's letter, which tells you everything about their attitude.

Reallymoving advises buyers to scan the TA6 carefully for any hint of neighbour trouble and to walk away if the seller seems evasive.

Sales tactics and pressure felt relentless; communication was poor and it added stress at every stage of what should be a simple process.

Our conveyancing through Angela Viney Conveyancing Services stopped overnight. We’ve got buyers, removals booked and a mortgage ready, but nobody answering.

The same reviewer frames it as being pushed into repeated price cuts rather than getting an honest strategy to actually sell the property.

I am worried they may withdraw from the purchase

Our mortgage offer was withdrawn just days before the current deal ended, leaving us scrambling for a worse rate. No clear explanation was given and nobody would discuss it with our broker or solicitor.

So slow we lost our buyer… our buyer finally pulled out…

Appalling communication and customer service.

Buyer says solicitors are chasing the vendor’s solicitor but the UK process feels painfully slow compared with expectations.

A Webuyanyhome guide says nuisance neighbours can sabotage a sale by putting washing out during viewings, making noise or even warning buyers not to move in.

Conveyancer promised weekly updates but I only heard anything when I chased repeatedly.

Our solicitor somehow managed to miss a major planning application behind the house; when it cropped up late in the process, the whole deal fell through.

Home mover reports paying fresh legal costs after their original conveyancing firm stopped operating and their file had to be transferred at short notice. The experience left the poster feeling the agent had not acted professionally.

Buyer says an estate agent would not issue a memorandum of sale three weeks after offer acceptance because they were waiting for mortgage adviser and panel confirmation, delaying the process before solicitors could properly start.

Buyer says their solicitor forgot to request the EPC until very late, delaying completion unnecessarily.

We’d finished searches, survey and enquiries, ready to move, and then found out we’d pay about £17k more because the chain couldn’t hit the tax deadline.

This must be the worst legal firm in the country. They just cause endless delays.

Posters describe feeling like they have to chase every small step themselves or risk the file just sitting at the bottom of a pile for days.

Solicitor failed to warn that the loft conversion didn’t have building regs, now leaving buyers with a compliance mess.

Our solicitor recommended an online conveyancing outfit that turned out to be painfully slow; the buyers almost gave up on us entirely.

The conveyancer assured us the property was freehold, but it was actually leasehold with 63 years remaining. The oversight meant we had to withdraw, losing survey and legal fees.

We were supposed to complete months ago but a problem at the top of the chain ruined everything, leaving us paying rent and storage.

Relatives say they feel trapped between dumping the flat at a huge loss or continuing to bleed money on charges for an empty property.

Industry pieces stress that councils, leases and charges are now considered core facts – not nice-to-have extras – in listings.

They’ve seen lots of cases where poor block management and opaque costs scare buyers away, forcing existing owners to drop their asking prices or stay stuck.

Seller says a property management company charged homeowners for periods when it said it was not maintaining the site and demanded almost 700 pounds before Christmas.

NetLawman reminds sellers that any neighbour dispute, even a past one, must be disclosed on the TA6 form or they risk misrepresentation claims later.

We paid for two valuations and the reports were nearly identical and full of basic errors, which didn’t justify the price at all.

Reviewer says a property remained unsold after months on the market and criticises the estate agent and sellers for lack of transparency, trust and honesty.

Buyer says their solicitor was so slow that the estate agent claimed the seller might pull out, leaving the buyer anxious and unsure whether the agent was bluffing.

Posters swap stories of new-build flats that shed value fast and then sit on the market while owners are stuck paying high charges.

We were desperate to move closer to friends after a bereavement, but repeated fall-throughs and slow conveyancing left us stuck where we were.

Seller states their solicitor failed to mention a disputed right-of-way, now causing legal threats from neighbours.

If the agent had been upfront about the lack of sign-off, we’d never have spent hundreds getting that far into the process.

The redress scheme says clearer material information means happier consumers and fewer disputes for agents and developers.

Consumer discussion describes an estate agent refusing to pass on an offer unless the buyer had an appointment with the agent's mortgage broker.

They feel misled by the original figures and trapped in a place where rising charges and a nasty lease clause could scare off any future buyer.

Seller says simple enquiries were left for weeks, creating a chain-wide delay and extra moving costs.

We justified the service charge when we moved in, but years later it’s higher and our flat just isn’t shifting – it feels like we’ve paid to make our own home harder to sell.

Our buyer was relying on a gifted deposit from parents, who changed their minds halfway through; the agent only told us when the chain had already collapsed.

Our chain has collapsed four times now. One buyer changed their mind, another had a mortgage offer expire, and another just disappeared.

We paid for a search and expected the results. Our solicitor didn’t send them until after we cancelled the deal.

Buyer notes last-minute disruption close to exchange — conditional mortgage discovered too late.

A reply warns that many buyers will “run a mile” when they see ‘modern method of auction’, implying it can hinder sales and reduce serious interest.

In the PM Property Lawyers support group, hundreds of buyers and sellers say they were days from completion when the shutdown hit, leaving them stuck with packed boxes and nowhere to go.

The house we are buying is riddled with asbestos, there was no TA6 form, the seller's information form did not ask about asbestos, we have twice been denied access to the detached garage and the property was advertised as freehold but is actually being put through as leasehold.

Homes and Steeple reviewer describes the agent as the worst ever after a viewing did not match expectations.

Our first buyers pulled out months into the process; the agent had to run an open day to find a new buyer so we didn’t lose our onward purchase.

Quick Move Now’s data shows nearly three in ten UK property sales failed to complete in 2024 – buyers dropping out, finance issues or chains breaking apart.

Buyer says their solicitor has been the worst ever, dragging their feet so badly that the mortgage offer came close to expiring.

They described months of chasing for updates and a final bill that didn’t reflect the lack of progress or explanation before everything fell apart.

JMP Solicitors received a review from a client whose sale fell through twice; they praised the firm for staying on top of things and pushing both sets of lawyers so the eventual purchase didn’t drag forever.

Leasehold purchase is held up by linked parking and lease issues that make the transaction less straightforward than expected.

Formal complaints go nowhere; they reply when they want and don’t resolve anything.

I’ve seen countless posts where people’s house sales collapsed right before completion; it’s made me realise just how fragile the system is.

We had to go back to the market twice after buyers pulled out, and the whole process was so stressful it made us consider giving up on moving altogether.

They felt the broker was more focused on cross-selling life cover than actually finding the right mortgage for their circumstances.

Seller says YOPA gave no advice on increasing viewings and left the sold board up weeks after the sale fell through.

They worry that any future buyer’s survey will raise the same red flags, making it hard to achieve the original agreed price.

Shared-ownership leaseholders quoted in The Guardian describe service charges up to £8,000 a year on homes originally advertised as ‘affordable’.

Seller says delays in the chain created avoidable costs and left them exposed to extra mortgage, rent or moving expenses. while waiting for the intervention agent to locate the file.

Buyer says hearing nothing for weeks at a time during conveyancing makes them fear the worst about the purchase.

We were due to exchange today, with Butterworths / PM Law handling both our sale and purchase, and have just been told the firm has been shut down. Everything is on hold and we don’t even know who has our money.

Buyer claims the lender became frustrated at the slow pace and threatened to withdraw the offer.

Sale fell through due to having no sign off from local building control for an extension.

Our buyer pulled out because of a boundary dispute we inherited from the previous owner – a hedge encroaching a few inches suddenly became a deal-breaker.

Had to chase by phone constantly because email contact went nowhere; the online portal was unreliable and seemingly never updated.

A quick-sale firm cited HomeOwners Alliance research suggesting about half of sellers who lose a buyer are left out of pocket by nearly £2,700 when a sale falls through.

Mid-sale, reviewer couldn’t get through for days and considered withdrawing because nobody responded.

Even then, the rest of the move was a slog of chasing solicitors and waiting on paperwork – it feels like the whole system is built on delay.

We sold our house before it even went on the open market in a really popular area where nothing needs doing. The surveyor has picked up some minor things but has valued it nearly £50k below the agreed price.

The constant ultimatums from the other side left us feeling bullied; our own solicitor seemed unwilling to push back, so we withdrew the property from sale.

Seller says they had to keep ringing for weeks to get basic marketing material arranged.

One Reddit post says the sellers kept delaying completion while the buyer’s mortgage offer ticked towards expiry, potentially adding thousands in extra interest if they had to reapply.

Eric Robinson Solicitors explain that failing to disclose an ongoing dispute with neighbours could count as misrepresentation and land you with a big compensation bill after completion.

A reviewer says they requested a refund after a failed search result and were met with silence.

Three separate chains collapsed for different reasons and every time we had already paid survey, searches and legal fees which we never got back.

Listed a house no lender will offer mortgage on due to spray foam insulation rotting risk to the roof timbers.

Our buyer pulled out citing ‘personal circumstances’ and that was that. The vendors of the house we were buying immediately put theirs back on the market and reduced the price.

Buyer reported that their solicitor failed to verify crucial planning documents and only noticed after exchange.

The Law Society warns that if you receive a message saying bank details have changed, you should question it and verify using the firm’s published contact details because law firms rarely change bank details mid-transaction.

The estate agent assured us previous sales had only fallen through for ‘personal reasons’, but the survey revealed historic flooding they hadn’t disclosed.

The ground rent doubles roughly every 20 years; it didn’t look serious in the listing, but the long-term cost is eye-watering.

The managing agent wanted hundreds of pounds for the leasehold information pack, and by the time it arrived the buyer had completely lost interest.

A reviewer says a site’s ‘Land Registry’ positioning caused them to overpay for something available cheaply via government.

The agent never mentioned the house had subsidence or that a previous sale collapsed over it. Buyers can easily waste £500–£1,000 on surveys before discovering what the seller already knows.

We keep being told the hold-up is with the management company and their solicitor. Meanwhile our purchase is now two months behind.

We’re devastated – unless a miracle buyer appears almost instantly, we’ll lose the home we were trying to buy as well.

We only found out our sale had fallen through because the buyer’s solicitor finally admitted there was no building control sign-off for a recent extension – something the agent never mentioned when we offered.

The broker stresses how close the chain came to failure purely because the lender’s timescales and the solicitors’ pace didn’t match up.

Our house sale fell through at the very last minute but, to be fair to the agent, they had viewings and a new offer arranged within days.

Our buyer’s mortgage fell through after they’d already had an offer; two weeks later the agent still hadn’t given us a clear explanation of what went wrong.

They warn others to ‘avoid like the plague’ if they want an efficient conveyancing firm.

Expensive and happily miss deadlines

Our buyers’ solicitor at KB Property Law shut overnight. We’re being told by our estate agent that nobody can get through and the chain is stalled.

On a leaseholder forum, one owner complains they feel ripped off paying over £1,200 in service charges for a small block with no lift and minimal services.

Firm dragged out conveyancing so badly it frustrated the lender and the other side’s solicitor.

Our tenants have moved out, we’ve moved out, and the person we’re buying from has also packed up. The only thing missing is completion, and that’s blocked because our PM Law firm no longer answers the phone.

It took them 5 months after instruction to send initial enquiries.

The report contained basic factual mistakes about safety items that were clearly present, undermining trust and complicating the transaction.

Our sale fell through seven months ago and the house has sat unsold since; we’ve already lost one new-build reservation twice because our buyer vanished.

They say they also lost their onward purchase and had to take the property off the market to fix the defect, which took 12 months.

Chaos… the reason our property sale fell through in the end.

The seller in that thread says they are close to exchanging on their onward purchase but stuck waiting for the buyer’s lender to sort its panel problem.

Leaseholders allege the agent would not provide proof of buildings insurance, forcing a change of managing agent and escalating dispute.

A review-style complaint says Seller says they were told everything was progressing, but no one could provide a clear next step or credible timeline. following the February 2026 intervention.

We were trying to sell a retirement flat and paid tens of thousands in service charges and council tax while it sat unsold for years.

Our conveyancer failed to advise us that the seller had not provided proof of building regulations for a loft conversion. We only found out when our insurer refused cover after completion.

They contrasted the experience with the previous agent, who they felt had just put it online and hoped for the best rather than actively managing the sale.

I watched the chain implode when a lender refused to renew an offer that had quietly expired while the solicitors were still sending paper forms around.

“Very aggressively asking me to pay £3K… asked to view… refused.”

They’re watching neighbouring houses sell while their high-fee flat sits, because anyone who can do the maths realises the charges kill affordability.

The Legal Ombudsman’s ‘delays outside a firm’s control’ case study still upholds a complaint where a conveyancer failed to chase missing documents for nearly two months.

Review says the seller originally chose another firm because of an estate-agent referral and lower price before later moving to a different solicitor after buyer confidence became an issue.

Our sale went quickly, but the buyers’ solicitor still hasn’t got the LPE1 from the management company and it’s holding everything up.

I have a maisonette with only 65 years left on the lease. I cannot afford the cost of extending it and do not want to spend money I will not recover. I owe 52k on the mortgage and need around 75k from the sale but interest from buyers is minimal.

Mortgage application stalled because the surveyor insisted a loft room wasn’t a ‘real bedroom’ despite council documentation.

Another account says Client says they faced extra fees because a collapsed or intervened firm could not complete the conveyancing work they had already paid for. while waiting for the intervention agent to locate the file.

“I hope these kind of firms are regulated… complaint dealt with by a 3rd party.”

Home mover says mortgage porting was unexpectedly refused because of affordability and loan-to-value policy, forcing them to consider a new deal and a large early repayment charge.

My flat sale fell through just days after my mortgage offer was approved, and now I’m stuck wondering whether to cancel it or try to re-use it on another place.

Despite repeated regulatory warnings about email payment fraud, our conveyancer sent our bank details without any security checks or verbal confirmation step. We later learned those basic safeguards are now widely recommended good practice.

I assumed the big fee was only payable on completion – turns out it was added to the loan and still due once the offer was issued.

The seller refused to budge, so we walked away having spent hundreds on fees just to learn the true condition.

after we pulled out of a sale due to unforeseen circumstances, totally unreasonable.

Our flat sale fell through just before exchange when we discovered the managing agent had invalidated all the EWS1 forms; suddenly nobody’s lender would touch the block.

We exchanged on a new build knowing the mortgage offer would run out before the developer’s completion date – now we’re panicking that the lender might refuse to extend.

We bid on a house believing it was freehold. Later we found it was leasehold with escalating charges written into the contract we didn’t see until after exchange.

Guides warn that high service charges shrink your buyer pool because people look beyond price and fixate on the ongoing cost of running the flat.

A forum user describes paying an invoice that later turned out to have been intercepted and altered with different bank details — a reminder of how easily ‘trusted’ payments get diverted.

We lost our buyer because the freeholder’s management company ignored emails and phone calls for weeks, so the solicitors couldn’t get the information needed to proceed.

I’m almost losing my flat with the slow process…

By the time the full picture emerged, we’d already spent a lot on surveys and legal fees and had to decide between walking away or pursuing a misrepresentation claim.

A buyer complains that their solicitor didn't check a crucial covenant that prohibits renting, discovered only after exchange.

We lost the house and a non-refundable booking fee because the application was never realistic in the first place.

In ‘Neighbours hindering sale... what can we do?’, posters warn that once you make a formal written complaint about neighbours, you must declare it when you sell.

A Victorian house sale collapsed after the buyers’ survey flagged ‘damp’ everywhere, even though the sellers had lived there a decade with no actual problems.

The surveyor’s report read like a horror story, and the buyers demanded a huge price cut we simply couldn’t afford to accept.

We never received the fortnightly reviews we were sold on, and the communication from YOPA was painfully slow.

After terrible experiences with a previous solicitor and the housing association, having someone actually return calls and push the transaction forward was a relief.

The whole chain is ready but we’re told the funds can’t be released in time. Bank and CHAPS delays are now threatening completion.

A HousingUK user said endless chain collapses had left them ‘exhausted and heartbroken’ after losing their dream property multiple times in a row.

Seller says a buyer effectively dropped off the face of the earth and the transaction stalled while the seller could not tell if the delay was caused by the buyer or the solicitor.

Seller says the agent mishandled their sale over many months and the buyer walked away the day before completion.

They ended up questioning whether the valuation reflected the actual house at all, or simply a tick-box exercise.

They said their solicitor remained calm and supportive despite the chain changing repeatedly and the lease throwing up problem after problem.

When developers pulled out of the deal, my conveyancer still billed almost the full fee despite us never getting to completion.

Buyer says their solicitor failed to clearly provide or explain searches before completion, then three months after moving the buyer still could not access them and had to submit a complaint and data request.

An MSE poster nearly at exchange is told someone in the chain has let their mortgage offer expire – nobody had spotted the date until the last moment.

A first-time buyer says they’re stuck in ‘limbo’ because the vendor’s onward purchase is delayed, nobody will explain why, and they have no timescale despite Christmas approaching.

Buyers are questioning the boundaries... we pay a service charge... buyers need to think about whether they want to proceed.

Client claims their solicitor repeatedly sent documents with names spelled incorrectly, delaying mortgage approval.

If anyone wants to DESTROY their transaction… AVOID.

Buyer says their previous conveyancer failed to complete title registration promptly, complicating a later transaction.

We were told the surveyor was independent, but the valuation matched the mortgage offer almost exactly and left us unable to renegotiate a clearly over-priced house.

A home-selling guide says surveys and down-valuations are now one of the top reasons sales collapse – buyers use the report to walk away or renegotiate, and many sellers just give up.

House sale fell through because an enquiry took six weeks to get a reply.

Tenant complains the agent’s responses were unclear and unhelpful when they needed proper guidance on a property issue. The problem was communication during a live property transaction.

Home movers already stressed by fragile chains feel dismissed when firms brush off concerns instead of explaining what’s happening and why.

Fresh Legal Ombudsman data for 2025/26 shows almost half of accepted complaints are about poor communication or delay, and a third concern residential conveyancing.

They say they’re trapped in a flat they can’t afford and can’t sell, with their life plans on hold because nobody wants to take on the charges.

This is holding up the sale of my property

“No communication since 30 October. Calls and emails all unanswered.”

Our flat’s service charge is now so high that every serious buyer disappears as soon as their solicitor sees the figures.

Our sale didn’t complete on the agreed day because the buyers simply failed to transfer funds. We’d booked removals and time off work and ended up sat in a packed house waiting for a call that never came.

The mortgage experience was so bad the lender agreed to compensation. The customer said they’d leave as soon as the fixed period ends.

On our first purchase attempt the lender pulled the mortgage after a change in policy; we’d already paid for survey and legal work.

Our buyers got spooked when the management pack listed a huge ‘reserve fund’ contribution for cladding works that nobody had ever mentioned.

Experts warned that high ongoing costs can stall price growth and leave flats languishing unsold while nearby houses continue to move.

PM Law clients with live purchases and sales faced uncertainty while intervention agents worked out which cases were most urgent.

We’d been on the market a year, changed agents, cut the price and finally got a cash buyer – only to watch the deal evaporate at the last minute.

Another account says Seller says delays in the chain created avoidable costs and left them exposed to extra mortgage, rent or moving expenses. The complaint theme was slow replies and lack of urgency.

Hundreds of us have joined support groups because we’re effectively homeless in the middle of a transaction – our old homes gone, our new homes blocked, and nobody giving clear answers.

Long investigation backlogs mean unhappy home movers may wait months just to get an answer about poor conveyancing service.

Buyer of a Birmingham flat faces the risk of their mortgage offer expiring because the seller's solicitor has failed to progress lease and cladding-related paperwork for months.

Our first sale fell through due to mortgage valuation issues and we had to accept a lower price with the next buyer to keep things moving.

my apartment sale is about to fall through for the second time because of this and I could cry

They describe being threatened with significant fees and being chased by solicitors, while also facing ongoing mortgage and council tax on an empty property.

Leaseholders complain of being charged £150 ground rent plus hundreds in late payment fees, with the structure of fees not properly explained.

A first-time buyer described the process as far slower than expected, with long waits, stress, and minimal proactive communication.

Case studies include owners whose lives and retirement plans are derailed because they can’t afford to extend leases or escape toxic contracts.

The Ombudsman says typical subsidence complaints include claims being rejected, repairs taking too long, poor communication and homeowners being unhappy with the standard of remedial work.

They are terrible: they ignored my complaint and could not even follow their own complaints procedure.

A follow-up investigation accuses housing associations of mis-selling ‘affordable’ homes where service charges later rise by hundreds of percent.

Another buyer discovered a planned new road close to the garden via local plan documents, not mentioned anywhere in the marketing details.

We used John M Lewis & Co for conveyancing before they were linked in news reports to the PM Law group. When our first solicitor mishandled things we almost lodged a formal complaint before another stepped in to sort it out.

A buyer on r/HousingUK describes being pitched ‘guaranteed exchange in a month’ packages by online conveyancers who then threaten to hold up the chain unless others pay to expedite.

I was left stressed and unsure because emails and calls were ignored for long periods.

Another leaseholder on MoneySavingExpert is begging for help after service charges on their flat ballooned, saying they can barely afford to stay and are scared it’s now unsellable.

Post-completion delay leaves buyer worried the conveyancer has not finished the Land Registry work after the transaction completed.

A MoneySavingExpert poster said their riverside flat became hard to sell because the service charge got so high that buyers looked elsewhere, and even years later the prices still lagged behind similar blocks.

The buyer pulled out the day before exchange claiming they had found another property; we were packed and ready to go and suddenly everything collapsed.

Booked several viewings as a cash buyer and the estate agent never turned up or called. I had to chase them and was told it was a mix-up.

A long, invasive survey ended with our renovated home valued far under the accepted offer, jeopardising the mortgage.

Our buyers backed out when their lender refused to lend on a pre-fab construction – something nobody flagged when the property was first marketed.

Never received first invoice; then a letter with fines added — aggressive escalation for tiny sums.

Waiting months for a certificate needed to complete the sale of an apartment.

Many negligence claims against conveyancers involve delays and failure to keep clients informed.

Buyer says lack of urgency and unclear next steps made the whole purchase feel out of control.

We realised how badly our first estate agent had overvalued the house when we had to relist with a national firm at only 72% of the original asking price after a failed sale.

They encourage sellers to explain honestly why a previous sale collapsed, because hiding it just makes new buyers more suspicious when they inevitably find out.

It feels surreal that a decision completely outside my control could cost me my mortgage deal and months of extra waiting.

Reviewer says the firm went radio silent after receiving a deposit and left them doing their own chasing.

A PistonHeads thread about down valuations includes someone who says the surveyor ‘missed a lot of things and added things that didn’t exist’, leaving both sides confused and angry.

We moved out of our old house ready to complete on the new one when our PM Law firm suddenly closed. All our belongings are in storage and we have no permanent place to stay until someone sorts the mess out.

Solicitor kept asking for documents already sent and claimed files were ‘mislaid’, stalling progress.

First-time buyer says solicitor put them under pressure to exchange without resolving outstanding enquiries.

Our purchase is stuck because Butterworths Solicitors – part of the PM Law group – closed with only a handwritten notice on the door. We were expecting to exchange within days and now have no idea who holds our file.

Another account says Buyer says the property transaction became stuck because leasehold information and parking arrangements needed extra clarification before the solicitor could proceed. The complaint was about poor handling rather than a general advice question.

Buyer says they felt forced to use an estate agent's in-house broker and later received a broker-fee refund after complaining publicly.

Buyer says their purchase fell apart when the vendor let the place instead, and now refuses further viewings until after notice to the tenant.

It took them 5 months after instruction to send initial enquiries.

Buyers pulled out after a survey that we believe was inaccurate, with basic items seemingly missed or misreported. The chain collapsed because of it.

A quote request turned into persistent badgering via email/text/calls.

Our buyers chose PM Property Lawyers via an online introducer and now we’re six months into what should have been a straightforward no-chain sale. Our own solicitor and agent don’t know how to get the deal through.

Our estate agent says several buyers and sellers are now ‘between houses’ because their completions involved Butterworths and can’t go ahead. People have moved out, but they haven’t been able to move in anywhere.

Buyer says a lender took so long with approval that they described it as the longest process they had experienced, with the application submitted through brokers and prolonged underwriting creating stress.

I had the same experience as a buyer. Sale collapsed and the solicitor still invoiced me £1,000.

A HousingUK user said their service charge doubled in a year on a tiny studio; they’re now seriously worried the flat will be hard to sell because the fees look outrageous on paper.

Buyer says a mortgage was declined and they are now worried whether the decline will affect applying with another bank and delay or jeopardise the purchase.

They’d already mentally moved to a new village to be near friends, only to find themselves stuck in limbo while chains collapsed around them.

Our sale fell through the day before exchange; the buyers suddenly decided they didn’t want to proceed without giving any clear reason.

On two occasions we have been told things have been done (over the phone) when in fact several days later we get the notification to tell us they have only just been completed.

They emphasise that complaints to the council or police create a paper trail buyers can uncover, even if sellers try to gloss over the history.

We have leasehold garages with a peppercorn rent but the freeholder repeatedly enters the garages, complains about what we store, and insists we should be paying rent. After 14 years we have now received a solicitor's letter demanding insurance and rent payments, which feels like continued harassment.

The reviewer tells others to avoid them ‘for your own sanity’, feeling stuck and unable to move forward with the extension.

They say nobody will give them straight answers about what is outstanding, leaving them feeling helpless in the middle of the transaction.

We were due to complete when our buyer’s mortgage offer expired; instead of moving, we’ve been left with an empty house and mounting costs.

Conveyancing review says the buyers’ solicitor caused delays and poor communication, even though their own firm stayed responsive.

A review-style complaint says Seller says late discovery of a leasehold issue risked losing the buyer because the information had not been clarified upfront. The complaint theme was slow replies and lack of urgency.

Buyer says a new build part exchange was close to exchange but searches had not come back and developer solicitors had not raised enquiries, putting school place plans at risk.

Buyer is warned to keep chasing the solicitor because leasehold complications are causing hold-ups in the purchase.

An agent repeatedly allowed misleading marketing about 'no onward chain' and the ombudsman process felt useless.

Our solicitor assured us everything was ready for exchange, but on the day they admitted the mortgage deed had never been sent to the lender for approval. We lost our booked removals and had to negotiate a new completion date with the whole chain.

They point out that when a solicitor stops communicating, chains wobble and clients start imagining the worst, even when problems could be fixed with a frank update.

One affected mover says Buyer affected by a law-firm closure says their conveyancing file and completion timetable were thrown into uncertainty while they waited to learn who held their papers and funds. because the transaction could not simply continue as normal.

One Sun article follows a couple whose service charges shot from under £3,000 to £7,500 a year – they’ve slashed the price, but still no buyer wants the liability.

Bettermove explain that high service charges make flats harder to sell because buyers don’t just compare asking prices – they factor in years of expensive running costs.

Our sale fell through on the Thursday morning, but Parkers had it back on the market by Friday and sold again by Saturday, which literally saved our chain.

I only discovered how toxic my ground-rent clause was when my neighbour’s sale collapsed because their buyer’s solicitor advised them not to touch it.

Days passed between replies; I felt like my case was always at the bottom of the pile.

Another poster with a long-running home insurance claim said they felt completely stuck while repairs dragged on and they lived in a building site for months.

A 2025 thread ‘House sale fallen though, gutted and totally fed up’ talks about how people end up with solicitor bills and fees to pay every time a buyer pulls out.

We almost completed without anyone checking building regs for the loft conversion; when the lender asked for paperwork that didn’t exist, the buyers walked.

My retired parents’ buyers pulled out at the last minute, putting their dream new-build at risk and leaving them facing the loss of all the fees they’d already paid.

Seller says their estate agent did not tell them for weeks that the buyer had pulled out after memorandum of sale, only raising the issue much later when discussing what to do with the property.

Our sale fell apart when the buyer realised their buy-to-let mortgage needed a higher rental coverage; the numbers just didn’t stack any more with rising rates.

Valuer seemed positive in person for the remortgage, then later down-valued the property. It caused shock and immediate mortgage stress.

Delayed completion guidance warns movers can face storage costs, hotel bills, cancellation fees, extra mortgage payments and other reasonable losses when completion is pushed back.

Endless delays, lies and inefficiencies... asked to review documents they have not sent.

Service charges on flats have jumped sharply and many leaseholders say the rising fees are making their homes harder to sell.

“Overstate value then get you to reduce.”

Review says Purplebricks made empty promises and caused a stressful sales process, with repeated communication failures and poor basic service.

The homebuyer report read like a shopping list of problems, from roof issues to electrics, and our lender insisted on retention conditions we couldn’t meet.

I got one email after weeks of silence despite repeated calls and messages.

Leasehold reform articles talk about how opaque service charges and ground rents have left millions of flat owners feeling trapped and worried their homes will be hard to sell on.

LawHive explain that if a seller lies about neighbours on the TA6, it can amount to misrepresentation and give buyers grounds to claim losses later.

Another MSE user says their house sale fell through the day after the stamp duty holiday ended because their buyer’s buyer pulled out without explanation.

Another account says Tenant complains the agent’s responses were unclear and unhelpful when they needed proper guidance on a property issue. after the PM Law group closure.

They say many deals either collapse or have to be painfully renegotiated once the surveyor’s number doesn’t match what the estate agent promised.

She felt the story about a previous sale collapsing ‘for no reason’ didn’t add up and suspected there were undisclosed problems the sellers weren’t being honest about.

Buyer asks whether survey and conveyancing costs can be recovered after a modern method of auction transaction fails, highlighting risk around reservation agreements and sunk costs.

A buyer alleges an estate agent failed to disclose a severe flood risk until their solicitors raised it close to completion, after they’d already spent thousands and given notice to their landlord.

They’re worried that arguing over historic bills might come back to haunt any future sale or cause problems with buyers’ solicitors.

Our buyer’s lender refused the mortgage after seeing the valuation report, and there was nothing we could do but wait for a new buyer and start again.

Our sale fell through a week before exchange when the buyer suddenly ‘changed their mind’ – no real reason given, just months of stress down the drain.

Allegation of gazumping being encouraged/handled badly, making the purchase feel insecure.

Buyer of a tenanted flat feels the estate agent was irresponsible for marketing the property without checking whether key rental safety documents such as EICR and gas safety certificates were available.

Buyer reviewing a run-down property says the buyer must sign a reservation agreement and pay a non-refundable reservation fee of 4.5% of the purchase price, minimum £6,600.

They report having to resend important paperwork multiple times because the firm either misplaced it or asked for duplicates they’d already received.

Buyer asks about auction fees where the buyer is expected to pay a reservation fee of 4.5% of the offer price or £6,600, whichever is greater.

A HousingUK buyer said the seller ticked ‘no disputes’ on the TA6, but they later learned of repeated complaints and issues with the houses next door.

It’s now been over a year since we engaged Let Property to purchase a property - only the seller to withdraw during completion

If we have to reapply, the new rate will cost thousands more over the fixed term – all because the process drifted and nobody took responsibility.

We feel trapped by a lease where rising service charges make the flat unaffordable to keep and virtually impossible to sell on.

They say that if they’d known charges could get this high, they would never have bought the property in the first place.

Our agent put the house on the market with 'no onward chain' even though the vendor did have an onward purchase.

We moved from a new build into a 1970s home and are finding problem after problem. Asbestos in ceilings, doors and windows that do not shut properly, a loose kitchen with exposed wires, a leaking bedroom ceiling caused by a botched job, and even large wasp nests. We thought there would not be much to do and now worry we made a mistake.

We found out by email while we were on holiday that our buyer had backed out – it completely ruined the trip and we still haven’t resold.

Using PM Law has been one of the worst legal experiences I’ve ever had. Years of poor communication, unanswered calls and the feeling they simply didn’t care what happened to my case.

The sale eventually collapsed because the buyer at the start of the chain was never really serious and delayed arranging their mortgage until the last possible moment.

The new firm stepped in after that collapse, found another buyer and actually kept the seller updated throughout negotiations.

Near exchange but buyer’s solicitor won’t respond to emails; sale has already dragged on for months.

Our original buyer changed their mind just before exchange, saying they’d found another property; we never got any more explanation than that.

Buyer says they applied for a mortgage but a small historic default caused major problems, leaving them unable to get approval despite the default being only 37 pounds.

When we complained about the filthy carpet, the agent offered a spray rather than doing the clean they had promised in writing.

A Pattinson review says the original sale fell through and the seller was then pushed towards auction, with the agent suggesting they list 20% below market value.

They also say local authority searches and unresponsive lawyers can cause such extreme delays that frustrated buyers start viewing other properties instead.

We completed our sale through a PM Law firm but never received the balance of our sale proceeds before the collapse. That money was supposed to fund our next purchase and without it we can’t move forward.

The housing association kept sending ‘revised’ service charge estimates after we’d found a buyer; by the third increase, they pulled out.

The estate agent insisted the property was ‘chain free’, then months later we discovered the seller still hadn’t found anywhere to buy.

They’ve slashed the price but the combination of age restrictions, high service charges and exit fees has made the flat incredibly hard to sell.

Another Reddit user complained that service charges in London new builds are outrageous and predicted many of these flats will be very hard to sell in future.

A Facebook post from an accidental landlord says their sale fell through two days before they moved abroad, so they ended up letting the house rather than selling it.

PM Law clients with completed purchases still had to resolve post-completion registration work after the firm closed.

Twice we got to the point of almost exchanging, and twice different buyers pulled out at the last minute – it’s soul-destroying watching months of progress vanish overnight.

We were told to avoid certain conveyancers because they ignored clients completely.

Even if the asking price is tempting, big annual fees and vague wording about increases can knock thousands off what buyers are willing to offer.

Seller says their solicitor lost the signed TR1 form and blamed the postal service despite never having posted it.

Buyer worries they could be contractually bound to buy a new build but lose the developer incentive if completion happens after the deadline, increasing monthly payments by around 200 pounds.

Reviewer says a relative’s previous solicitor was a nightmare, showing how poor conveyancing service damages confidence in the whole process.

They warn that buyers may pull out or seek compensation if they later uncover disputes that weren’t declared before exchange.

Between two failed sales and one abandoned purchase, we reckon we’ve thrown away more on fees than we saved from years of careful budgeting.

Our 2009 sewage treatment plant was installed with building control approval and complies with regulations, but the buyer's solicitor keeps raising additional queries. We are worried this will delay or jeopardise the sale.

A further complaint summary notes Seller says late discovery of a leasehold issue risked losing the buyer because the information had not been clarified upfront. following the February 2026 intervention.

They describe feeling stuck in a property nobody wants, with their lives effectively on pause while those charges keep climbing.

The muddle over who actually managed the block left the buyer worried about future repairs and charges, so they pulled out.

Buyer says a mortgage broker charged 600 pounds for specialist advice but failed to find a lender after a failed application, while the buyer later found an option themselves.

Buyer alleges their transaction would have collapsed without constant chasing because nothing moved proactively.

We’re told that high service charges are now normal for newer developments, but buyers won’t pay the same price for a flat with huge annual costs, so our sale keeps failing.

Two interested buyers said they loved the house but wouldn’t live next to that level of hostility.

MSE users describe flats where annual charges reached £3,000–£6,000; every time a buyer’s solicitor saw the schedule, the sale stalled or fell through.

British Homebuyers have reviews from sellers whose first sale with a local agent fell through; once they moved, BHB quickly found another buyer and kept the deal together.

Another Guardian story said some shared-ownership buyers saw service charges jump by hundreds of percent, turning ‘affordable’ homes into serious financial liabilities.

The conveyancer missed a clear warning in the searches about a proposed major road scheme behind the property. We only discovered the plan after completion when public notices went up on our street.

Complaints route feels like a loop: told to complain again rather than fix the underlying problem.

purchase attempt that fell apart due to a lack of critical information being disclosed upfront

By contrast, our previous agent had basically left us drifting when the first buyer walked away, with no clear plan to get things moving again.

Seller asks how the process is allowed after a buyer pulled out of a leasehold flat sale, leaving the seller frustrated after accepting a low offer and losing time in a difficult market.

“Connells never respond to email enquiries.”

The emotional toll of the sale collapsing was brutal; months of planning and packing vanished in an afternoon phone call from the agent.

A 2008 thread titled ‘Fuckity fuckity fuck’ describes a sale collapsing right near the end after the buyers vanished, leaving the sellers over a thousand pounds out of pocket.

It’s a simple no-chain flat purchase, but the conveyancing alone has dragged on for more than four months and I’m losing rental income.

We did everything on time but you can’t complete a sale when the management company just sits on emails and ignores reminders.

Another broker warns that solicitor delays, chain problems and new-build hold-ups are all common reasons mortgage offers expire before completion.

Seller reports that their agent listed the property with key material information missing, leading to a buyer pulling out on survey and the seller still being chased for the full fee despite getting no completed sale.

The report contained multiple factual errors about safety features and basic details, which we then had to spend time disproving.

The report he produced undervalued my home by almost £100,000, which caused major issues with my mortgage.

Buyer says final enquiries are still outstanding after months because the freeholder is supposedly unavailable, risking the purchase even after the seller agreed a deadline.

Chain collapsed after eight months when a buyer finally pulled out, and the poster blames constant solicitor delays, repeated unanswered enquiries and nobody taking ownership of the process.

VERY POOR SERVICE DO NOT USE, WE BEEN IN THE PROCESS BUYING A HOUSE…

Our house sale didn’t complete on the day it was meant to because the other side hadn’t transferred the funds; we spent the day surrounded by boxes, going nowhere.

Buyer says cracked windows, damp, patch repairs and bubbling wallpaper were only noticed after making an offer, causing them to question whether to pay for a survey or walk away.

Buyer says Ackroyd Legal gave very poor communication, no updates and a property process that took ages.

Another review for the same lender mentions rushing a case through to offer in 48 hours to stop a client’s chain from collapsing completely.

Analysts say in many cases, service charges are now the second-biggest household bill after the mortgage, and that buyers factor this in when deciding whether to proceed.

Martin & Co’s survey of 500 homeowners found many had experienced down valuations, sometimes forcing them to renegotiate or abandon their purchase altogether.

Chain-free purchase dragging for months with little action; feels like constant chasing with minimal progress.

A poster on Digital Spy said they were ‘so stressed’ after their house sale fell through on the day they were expecting to complete, leaving them with removals booked and nowhere to go.

A Reddit post titled ‘Frustrated with UK conveyancing delays’ describes a supposedly simple, no-chain purchase dragging past four and a half months because of ‘searches’.

NetLawman’s guide on neighbour disputes makes it clear you must disclose both resolved and ongoing disputes on the TA6 when selling your home.

Buyer says a sale collapsed because they felt mis-sold about shared access to the rear garden, leaving the seller forced to relist and later accept much less.

They said the idea that someone can buy your freehold as an investment and then strip your disposable income through escalating charges is exactly why they’d never touch a leasehold flat.

A long-running MSE topic ‘Selling house with noisy-ish neighbours’ includes a story where a sale fell through because the buyer couldn’t tolerate the loud TV of the deaf neighbour.

Vendor says service was worse than expected: poor handling, poor communication, and extra costs later.

A LegalAdviceUK poster said their house sale was on the verge of falling through because the seller’s solicitor was so slow that everyone else in the chain was losing patience.

Family dealing with Land Registry delays after a death asks how a house sale can proceed when the title still shows joint owners, creating uncertainty during probate and sale planning.

The first conveyancer didn’t understand the quirks of our lease and the buyer walked away; the second firm had to unpick a lot of previous mistakes.

They worry these shock bills and opaque accounts will scare off any future buyer and keep them stuck in the flat.

On Trustpilot, a seller said William H Brown took days to arrange viewings, failed to tell a tenant about an appointment and then broke promises about how offers would be handled.

Our original buyer pulled out and the agent suggested selling them our searches to claw back a bit of money, which shows how wasteful the system can be.

The buyer couldn’t understand how three estate agents thought the price was reasonable while the surveyor saw it as significantly over-valued.

They warn that hiding the problem is likely to backfire: if the buyer later finds out, they might sue or try to unravel the deal completely.

The buyer’s mortgage offer was due to expire and with no completion date in sight, everyone up the chain ended up back at square one.

A new-build homeowner says they believe clear defects were dismissed or limited by technicalities, leaving them to shoulder the impact.

Two houses we tried to buy went straight back on the market the day the sales collapsed, with the agents brushing off the stress they’d caused us.

As a Butterworths client we were never clearly told they’d been absorbed into the PM Group. Only when the closure hit the news did we realise our wills and documents were locked away with no response to our emails.

Our lender’s valuation came back £45,000 under the agreed price; the seller refused to budge and the purchase collapsed.

A MoneySavingExpert poster said clients with riverside flats were already struggling to sell a decade ago because service charges got so high that buyers simply weren’t interested.

A seller describes long Land Registry timescales and the domino effect: buyer loss, onward purchase loss, and money down the drain.

They’ve seen cases where charges started at a few hundred a year but climbed close to a thousand a month, making the flat virtually unsellable without huge discounts.

“장umping is alive and well… avoid at all cost.”

They noted how proactive sales progression and frequent updates made the difference compared with their first, failed attempt.

The seller’s solicitor says ‘we don’t do phone calls’. That is helpful when the chain is shaky and you don’t know what’s going on.

On another thread, a seller said the buyers’ solicitor constantly delayed answering simple enquiries until the buyers gave up and the whole transaction collapsed.

Chain-free buyer says they are three months into the purchase and still have not exchanged.

User raises possible conveyancing professional negligence after a property transaction issue, showing concern that legal advice or process failures may have caused loss.

Every time we chased, we were told ‘the pack is being prepared’ while our buyer threatened to walk away.

There’s nothing wrong with the flat, just timewasters – but each collapse knocks her confidence and adds more months of limbo.

A second set of buyers then dropped out just days before exchange, citing devastating work news – we felt like the rug had been pulled twice.

Our buyers kept sending increasingly aggressive emails demanding last-minute discounts, threatening to pull out every few days until we finally told them to forget it.

When we tried to resurrect the purchase a few months later, we were told the original mortgage offer had expired and we’d have to start again from scratch.

Industry article says the average property transaction now takes around 123 days, highlighting how slow legal processes test buyers and sellers.

A mortgage broker article warned that if your mortgage offer expires before completion, it can effectively stop your purchase and force you back to square one with a fresh application.

Agent review platform describes a 2026 complaint about poor service and billing after a cancelled subscription, showing frustration with property-industry supplier conduct.

Our conveyancer never clearly explained why we still had to pay them when the sale fell through; we only found out from an online guide that this was common.

Our flat has been back on the market for four weeks with only two viewings. Last year our agent left the listing live on Rightmove for eight months without telling us and we worry this has made buyers think something is wrong with the flat.

A valuation came back tens of thousands under expectations on a modern home, throwing a mortgage valuation into chaos.

its almost 15 weeks and our lawyer has advised us application for adverse possession and indemnity insurance

Our surveyor wildly overestimated the cost of some minor damp and movement; the buyers panicked and demanded a huge discount we simply couldn’t afford.

We are first time buyers and had an offer accepted on 30 October. A week after instructing solicitors I rang for an update and was told the person listed as our solicitor is not actually acting and the real one is on annual leave. His secretary will not accept calls or reply to emails. Our broker also called in sick so our mortgage application has been delayed and we are worried the sellers will think we are dragging our feet.

It then took weeks for them to finally admit they couldn’t proceed, by which point we’d already wasted time and money keeping everything ready to go.

A ReviewSolicitors page for one firm includes multiple complaints about poor communication, with clients saying they constantly had to chase for basic updates.

I asked for a completion date, they told me ‘TBC’. Two hours later they emailed saying they’d booked next week. Then they cancelled without notifying us.

“Communication was very frustrating… multiple emails not responded to.”

In the end it wasn’t a single big problem, just a thousand tiny delays from different firms that pushed us past our mortgage expiry date.

Claims of organised scammers and review suppression; alleges genuine reviews flagged and removed.

Transaction dragged on so long the buyer pulled out; emails ignored and no urgency at all.

In ‘House buying hell – is there anything I can do?’, an MSE user describes months of silence and delays from their solicitor while their purchase slowly unravels.

We lost money on a failed sale after the estate agent held onto the buyer’s deposit longer than they should and both sides argued about who’d lost out.

Fraudsters impersonated our solicitor and we sent thousands of pounds of deposit money to the wrong account.

Refusing the in-house mortgage broker made the buyer feel frozen out of viewings and offers, like access was being used as leverage.

Seller says lack of updates and replies dragged out the process and threatened the whole chain.

Our sale failed because the buyer’s lender didn’t like something in the searches and we never really got a clear explanation of what the issue was.

Would give zero stars if possible. Completely missed deadline to complete by over a month.

As a broker I’m seeing more surveyors slash valuations so much that buyers can’t bridge the gap, forcing entire deals to be abandoned.

the mortgage offer that his broker had got from Halifax to buy ours was conditional on him being released from his brothers mortgage.

That article also highlights confusion around the Building Safety Act, saying some conveyancers now refuse to act on certain flat sales because of cladding and liability concerns.

I accepted an offer a week ago and was told the estate agent would run affordability and other initial checks before marking the property as sold subject to contract. A week later I have had no update and no response to my email, and I am starting to worry about the lack of communication.

Valuation was completed, but the lender still hadn’t reviewed it. The broker was told it could take up to 10 working days, delaying everything.

Industry report says the CLC referral-fee review would examine whether estate-agent referral arrangements narrowed consumer choice.

One review mentioned that buyers hadn’t been properly vetted, leading to failed finance and wasted weeks for everyone else in the chain.

We pulled out when our solicitor explained the lease wouldn’t let us keep a dog or even hang washing on the balcony; it felt like a legal straightjacket.

I am buying a buy-to-let in a high flood risk area with a history of flooding. The current owners use Flood Re but landlords cannot, and I am struggling to find future-proof insurance cover at a reasonable cost.

Our mortgage broker never mentioned that the product fee was non-refundable if the purchase fell through; losing that money stung almost as much as losing the house.

“We had to chase and chase; nobody takes ownership.”

A neighbour’s extension had crept over the boundary years ago and nobody said anything; our buyers walked as soon as the title plan and reality didn’t match.

A reviewer warns that a ‘Land Registry searches’ site appeared official, took payment, and they say the requested information didn’t arrive.

The reviewer said calls and emails weren’t returned, and then extra money was demanded for paperwork, adding insult to injury after the deal died.

Developers forced her to exchange while the property was still unfinished because they knew the mortgage offer was ticking down.

A housepricecrash.co.uk thread bluntly says ‘service charges will make your flat hard to impossible to sell’ and calls leasehold a scam.

We’ve had a year of chain collapses and wasted time with other agents; every time someone above us pulled out, the whole process reset.

Northern flat owners have seen service charges rise by over 50 percent in five years.

Buyer says they cannot proceed through iamsold modern method of auction because of the non-refundable reservation fee and the property's history of survey-killed sales.

Our broker was unreachable for days at a time while the lender kept asking for urgent responses. We nearly missed the exchange deadline.

Repeated delays, unanswered emails and rude reception staff meant our buyer lost patience and walked away from the purchase.

We’re out of pocket on valuations, legals and searches and the lender just walks away. It makes you feel like the whole process is stacked against ordinary buyers.

We’ve had a notice to complete served, our lender has already released the mortgage funds, and we’ve paid our deposit. Because PM Law shut overnight, the money is in limbo and we could be in breach of contract through no fault of our own.

A Trustpilot review for SmoothSale said their previous sale collapsed and threatened their whole chain, but the company got the property re-listed and sold again within a week.

Leaseholder alleges they were overcharged for works that weren’t carried out and felt costs were presented in a misleading way.

The conveyancer changed fee-earner three times without telling us. Each new person claimed they ‘weren’t familiar with the file’, and basic questions had to be answered over and over again.

House sale fell through because the company took six weeks to answer a solicitor’s enquiry.

First time buyer says a supposedly chain-free purchase has dragged on for months with no exchange, showing how even simple transactions can stall.

A Trustpilot reviewer for Agent & Homes said their first sale collapsed with a different agent who had simply stuck it on Rightmove, but the new agent stepped in and actually drove the deal through.

Slow, understaffed and liars.

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Our buyers chose a PM Law group firm because it was on an online panel. After the shutdown there’s nobody to answer enquiries and we’re now stuck paying a mortgage on an empty house while we wait.

Reviewer says a house purchase took roughly 37 weeks after delayed communication and repeated administrative issues.

We were about to put in an offer on another property when our buyer backed out after four weeks, leaving us completely gutted and back at square one.

They stress that buyers should check the TA6 carefully, as it’s the main place where sellers must spell out any history of rows with neighbours.

Even after dropping the price further by tens of thousands, the property still didn’t sell, leaving the owner feeling cornered and undervalued.

Campaigners say many leaseholders were tempted in by low initial estimates without clear warning that charges could later soar.

A complainant describes feeling unsupported by the complaint process after incurring significant costs due to misleading chain information.

Email responses were so slow I started wondering if this was normal for solicitors.

A HousingUK user asked whether you can ever find out the real reason a buyer pulled out, because their agent just shrugged and said ‘they changed their minds’.

Consumer-facing guidance on PM Law closure warns affected conveyancing clients may need help retrieving files, establishing what happened to client money and completing post-completion work.

A seller says they’re blocked from selling because the buyer’s mortgage company insists on an EWS1 despite the block being under 18m and reportedly having no cladding.

The retirement flat seemed like a sensible investment, but high service charges and exit fees have made it unbelievably hard to sell on.

Home mover says repeated failed purchases caused major financial and emotional loss, showing how limited protection buyers have when transactions collapse.

Seller reports that the estate agent only managed to reach the buyer after completion had already fallen apart, showing how little control sellers have when a buyer withdraws at the last minute.

Our house sat on the market for weeks with almost no viewings and the agent did not seem proactive at all.

A review-style complaint says Seller says delays in the chain created avoidable costs and left them exposed to extra mortgage, rent or moving expenses. while waiting for the intervention agent to locate the file.

Consistently sat on our case with no action being taken, lied about what work had been done

Solicitor failed to notice a restrictive covenant preventing driveway changes, leaving new owner facing enforcement.

We've just had buyers pull out on the basis of survey from this company.

In another case, neighbours spent more than £200,000 fighting over a 16-inch strip of land – money that could easily have been the difference between moving and being stuck.

Once our mortgage term neared its end, we were bombarded with persistent calls and emails. It felt like pressure tactics rather than helpful advice.

Broker was dismissive and refused to help, then we later passed affordability with a different broker. We’re also concerned our details were shared onward without consent.

Our sale collapsed after six months, just before exchange. Now we’ve got two weeks to find another buyer or we lose our onward purchase and thousands in fees.

I keep refreshing Rightmove wondering how we’re meant to find a new buyer in two weeks just to keep our onward purchase alive.

Deed of variation promised ‘shortly’, then slow follow-ups with repeated chasing required.

Hearing that a property has already been under offer and fallen through makes you wonder what the survey or searches turned up that you’re not being told.

A different Trustpilot review says a conveyancer ignored emails for weeks and the whole experience was ‘really frustrating and stressful’, despite being recommended by a high street agent.

In another MSE thread, someone said their sale fell through after survey and they were left deciding whether to fix issues or accept a lower offer from the next buyer.

Upfront fee… property didn’t sell.

Seller says Purplebricks failed even to arrange a For Sale sign for weeks and that the service involved long hold times, poor communication and inexperienced staff.

A buyer says their purchase is stalling because the vendor’s estate agent won’t reply, and getting basic information about a management pack is ‘like getting blood out of a stone’.

A Reddit post titled ‘Down valued house at a bit of a loss’ describes two purchases falling through, £5,000 wasted and a year completely lost to the housing market.

Our sale fell through after the solicitor sent the wrong draft contract twice and then went on holiday without telling anyone.

We had to drop out after our buildings insurance quote doubled when the insurer saw the flood risk, which nobody had mentioned before.

In ‘Lost our buyer – need advice!’, a seller says they only had three viewings in six weeks and the third buyer backed out after an argument between themselves.

A Yopa review site lists repeated complaints like ‘house sale fell through’, buyers that weren’t properly checked out and poor advice on which solicitors to use.

We now have formal complaint letters and council reports that should clearly have been disclosed before we committed our life savings.

They describe clients who struggled to get basic answers about what stage their purchase had reached, or why nothing seemed to be happening for weeks.

On a motorbike forum, a seller said their sale fell through because the buyers only noticed two months in that the house had no driveway and needed obvious updates.

The same police warning highlights how payment-diversion fraud hits right near completion, when people are under pressure and moving large sums—exactly when a collapse can be financially devastating.

Buyer says estate agent communication failures added cost and hassle (extra solicitor certification demanded).

‘Checks’ and investor packs claimed, but buyer says crucial info wasn’t disclosed upfront and deal collapsed.

I’ve seen people trapped for years in leasehold properties they can’t sell because of service charge hikes and nightmare managing agents.

They thought they were relocating with a portable deal, but after repeated fall-throughs and missed payments they ended up being ‘dumped’ by their lender completely.

A lender-recommended survey dragged on for months, with poor updates and slow movement that blocked the mortgage and delayed everything else.

The Sun highlights a couple whose service charges jumped from £2,800 to £7,500 a year, leaving them unable to sell and delaying plans to grow their family.

The agent never checked basic details with the seller and we constantly got conflicting information.

Feedback was always that buyers loved the house but were put off by being next to flats and the parking situation, even at a price below recent comparables.

By the time we heard the valuer wasn’t comfortable, the buyer had already instructed their solicitor to pull out and we’d wasted months.

Owners now find their supposedly ‘affordable’ flats incredibly hard to sell, because prospective buyers baulk at the current charges and the risk of future hikes.

My house has had five offers from five viewings in just two weeks, but several offers are the same price. All buyers are first time buyers. I do not know how to choose between multiple identical offers.

Buyer says an estate agent would not go ahead with a viewing despite an AIP being provided, insisting on lender confirmation and suggesting use of the estate agent's own broker.

An Alexander Grace Law client complained that when their initial sale fell through, the firm still charged the full amount even though the transaction never reached exchange.

Another post in The Vault community shows a buyer being turned down for a flat because the service charge was more than 1% of the property’s value each year.

They say they’re trying not to panic, but every day of silence makes them more worried the sale will collapse at the last minute.

We discovered late in the day that the property relied on a ‘flying freehold’ over next door; our lender’s underwriters were deeply uncomfortable.

One poster said auctions are often where ‘doer-upper’ properties end up after regular buyers can’t stomach the cost and hassle of refurbishing them.

Seller says their estate agent left a listing live on Rightmove for months after viewings were paused, making buyers wonder why the flat had not sold and damaging its relaunch prospects.

Buyer pulled out after being passed from team to team and feeling the conveyancing was mishandled.

Buyer says delays in November made them so sick of the process they no longer wanted the flat.

A seller says the agent provided little proactive marketing and appeared to demand extra money for basic follow-through.

Their message to solicitors is blunt: start searches early and communicate clearly, or risk chains collapsing while everyone waits for paperwork.

The estate agent kept telling us ‘it’s all with the solicitors’ while our buyers’ searches hadn’t even been ordered.

Massively undervalued the property I am purchasing by £12k which caused a lot of stress, and wasted time.

I am selling my leasehold flat and the estate agent is unhelpful, avoids phone calls, and gives no guidance on the selling process. It is my first time selling and I feel completely unsupported.

A Times summary of the same Santander report says roughly one in three transactions still fail after an offer is accepted, largely due to delays and issues uncovered late in the process.

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING: Hello Forumites! In order to help keep the Forum a useful, safe and friendly place for our users, discussions around non-MoneySaving matters are not permitted per the . While we understand that mentioning house prices may sometimes be relevant to a user's specific MoneySaving situation, we ask that you please avoid veering into broad, general debates about the market, the economy and politics, as these can unfortunately lead to abusive or hateful behaviour. Threads that are found to have derailed into wider discussions may be removed. Users who repeatedly disregard this may have their Forum account banned. Please also avoid posting personally identifiable information, including links to your own online property listing which may reveal your address. Thank you for your understanding.

Poster describes a buyer nearly losing a house after the conveyancer left and nobody reallocated the case.

Buyer started a Help to Buy remortgage in August with a November completion target, but solicitor delays pushed the case past the planned completion date and left them stressed about what to do next.

A seller says their flat sale collapsed after the company took weeks to answer a key enquiry needed to proceed.

We’ve sold our home and given notice on our rental, but because PM Property Lawyers have collapsed, the purchase side has stalled completely. Our agent says the whole chain could now fall apart.

On another page of that thread, a commenter said their own sale fell through several times due to Covid disruption before they finally managed to complete.

We put our house on the market, found buyers and had an offer accepted on the place we wanted, only for everything to fall apart weeks later.

A seller says their house sale fell through for the second time ‘inches from completion’ and blames the estate agent for telling them the buyer’s mortgage was sorted when it wasn’t.

Buyer says the estate agent would not take the property off the market even after solicitor details were exchanged, forcing the buyer to consider bypassing the agent through solicitors.

Even though our initial sale fell through, the law firm still charged the full quoted fee and didn’t reduce anything despite the extra time and stress we went through.

The reviewer describes an in-house adviser as making misleading assurances and then going quiet once fees were paid.

A seller says a searches/title issue about land ownership triggered an adverse possession application, and they already lost one buyer and wasted fees on a property they wanted.

We were hit with an insurance loading because the property had a historical subsidence claim, something we only discovered after paying for searches.

Our flat has been on the market for ages but the massive service charges scare away every buyer, leaving us trapped and unable to move on with our lives.

Huge delays to the point that as sellers we almost lost our mortgage offer.

We discovered there was still ground rent on what we thought was a new ‘peppercorn’ lease – the charges weren’t obvious at the start.

Zapperty warn that missing documents – things like completion certificates, warranties and building regs sign-off – can delay or even derail a sale because buyers’ solicitors won’t sign off without them.

The previous agent basically disappeared once the ‘sold’ board went up; when the chain broke we had no plan, no updates and no buyer.

The agent’s marketing was basically just listing it online; when things got difficult, there was no real strategy to rescue the sale or find better buyers.

We discovered on the day of exchange that our lender wouldn’t draw down until an obscure wording in the lease was amended, which added weeks and cost us the buyer.

Seller threatened to pull out because conveyancing ‘dragged’; poster later complained and received compensation.

We used Valerie Holmes Law for our purchase and only learned about the PM group closure from social media. We’ve heard nothing directly and completion is off.

We’re stuck between pushing the sellers to hurry up or accepting that we’ll pay higher monthly payments for the exact same house.

They highlight cases where clients thought they had a fixed fee, only to find extra charges added when a sale dragged on or fell through.

A Digital Spy poster described being ‘so stressed’ when their sale fell through, saying they had no idea you could get that close to moving and still lose everything.

The advice everywhere is to look very closely at lease length and ongoing service costs, or you risk being stuck with something buyers keep walking away from.

They worry potential buyers will run a mile once they see how high the charges are for such a modest building.

Seller says their buyer withdrew on the morning of exchange because they were no longer feeling it, even though conveyancing had been rushed to catch up and everything seemed on track.

A buyer says they couldn’t get through to a human and the lack of response stalled their purchase.

After my first purchase fell through I used the same surveyor again, but this time he kept rearranging and going quiet for weeks, leaving the whole purchase in limbo.

The article notes that insurers may load premiums heavily or even refuse cover after a flood, making the property harder to sell and more expensive to own.

Avoid like the plague! Very poor competence and communication.

We’ve spent over £43,000 on charges and council tax trying to sell Mum’s retirement flat for years, and it’s still on the market for far less than we first listed it.

Buyer says they were effectively forced to see the in-house mortgage adviser to have a better chance of purchasing.

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The buyer demanded thousands off the sale price for every minor issue on the survey and sent daily threatening emails; eventually we cancelled the sale for our own sanity.

A seller says repeated non-responses made their transaction drag and created avoidable delays during conveyancing.

Buyer says they are convinced an estate agent buried their offer because they refused to use the agent's in-house broker, describing repeated pressure calls after they said no.

Conveyancers still in the dark on material information: guidance withdrawn and sellers unsure what must be disclosed.

The estate agent and our buyer’s solicitor have both gone quiet for weeks. We’re stuck in limbo with no idea what’s outstanding.

Buyer view: estate agent demanded address certification by a solicitor — extra cost and hassle.

By the time our sale finally went through, we’d already paid surveyors and solicitors for two separate failed purchases and were nearly out of savings.

Former owner says Land Registry delay was caused by the conveyancing solicitor not sending appropriate documents at completion.

Our friend’s entire chain collapsed because a single buyer’s mortgage offer expired right before exchange and the lender refused an extension.

A ReviewSolicitors entry for AVRillo notes that the other side’s solicitor was ‘vague and slow’ in their replies, using a different excuse each week to delay exchanging contracts.

Buyer affected by a law-firm closure says their conveyancing file and completion timetable were thrown into uncertainty while they waited to learn who held their papers and funds. The review pattern points to stress caused by delays and poor updates.

Buyer says a seller delayed completion by six days, causing claimed losses of £5,500.

Solicitor gave wrong advice about lease extensions and nearly caused the purchase to fall through.

Seller says a survey report spooked their buyer, who backed out after reading it, despite the seller disputing the findings.

A buyer says they demanded the service charge in writing before offering, were quoted about £1,064, then discovered it was actually around £3,600 — and they wouldn’t have offered if told the truth.

Our solicitor never explained what ‘subject to contract’ really meant; we assumed it was all done, then watched the buyers walk away with no penalty.

Even though the sellers’ solicitor already had the contract pack ready from a previous buyer, it still took far longer than expected to send anything across.

The landlord has decided to sell and we’re getting multiple viewings a week. I’ve been kicked out of my own home so strangers can look round and it feels like harassment at this point.

They added that while everyone technically knows what they’re signing up to as leaseholders, the way some landlords try to change the deal mid-way feels like a breach of trust.

We only discovered an EWS1 was needed once the lender refused to issue a mortgage offer, by which point we’d all sunk money into legals and surveys.

Seller says their house sale fell through twice; each time buyers suddenly went quiet for weeks before admitting they couldn’t proceed.

Before we switched agents, we went through several failed chains where nobody seemed to coordinate the move properly, leaving us stuck in limbo.

We discovered after completion that the solicitor had never checked whether the solar panel lease met our lender's requirements. The bank later queried the documentation and we had to pay for additional legal work to satisfy them.

Throughout my property purchase, communication was almost non-existent, emails were repeatedly ignored for days or even weeks.

Raised an easement/boundary-related dispute and only received automated replies; no complaints procedure provided.

Some shared-ownership leaseholders face five-figure service charges making their homes unsellable.

Our conveyancer is impossible to get on the phone and rarely answers emails. We wanted to exchange next week but can’t even get an update.

They warn that an expired offer can mean more credit checks, new valuations and the risk of being offered a worse rate than before.

My solicitor said the buyer’s solicitor were 'wide-boys' and couldn’t get straight answers from them; it ended up taking eight months before the whole thing finally fell apart.