After the PM Law group collapse, we learned the SRA had stepped in and taken over client files and accounts. As sellers we still don’t know when we’ll see our sale proceeds.

Seller says a lender-panel surveyor report was so alarmist that their sale nearly collapsed, triggering renegotiations and delays.

They highlight that even if the purchase price looks attractive, big annual fees can make a property much harder to resell and knock thousands off its market value.

We instructed Gaddes Noble after a bereavement to sell my gran’s house. They requested deeds and searched the wrong property, ignored calls and emails and added to the stress at every stage.

They said it felt like signing a blank cheque to a management company, and they weren’t prepared to risk being unable to sell later.

Agents told to shape material information guidance. The industry says the rules are confusing, so we bought in a grey zone with hidden facts.

Endless delays, lies and inefficiencies.

We completed our sale through a PM Law firm just before the collapse, but the proceeds never reached us. That money was supposed to fund our next purchase and now both moves are on hold.

The watchdog says ground rent is not legally or commercially necessary, yet thousands remain stuck in contracts with rising charges.

One HomeSellingExpert guide estimates nearly a third of sales fall through and says many buyers are shocked to discover their mortgage offer doesn’t protect them from that risk.

They stress you must disclose any serious dispute on the TA6 form or risk a misrepresentation claim later if the buyer discovers how bad things really are with the neighbours.

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

Our buyer’s buyer pulled out the day after the stamp duty holiday ended; nobody would say why and their solicitor just signed off with a casual ‘sorry’.

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

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.

Some owners end up effectively paying to keep an empty flat going each year, slowly burning through their inheritance while the property sits on the market.

The same buyer says their mortgage offer expires mid-December and they’re panicking about whether they need an extension because no one will confirm what’s holding things up.

The Financial Times is now actively asking readers for ‘house moving horror stories’, saying recent research shows huge numbers of failed transactions and chains collapsing.

Our house sale fell through because the buyers suddenly ‘had concerns’ about the separate garage, even though it was clearly on the title and had been used that way for years.

We are mid property transaction and the service is worse than useless. Endless delays, lies and inefficiencies.

“Did not pay final ground rent and service charge… debt collection threats.”

Repeated spam calls from multiple numbers, despite never requesting contact—felt like harassment and possible data misuse.

A home-selling guide says many collapsed sales come down to the same problems: mortgages falling through, bad surveys, slow solicitors and buyers or sellers simply changing their minds.

Another Ombudsman case involved a conveyancer whose poor communication and delay meant a sale fell through; the clients said they’d never understood what was going wrong until the buyer walked.

I’d already mentally moved; now I’m back in the same house, surrounded by boxes and constant anxiety about ever escaping this process.

We’re trying to sell and the buyer’s survey has thrown up a laundry list of alleged defects. Some are flat-out wrong, but it’s enough to make them hesitate and threaten to pull out.

A mortgage advice article warns that when an offer expires mid-transaction, it can knock over multiple linked sales and cause a chain to collapse completely.

Waiting months for a certificate of deeds needed to complete a flat sale.

One Redditor said their ‘useless’ solicitor took ages to acknowledge a complaint and then the sale fell through, leaving them paying for work they felt had been badly handled from day one.

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

Victims of Friday afternoon fraud describe losing life savings due to email interception.

“Consistently sat on our case… lied about what work had been done… rarely responded.”

They argue the solicitor handled sensitive information too lightly by not verifying the details properly, and note the fallout can drag on for months.

Sometimes it took over a week to get any answer to urgent questions about the purchase.

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

Buyer says their solicitor keeps blaming ‘missing paperwork’ but won’t specify what’s missing, delaying exchange indefinitely.

The HomeOwners Alliance points out that the largest number of Legal Ombudsman complaints relate to residential conveyancing – especially poor communication and delay.

Another thread describes a buyer’s survey throwing up ‘alleged issues’ that the sellers dispute, but the buyer still uses it to renegotiate and delay the sale.

Our sale fell apart because the buyer’s mortgage valuation came in way under; there was too big a gap for them to make up.

An Everys Solicitors article on the ‘hidden costs’ of leasehold says some owners face escalating ground rents and service charges that make it difficult to sell or remortgage at all.

One poster said the worst part was having no binding commitment until exchange – months of work can vanish with a single phone call.

Our sale fell through a couple of times during COVID; each time the solicitors seemed to drag things out while everyone’s circumstances kept changing.

The HomeOwners Alliance say retirement flats can be nightmare to sell on because service charges creep up over time until they look eye-watering to new buyers.

HomeOwners Alliance similarly notes that many complaints about solicitors relate to conveyancing, especially where clients feel they’re left chasing updates themselves.

In ‘Has my mortgage broker been negligent?’, an MSE user says their broker didn’t warn them about key affordability issues, leaving them with a mortgage offer that later fell apart.

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.

They contrasted that supportive approach with other agents who disappear once a ‘sold’ board goes up and do little to rescue a wobbling chain.

A Trustpilot reviewer for British Homebuyers says their high street estate agent produced ‘no progression’ on their sale, which pushed them to look for an alternative route to sell.

my solicitors have said that they WILL NOT under any circumstances, issue draft contracts until the registration has been made

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

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.

“The whole process of buying a house has been painful… largely down to our solicitor.”

After spending money on valuation and legals, we had to abandon the purchase because cash buyers were our seller’s only hope.

The previous sale on the house collapsed after the buyer’s lender down-valued it; we had the same problem and couldn’t bridge the gap either.

On MSE, a buyer says their ‘new build long stop’ has come and gone with no completion, leaving them stuck waiting while the developer keeps pushing dates back.

Our shared ownership flat has a £5,600 annual service charge we were never warned could increase this much.

HomeSellingExpert say surveys show the average amount lost in fees after a sale falls through is roughly £2,700–£2,900 in England and Wales.

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.

Posters reply that if you downplay or hide a dispute, you risk serious trouble later – including claims for misrepresentation if the buyer finds out.

Our neighbour started threatening legal action over a shared driveway right in the middle of the sale, spooking the buyers into walking away.

They only sold once a local high-street agent took over, knew the patch and actually progressed the sale rather than just listing it.

Selling a leasehold: charged hundreds for standard enquiries and slow responses risk collapsing the chain.

I was told I should not expect replies the same week because they were so busy.

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

Used a quote-comparison site and then received persistent contact (texts/emails/calls) that felt like harassment.

We realised just how unhelpful our original selling agent had been once we worked with a more proactive firm.

We had a viewing last week from a cash buyer and have heard nothing back. The agency keeps saying they will chase but I feel they are not really trying because we are changing estate agents when the contract expires. This was our first viewing in 13 weeks and apparently the viewer loved the house.

They describe the weeks after the fall-through as ‘very stressful’, with constant fear the rest of the chain would collapse before a replacement buyer was found.

We tried an online agent for the lower fees but service was so poor we moved to a local high street firm instead.

The buyer isn’t responding much, and my estate agent is not helpful

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.

Our house sale fell through because the freeholder’s agent took six weeks to answer a basic enquiry from our solicitor – by the time they replied, our buyer had lost patience and walked.

The survey uncovered serious structural movement and damp; our lender still valued at the asking price but we decided the risks were too high and walked.

One reviewer says their conveyancer’s lack of contact left the lender and the seller’s solicitor exasperated and dragged the whole process out.

A buyer asked online whether their seller’s lack of response to basic enquiries was a red flag – weeks had passed, no documents had come back, and their solicitor was warning the chain could fail.

I was told it was a fixed-fee job with nothing to pay if the sale failed, then hit with a huge invoice when the buyer pulled out at the last minute.

Our buyer’s lender decided late in the day that the property was 'unmortgageable' due to its condition, and the quick-sale company had to pass us to a different team.

“Been waiting over a month for an insecure and dangerous front door… to be repaired.”

Our lender’s valuation came in far below the agreed price; the seller wouldn’t negotiate and the whole purchase collapsed.

We had three different estate agents over two years and still no completed sale; every chain seemed to fall apart over someone else’s paperwork or finances.

Searches came back early August, enquiries sent late August — no response until early September, and still no update.

Our buyer pulled out because the leasehold house had escalating ground rent; their solicitor warned it could make the place unsellable in the future.

We had a £45k down-valuation on a shiny refurbished place – the lender’s surveyor decided it wasn’t worth anywhere near what we’d agreed and the sale collapsed overnight.

Homeowner says the warranty felt pointless because every issue raised was refused or deflected, even when problems persisted.

Our neighbour started harassing viewers whenever we had a viewing booked – shouting over the fence about parking and noise.

We’d paid survey and solicitor fees only to have the seller pull their house from the market a week before we were due to exchange.

It’s maddening that a survey can kill your sale yet there’s so little transparency about what was actually written or whether it was fair.

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.

Our sale fell through because the buyers ‘suddenly realised’ the house doesn’t have a driveway – after two viewings and two months of back-and-forth, they just walked away over something that obvious.

“Drag​ged out the whole conveyancing process… exasperation of my lender and seller’s solicitor.”

Gaddes Noble took over two years to complete a simple conveyancing matter and still failed to secure legal title. Documents were lost, excuses made and we felt pushed from one unqualified person to another.

“The buying experience was slow and stressful… communication was appalling.”

We got almost no proactive contact; everything had to be chased repeatedly.

Our buyer’s mortgage fell through and the agent called to ask if we’d still be interested at our original price, but by then we’d lost faith in the whole process.

Seller says they lost a buyer because the firm took too long to respond to routine queries.

They say the previous agent ‘did no marketing’ and the experience taught them how much chain progression and chasing really matter.

Solicitor accidentally sent confidential documents to the wrong estate agent, breaching GDPR.

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.

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

A seller says they needed a management pack for a sale and waited weeks while getting little help or clarity.

Broker claimed our mortgage was guaranteed and encouraged us to book surveys. The lender declined days later leaving us £700 out of pocket.

They misread the seller’s TA6 and failed to notice the property had an unresolved insurance claim. Our lender refused to proceed once the issue finally surfaced.

In the same Reddit thread, another person said their purchase fell apart when the surveyor reported structural movement and the lender refused to lend without expensive remedial works.

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.

We were told everything was 'standard' and not to worry about the service charge level. A later review by another adviser highlighted escalating costs and minimal reserve funds which should have been flagged at the outset.

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

“It took them 5 months… to send initial enquiries.”

The lack of any joined-up system meant the broker blamed the solicitor, the solicitor blamed the agent, and we were just left with a failed sale.

We’re up against a fixed-rate deadline and facing the prospect of an unsellable flat just as our mortgage costs are about to jump.

An advice site reminds buyers that if they feel an estate agent has misled them about why a previous sale fell through, they can escalate the complaint to the Property Ombudsman.

An article on claim delays notes that many home insurance customers are left waiting so long for decisions and repairs that their lives are effectively on hold.

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

We were supposed to complete on Friday. Instead, we’re in a short-term let with our furniture in storage because our conveyancing firm shut overnight and nobody can tell us when we can actually move in.

Quick Move Now warn that unresolved neighbour rows – noise, harassment, anti-social behaviour – can seriously hamper a sale or force big price cuts just to get someone to buy.

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.

The survey report contained statements that felt wildly exaggerated, creating alarm for the buyer and putting the sale under threat.

Ground rents have become controversial — we thought we owned the freehold when in fact we had little control and large escalating fees on house we bought.

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.

In our chain, one link used a PM Law brand. Several families have already moved out or given notice, and there’s real anxiety that some of them could be left without anywhere permanent to stay.

Buyer believes an estate agent lied about speaking to the seller, rejecting their first offer within minutes, then going silent for days when they increased it, leaving them feeling manipulated and mistrustful.

We’re months in and still waiting for replies. I’m permanently stressed because every update takes forever.

Material information guidance says lease length, charges, ground rent and building safety issues all need to be up front in listings.

A move was held up while waiting for the managing agent to provide a sales pack; the silence dragged on for weeks despite chasing.

Buyer reports discovering after completion that the loft conversion had no building regulation sign off and says neither the estate agent nor their conveyancer clearly explained the risks during the purchase.

I’m so stressed – the sale fell through and I feel like we’re stuck in limbo, unsure whether to relist, rent or just give up.

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.

Impossible to contact… after my money was paid.

No communication at all… relentlessly chase my solicitor for updates.

They say this cautious approach fuels fall-throughs when sellers refuse to drop to the survey figure and buyers can’t stretch further.

We were stunned to learn that until exchange, either party can just walk away; months of work and money can vanish with one email.

Buyer's solicitor has gone quiet for over two weeks, causing the seller to panic that the chain will collapse.

They explain their solicitor originally told them completion would be March with a long-stop in September, but they’re now being told it could be April the following year.

So slow we lost our buyer. After over 180 days of waiting... our buyer finally pulled out and I don't blame them.

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.

A seller says they’re 9 weeks in and their buyer’s solicitor appears to have done almost nothing, ignoring repeated chasers, and they fear the onward seller will pull out due to lack of progress.

The Law Gazette reports that solicitors can face sanctions even when delays are caused by third parties if they fail to manage expectations or keep clients informed.

They say the agent applied intense pressure to complete quickly and chased them daily, then the purchase fell apart and left them in a housing scramble.

“I have no idea where the house sale is as no one is contactable.”

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.

They warned the OP that once charges hit a certain level, you’re competing with houses and cheaper flats and may have to discount heavily just to get any interest.

Can't give zero otherwise I would.

Ground rent terms looked small at first, but the doubling clause made the flat borderline unmortgageable once our lender saw the detail.

They say they only learned the mortgage offer still wasn’t in place via a solicitor letter over a bank holiday, and believe the agent knew earlier but didn’t tell them.

A buyer says they paid thousands in a modern method of auction reservation fee, completed everything on time, but the seller dragged their heels until the reservation period expired — then sold to someone else.

We were pressured into using the in-house mortgage adviser and felt it affected how seriously our offer was treated.

I had my offer accepted in early July. I have still not completed the purchase. …passed to 3 different solicitors

Signed deed of variation promised ‘shortly’—then no progress and no proper responses.

Invoice demanded for ‘opening a file’ despite the person saying they never engaged them.

Their guidance says firms could avoid a lot of this anger simply by agreeing realistic timescales and sticking to regular updates.

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.

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.

Knowing a deal had already failed once because of the survey made us suspicious there were serious hidden problems, even though we loved the house.

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.

Our buyer used Angela Viney and the file moved at a snail’s pace. Emails were ignored, they posted documents instead of emailing and the whole thing was a mess from start to finish.

As a broker, it felt like constant back-and-forth with repeated requests and slow progress—seriously delayed cases.

We used Butterworths / PM Law for both our sale and purchase and were just about to exchange and set a completion date when we discovered the doors locked and a notice saying they could no longer trade. Both sides of our move are now at risk of collapsing.

Some leaseholders have discovered that a big chunk of their buildings insurance costs is hidden commission, adding to the sense that they’re paying too much to live in a place they can’t easily sell.

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.

I thought ‘no move, no fee’ meant exactly that, but when the sale collapsed I was handed an £800 bill for an insurance policy I didn’t even know I’d supposedly agreed to.

The valuation visit felt rushed and incomplete, yet the report still managed to create problems that slowed our mortgage progress.

We’d planned everything around completing before the stamp duty deadline. When the chain broke the day after, we were left paying higher tax and facing a collapsed sale at the same time.

Avoid. I contacted them on 19th June to say our "seller" had withdrawn the property we were buying

Our buyers pulled out four days before exchange. The property opposite came on the market later and we ended up buying that instead – in better condition.

In ‘House sale collapse’, a seller says their buyer’s sale collapsed and the buyer immediately relisted with the same agent, but they were never told why it fell apart.

Our chain collapsed after five months when the vendor at the top lost their onward purchase and the agent kept quiet about it for weeks.

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

They say the flood risk wasn’t flagged in the report at all, and they only caught it by reading through the documents themselves right before exchange.

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.

During a remortgage, the service left me frustrated and chasing; it felt like poor handling of a basic process.

Many say the moment the lender’s number comes back, negotiations turn sour and one side walks away, killing the deal.

They advise keeping a clear paper trail of what’s happened, because serious long-running disputes can knock a significant amount off the sale price.

Only discovered late the lease was 79 years — this triggered lender advising us to renegotiate or face higher interest.

Our buyers pulled out after their broker finally admitted he’d put them with the wrong lender for our property type, and their new bank wouldn’t lend enough.

Wasted 4 months of my life.

It’s frustrating that when a sale collapses you rarely get a straight answer; as the seller you are just told the buyer has withdrawn and you’re left guessing what put them off.

Consistently sat on our case with no action... lied about what work had been done... rarely responded.

“Connells never respond to email enquiries.”

Leaseholder says trying to pay ground rent was made unnecessarily difficult, with limited payment methods and failed attempts.

Our first buyer pulled out saying the solicitor was taking too long; we then lost a second buyer for similar reasons because the lawyer rarely replied to calls or emails.

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

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

As a Butterworths client I was never clearly told they’d become part of PM Law. Only after the social media posts did I spot a quiet change in the email footer. Now the firm has shut, my will and other documents are locked away and nobody is replying to requests for them.

I only had 2 offers both fell though one kept me holding on for 6 months…

Our buyers’ solicitor said they couldn’t get any replies from Latimer Lee; in the end the sale fell through because communication was so poor.

Agents say prospective purchasers now walk away as soon as they see the service charge schedule, leaving some flats effectively unsellable unless prices are slashed.

We’re totally broken by the market – we’ve done everything right and still ended up with no house and a pile of invoices.

Agents in our area are warning that any chain touching a PM Law brand could be at risk. Some buyers have drawn down mortgage funds, but completions can’t happen while the regulator sorts through the firm’s accounts.

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 describe emails going unanswered for weeks and only finding out about issues after repeatedly chasing.

Another MSE thread describes a seller whose buyer’s own purchaser pulled out a week before exchange, leaving the entire chain at risk.

We were stunned that you can get all the way to the finish line and still lose the sale in a single phone call.

They ignored my broker completely and refused to talk to anyone but me by email.

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

Estate agents told us the ground rent ‘issue’ had been fixed, but the updated terms still looked risky once our solicitor explained them.

“After 8 weeks of torture… I decided to go to a real conveyancing firm.”

The Legal Ombudsman described a buyer whose sale collapsed over a title issue; they were told they could use indemnity insurance, but nobody explained it properly until it was too late.

Our conveyancer never clearly explained that we’d be responsible for insuring the property from exchange, which nearly delayed things when the lender checked the policy details.

A valuation report was seen as careless and contradictory, creating weeks of delay while the buyer and lender tried to make sense of it.

Paid for documents but received the wrong ones and then emails were ignored; no clear complaints route.

We did not get a drain survey and the house surveyor failed to identify cracks and movement that were caused by a collapsed drain. We have now discovered the problem and want to know where we stand since the issue was completely missed before purchase.

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.

I pay a management fee so the letting agent can manage my property, but they barely inspect it, never spot issues and communication is dreadful.

It underlines how much power a survey report now has: one pessimistic comment and a deal months in the making can vanish overnight.

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.

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

Our estate agent kept telling us everything was ‘progressing nicely’ while the buyers’ mortgage offer quietly expired in the background.

A family received post suggesting the property might still be registered to the previous owner months after purchase, triggering alarm.

The lender insisted on re-running affordability twice due to ‘system errors’. Each delay pushed us closer to losing the house.

We went ahead with leasehold and now feel trapped by high service charges and little control – we underestimated how bad it could be.

Another Guardian story describes ‘affordable’ shared-ownership buyers seeing service charges rocket by hundreds of percent, to the point they can barely stay afloat.

“Constant delays… risk of unnecessary stamp duty costs.”

Our rental property sale fell through twice in a row. Each time we paid for more solicitor work and never got close to exchanging contracts.

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

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.

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

nearing completion I was being fobbed off all the time

They feel totally in limbo – trapped paying for a home neither they nor anyone else really wants at that level of ongoing cost.

Our buyer pulled out after seven weeks, right after their survey, and never gave a clear reason. We were first-time sellers and had no idea this happened so often.

“Overstate value then get you to reduce.”

MoneySavingExpert users share stories of down valuations where surveyors shave tens of thousands off agreed prices because local comparables haven’t caught up.

Chasing for updates felt like a full-time job – emails ignored, calls not returned, and then a casual ‘oh, yes, I’ll order that today’.

The experience left us feeling that many of their positive reviews were not reflective of reality.

They give examples where failure to chase other parties or explain slow progress left clients convinced their lawyer just didn’t care.

Clients visiting Butterworths in Carlisle found a notice saying PM Group firms could no longer trade. Staff hadn’t been warned, and buyers and sellers were left standing outside with no idea what would happen to their moves.

We’re FTB with no chain but our solicitor replaced halfway through the process and now exchange looks six months away.

A mortgage valuation was booked but the company couldn’t provide a sensible time slot. Seller felt messed around during a live transaction.

Our agent seemed more interested in protecting their relationship with a pushy developer than in being honest with us about why our sale had collapsed.

My previous purchase collapsed after searches and the solicitor charged me the full amount again for the new one.

A relative of ours is sleeping on a blow-up bed because her purchase money is stuck in a PM Law client account. She’s technically completed on a sale but has nowhere permanent to live right now.

Average service charges for flats have risen to £2,300 a year, outpacing wages and inflation.

The typical fall-through now costs movers around £3,400 in wasted fees.

A mortgage broker explained that when a sale falls through, most lenders will transfer a mortgage offer – but buyers still face another valuation and fresh paperwork all over again.

A first-time buyer says their conveyancer is ‘ghosting’ them: good comms with broker and agent, but repeated emails to the solicitor get no reply and it’s making them anxious.

At Lang Town & Country, a reviewer talks about an ‘exhausting 11-month journey’ where their chain collapsed several times before the team finally got it over the line.

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

We went with British Homebuyers after a previous sale using a local agent fell through, and just wanted a route that would actually complete.

We’ve lived in limbo for months, paying for a house we no longer want to be in while the chain repeatedly falls apart around us.

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.

They advise taking complaints all the way to the Legal Ombudsman if internal procedures don’t fix things, because poor conveyancing is a major source of consumer harm.

One poster said their house sale fell through a week before completion and they ended up suing the buyers for breach of contract to recover some of their losses.

Some buyers only discover after purchase that their flat’s service charges make it almost impossible to sell on at a fair price.

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.

The HomeOwners Alliance warns that a down valuation can completely upend a sale, because buyers suddenly can’t borrow enough to stick to the agreed price.

We only realised after moving in that the previous owners had constant rows with the neighbours about noise; none of it was mentioned on the TA6.

A Trustpilot review for Lang Town & Country describes an eleven-month journey with multiple chain collapses before the buyers finally secured the house they loved.

A First Time Buyer Facebook group member said their seller had ‘probably pulled out’ but neither the agent nor solicitor would give them a straight answer for days.

Sale for seller collapsed — review alleges they weren’t told for weeks that the sale had failed.

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.

The property was marketed as ‘no onward chain’ to secure a quick offer, but later turned out not to be true—costing the buyer dearly.

The Advisory’s guide to conveyancing complaints notes that common problems include slow progress, poor communication, unexplained extra fees and buyers or sellers feeling ignored at key stages.

The new agent actively marketed the flat and coordinated buying and selling when the earlier attempt had just drifted until the chain collapsed.

After a two-year buying journey, it’s exhausting to still be asking whether the sellers actually have authority to sell or if we’ll be back to square one again.

They said each collapse cost them more in fees and they were starting to think the only option was selling to a quick-sale company just to escape.

A buyer on Facebook said their chain collapsed because the bottom of the chain couldn’t get a mortgage, leaving everyone above stranded and scrambling to renegotiate with builders.

The company defrauded me of £6,000

We had to walk away from a house we loved after our mortgage broker told us the new lender stress tests meant our original agreement in principle was useless.

The sellers said the buyers didn’t even have the decency to pick up the phone, leaving everyone to piece things together from silence.

It’s brutal that you can get that close to exchanging and still have everything fall apart with a single phone call.

Campaigners say buyers were lured in with low initial estimates and only later discovered the true cost of living there.

“So slow we lost our buyer… over 180 days… our buyer finally pulled out.”

The HomeOwners Alliance notes that average service charges for flats hit around £2,300 in 2024, up 11% in a year – and that this is now putting buyers off.

They say the only reason they stuck with the process was because the branch kept explaining what was happening each time another link failed.

Our flat’s high service charge meant even cash buyers tried to knock tens of thousands off the price to compensate for the annual costs.

A whole new level of deception in the property investment industry to say the least.

We were using PM Property Lawyers to buy our first home. I’ve already paid thousands in fees and extra for a fire risk assessment. Now the firm has collapsed mid-transaction and I’m stuck in limbo, anxious that all that money and the purchase itself could be lost.

A long list of survey issues, from damp to missing structural support, led the buyer to demand a huge discount and effectively killed the deal.

A Guardian piece reports that average service charges for leasehold flats have jumped to around £2,300 a year, with many owners now paying more in charges than in council tax.

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.

Slow slow and slow… Searches done after two months… It’s been 3 months and we don't even have exchange.

Our house sale has now fallen through three times. Each buyer had a different excuse and we’ve lost patience with the whole system.

I complained that my conveyancer never returned calls; by the time the firm apologised, the chain had already fallen apart.

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.

After 11 months and several chain collapses, we finally completed. Our latest agent actually returned calls and emails, which shouldn’t be rare but apparently is.

They said emails went unanswered for weeks, buyers lost patience and withdrew, and now they’re being chased for a full fee on a failed transaction.

The HomeOwners Alliance notes that the biggest share of complaints to the Ombudsman now come from residential conveyancing – buying and selling homes.

One avenue of complaint to the Legal Ombudsman involved a solicitor who left a client unclear about a buyer’s intentions; by the time they realised there was a problem, the sale had already fallen through.

Another commenter replied that they’d personally avoid buying in that block because high charges and future increases would make it very hard to sell on.

They say undisclosed disputes can come back to bite you if the buyer later finds old complaint letters or council reports you never mentioned.

Buyer alleges aggressive chasing for business via calls/texts/emails felt like harassment after requesting quotes elsewhere.

We had to pay for a second opinion just to prove the house wasn’t falling down, and by then the original buyers had gone.

Our move date was sprung on us with only a day to prepare because no one updated us.

A buyer describes being stuck for weeks with no clear answers while their conveyancer appeared disengaged.

Another MSE thread describes a buyer whose solicitor wasn’t approved by the lender, forcing them to apply to join the panel and delaying the mortgage offer for weeks.

Solicitor did not inform the buyer about a bankruptcy restriction on the title until days before exchange.

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.

Another ReviewSolicitors page shows a reviewer calling Harrisons Thames Valley Solicitors ‘poor communication, slow to act and completely unprofessional’.

Shocked to be basically 'scammed' by this firm.

On r/HousingUK, one buyer asks why their conveyancing solicitor never gives updates – calls go unanswered and they feel like their purchase has just been forgotten.

One British Homebuyers review said the first estate agent went quiet after a ‘sale’ was agreed; when the buyer pulled out, there was no plan B.

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.

A Sun investigation showed leaseholders billed ridiculous amounts for simple jobs like changing light bulbs, with hidden insurance commissions baked into already-high service charges.

The piece warns that hiding rows with neighbours can easily lead to fall-throughs or legal claims once buyers discover the truth.

Our sale fell through because we couldn’t agree on who would repair a dangerous retaining wall; neither side wanted to inherit the liability.

They worry that future buyers will take one look at the bill and either demand a big discount or walk away altogether.

A buyer warns that in the modern method of auction they paid thousands in a reservation fee, the seller ‘dragged their heels’, and after the 56 days the seller sold to someone else while the fee stayed non-refundable.

They underline how a single missed deadline can ripple up an entire chain and kill multiple linked transactions.

On Reddit, a leaseholder described their annual service charge making the flat ‘impossible to sell’ – buyers are put off before they even step through the door.

I found out today that my solicitor from the PM Law group has gone under a week before completion. My £50,000 deposit is now in limbo and even the SRA can’t give me a straight answer about what’s happening or when this will be resolved.

I feel like I’m one admin delay away from homelessness: my tenancy ends, my PM Law firm has closed and the regulator is dealing with ‘thousands of files’ before even getting to my case.

I posted that the vendor for a probate sale was not willing to pay for a gas safety check even though there was no history. After pushing, they finally agreed to fund it and the gas fire was found to have a gas leak and was condemned. It could have been very dangerous.

We’re stuck wondering whether to start again with another buyer or gamble on them fixing their finance before everyone in the chain walks away.

We’d already paid removals, searches and legal fees when the buyers walked away on completion day, leaving us with nothing and no comeback.

Complaint about returning key documents: slow, unhelpful, and felt like no one owned the issue.

We nearly lost our deposit after fraudsters spoofed our solicitor’s email and changed the bank details.

The lender agreed a short extension, but that meant a frantic race to exchange and complete within days to stop the whole chain collapsing.

Our chain collapsed after the builder admitted the property we wanted was not actually available; by then our buyer was threatening to walk as well.

Seller felt misled about service length; poor disclosure meant extra costs later to re-list elsewhere.

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

A reviewer describes worrying defects and frustration, saying the protection didn’t operate as they assumed it would.

We had one purchase fall through because of cladding, got gazumped on the second, and are now on a third house where probate questions are dragging on and on.

With Gaddes Noble we felt like a nuisance for asking simple questions. Deadlines slipped, key documents were wrong and our completion was delayed, leaving us out of pocket.

They described the journey as ‘painful’, with months of uncertainty and repeated collapses before a determined solicitor and agent team finally made it happen.

We’ve got a mortgage offer expiring soon, but PM Property Lawyers, who were meant to handle our purchase, have closed and nobody has told us what happens next.

They said it felt like signing up to an open-ended liability, and they didn’t want to end up with a flat that would be hard to sell on for the same reason.

We discovered on the survey that the loft conversion had no building regulations approval; the lender refused to treat it as habitable space and our sale died overnight.

We discovered after instructing solicitors that the loft conversion had no building regs sign-off; our lender refused to lend and the deal died.

On HousePriceCrash, posters said many central London flats with £2,000-a-year service charges and hefty council tax are just sitting on the market because buyers don’t want the ongoing cost burden.

MoneySavingExpert users discuss reusing previous buyers’ searches where possible after a fall-through, hoping to avoid paying twice for the same local authority checks.

I’m here to warn others who might be thinking about using this company who ultimately cost us the sale of our property.

A leaseholder said a simple request to pay in instalments was refused and escalated into extra charges and debt collection fees.

We wasted months on a house only to discover via searches that a major new road scheme was planned at the end of the garden.

I’ve missed out on a house because of them.

We only discovered previous subsidence after our insurer ran checks; no one had mentioned it at viewing, and it changed everything.

The conveyancer waited until the file had gone cold to send their invoice for a failed sale, ignoring how their delays had contributed to the collapse.

We’ve packed up our lives, kids and pets ready to move, only to be told our PM Law firm has closed and the completion can’t happen. We’re effectively homeless until someone new picks up the file.

A seller describes a failed completion day where the buyer’s solicitor suddenly asked for AML/source-of-funds documents at the last minute, even though the funds were already with them from a previous sale.

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

I felt rushed and pressured into signing the entire time. Ended up changing solicitors.

Our surveyor down-valued the house by £30,000 compared to the agreed price; the lender refused to budge and the seller wouldn’t negotiate.

Leaseholders saddled with cladding bills say they face thousands in costs they were never warned about.

Buyer’s premium refused even after the purchase attempt fell apart.

I was told that I couldn’t relist the property...

Citizens Advice say they see cases where buyers’ deposits aren’t returned promptly when a sale falls through, leaving people out of pocket and unable to move on.

One reviewer wrote that after ten months waiting, their simple complaint still hadn’t been looked at, calling the service ‘useless’ for small landlords.

A recent Legal Ombudsman data release shows residential conveyancing still tops the list of most-complained-about legal areas, with poor communication a leading issue.

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

By the time we saw the old structural report, we’d already spent money on our own survey; we felt misled and dropped out on principle.

There was almost no communication between seller and agent which made it impossible to judge the situation.

The HomeOwners Alliance guide to the TA6 form underlines that feuds with neighbours, noise issues and other disputes must be spelled out clearly.

I watched a whole chain fall apart when the buyer’s mortgage offer expired just before exchange; without a valid offer they simply couldn’t proceed.

Commenters say they’re seeing more properties ‘bounce back to market’ after surveys, as buyers use the report to get to a realistic price and sellers dig their heels in.

Another r/HousingUK post asks why conveyancing solicitors are so uncommunicative, complaining of unanswered emails, calls going nowhere and weeks passing with no sense of progress.

Off-plan delays left us paying for temporary accommodation far longer than budgeted.

They see more and more cases where buyers only discover noise or harassment problems after moving in, then regret not asking harder questions.

A broker site warns that if your mortgage offer expires before completion, you may have to reapply, redo credit checks and risk losing the original interest rate entirely.

On another MSE thread, a buyer said their purchase might collapse because the tenant wouldn’t respond about moving out – they feared the eviction problems would kill the sale.

Another reviewer says their purchase was ‘painful’ largely due to their solicitor, describing long waits and slow movement that made the whole process feel like it was going nowhere.

The idea of instructing my solicitor to chase the buyer for costs just adds another layer of stress after an already horrendous moving experience.

We could never get a straight answer on what local search indemnity actually covered, which made us nervous about going ahead after the first sale failed.

The amount of delays, no communication and me chasing them is utterly unacceptable!

The message is that ‘it’s the council’s fault’ isn’t enough on its own – clients still expect clear timelines and honest updates while they wait.

One Reddit user describes finding out about flood risk only through environmental searches, not from the original listing.

My sale fell through before exchange after six months on the market. Now we’ve got two weeks to get another buyer or we lose our onward purchase and thousands of pounds in fees.

On r/HousingUK, one leaseholder says annual service charges have made their flat ‘impossible’ to sell – first-time buyers can’t afford it and landlords can’t make the numbers work.

On ReviewSolicitors, a GloverPriest client says buying their first property was a poor experience, with constant delays, very few responses and even lost documents.

“Aggressive and bullied me throughout the whole time.”

A Trustpilot reviewer says a Countrywide survey ‘down-valued and ridiculed’ their home when they were trying to borrow more, leaving them angry and stuck on their existing mortgage.

The whole experience of losing a buyer, losing the house we loved, then starting again has put us off moving for a decade.

Lender’s valuation unexpectedly downvalued our home by nearly £20k, forcing us to renegotiate and nearly losing the purchase.

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.

Every time the chain moved an inch, someone’s solicitor raised a new ‘urgent’ enquiry and then took two weeks to send a two-line reply.

The solicitor’s advice seemed more focused on generating extra fees than getting the deal done, and they made no effort to stop the sale collapsing.

They specialise in ‘hard to sell’ flats where cladding, insurance and service-charge problems scare away normal buyers and mainstream lenders.

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

A Reddit user describes a Skipton mortgage valuation coming in well below both the price and estate agent valuation, and says Trustpilot is full of similar complaints about the same surveyor firm.

They’d done everything on time, but repeated delays and poor communication from the other side’s conveyancer meant the whole transaction was hanging by a thread.

Leaseholder says they paid a non-returnable deposit for a lease extension with an agreed timeline, but progress and communication collapsed.

Another Conveyancing Direct customer calls their experience ‘dreadful, unhelpful and depressing’, saying the lawyer did nothing for over a month then wrongly blamed them for delays.

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

Every potential buyer baulks at the fact the service charge can be increased without any cap; they don’t want to sign a blank cheque for the freeholder.

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.

We’re in limbo because the management company is dragging its feet over paperwork and no one seems to be pushing them.

On r/HousingUK, one poster recalls a chain collapsing because their buyers ran into problems with their flat which the estate agent and solicitors never shared in time.

I tried to buy a house but got so frustrated with the estate agent's anti-money laundering checks that I pulled out. They refused to accept any bills or statements that were not posted on paper and kept sending me away after three weeks of trying.

A seller describes a Barclays mortgage being delayed for months due to extra lender queries (including boundary paperwork and a management-fee question), and says they’re at their wits’ end.

They claim they were asked for the same information multiple times and felt the firm lacked basic urgency — but a new solicitor completed the sale in 10 weeks.

After months of chasing, our solicitor still hadn’t raised basic enquiries; the buyers’ patience finally snapped and they withdrew their offer.

They’re left wondering if they can withhold payment while they wait, and whether the dispute will scare off future buyers if they try to sell.

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

We were told the buyer had walked away due to our solicitor’s delays, but the firm still insisted on charging almost the full fee even though we never completed.

A 2021 MSE thread titled ‘Seller lied on TA6 form’ involves buyers discovering noisy neighbours after moving in and worrying the house will be hard to resell honestly.

We have viewers but no serious buyers because everyone is scared of the lease and potential future costs; it’s like trying to sell a ticking time bomb.

We’re executors trying to sell a flat from an estate. One sale has already collapsed and the whole process has been dragging on for ages.

I’m a first-time buyer using a PM Property Lawyers brand and haven’t heard anything directly from them about the closure. Everything I know has come from news sites and a Facebook group, while the house I’m buying is now stuck.

The solicitor didn’t realise they had been emailed the contract pack. They blamed the estate agent until the seller forwarded proof it had been delivered ten days earlier.

Many examples involve buyers and sellers who didn’t realise how badly their matter was drifting until deadlines were missed and transactions collapsed.

Another seller says buyers keep backing out of their leasehold sale as soon as they see the £3–6k annual service charges in the paperwork.

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.

Our buyers had lined up an affordable insurance quote, then the underwriter changed their mind when they saw old subsidence notes; their lender pulled the plug.

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.

A SmoothSale customer said their previous sale fell through, threatening the entire chain, until the company relaunched the listing and secured a new buyer within a week.

My house sale fell through twice and both times I could pinpoint the moment it went wrong: the buyers suddenly went quiet and stopped replying to messages.

They guessed the first-time buyers had offered more than they were comfortable with, then panicked once reality and the survey costs hit.

A reviewer says their sale nearly collapsed and they felt forced to repeatedly check and correct the legal work themselves.

MoneySavingExpert forum users discuss riverside flats where huge service charges meant values lagged far behind other blocks; owners struggled to sell even when the wider market boomed.

They say after agreeing a further £30k reduction out of desperation, it still didn’t sell, leaving them angry and feeling misled.

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

Another Mumsnetter said their house sale fell through twice and they were back on the market while the property they wanted to buy waited in limbo for them.

Advice pieces on selling land with boundary issues say that in many cases only specialist cash buyers or auctions will touch it, which limits options and drives down the achievable price.

Another poster described a buyer dropping out on the day of exchange for vague ‘personal reasons’, after everyone had booked removals and arranged time off.

“Undisclosed leasehold complications… made it unmortgageable.”

A buyer says the title plan didn’t match what was on the ground and their solicitor suggested adverse possession and indemnity insurance, while the lender decision dragged on.

We’re paying council tax and utilities on an empty house we sold weeks ago because the mortgage wasn’t redeemed before the collapse. We’re scared of enforcement letters turning up for a place we no longer live in.

They say the undisclosed arrangement destroyed trust and made them feel the agent lacked transparency with money flows and agreements.

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

The Law Society explains that the Legal Ombudsman mainly handles complaints about poor service – things like delayed or unclear communication and billing problems.

Agent allegedly overvalued the property then pushed for price reductions, with promised interest/open days not materialising.

After our buyer pulled out just before exchange we discovered we weren’t insured, so all the upfront survey and legal costs were money down the drain.

User says they ordered title documents from a site that looked official, then learned it was a paid third-party service and struggled to get support.

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

Lender kept asking for the same bank statements over and over, saying their system couldn't open PDFs. Caused huge delays.

We kept renewing our mortgage offer while chains kept failing further up; after the third collapse we finally walked away, thousands of pounds lighter.

Solicitor forgot to send the mortgage deed to the lender until the buyer chased, delaying mortgage funds.

As a seller, I now always ask why the previous sale fell through. Solicitors even raised it formally in their additional enquiries on my current flat.

A user asked whether they could re-use searches from a previous failed purchase on a nearby house, saying they were already down hundreds of pounds from the first one collapsing.

Cunningtons say if a seller misleads you about problem neighbours or disputes, you may have a claim for misrepresentation once the reality comes out.

“It is impossible to speak to someone directly.”

After our buyer pulled out at the last minute, the agent pushed us toward a quick-sale company that wanted a huge discount on the property’s value.

In a warning about property-transaction scams, police say Action Fraud recorded 143 conveyancing-fraud cases (Apr 2024–Mar 2025) with £11.7m total losses, mostly in residential deals.

They say many disputes reach the tribunal when leaseholders feel charges are unreasonable or poorly explained, which can itself delay sales.

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.

Another contributor replies that regular updates are a basic part of the job, and that most complaints they see in similar industries stem from not keeping clients informed.

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

The mortgage in principle looked fine until full underwriting; then the lender suddenly decided my overtime couldn’t be counted and the whole purchase collapsed.

They say poor communication and lack of UK-law knowledge led to confusion, mistakes and a feeling that nobody had ownership of the transaction.

Despite paying Gaddes Noble in full, including a duplicated £300 fee, our case dragged on with missing paperwork, excuses about Covid and the Land Registry that turned out not to be true.

One angry customer talks about ‘rogue reports’ and asks where the accountability is when a single survey can derail a remortgage and future plans.

The conveyancer was so slow and unresponsive that not only did we lose a cash buyer, we also had to start over with a new solicitor halfway through.

A previous buyer offered to share their survey results after their sale collapsed, which shows how desperate people are not to waste yet more money.

I asked to renegotiate after new information came to light during the buying process and the estate agent became extremely hostile, saying it is wrong to try to renegotiate at any point.

A Which? survey found that 84% of people whose sale fell through lost money, with an average loss of nearly three grand in fees and costs.

They now feel completely misled, stuck living next to someone the previous owner apparently ‘absolutely hated’ but never mentioned during viewings.

Buyer says the conveyancing fee list feels like paying for every tiny step, adding stress immediately.

Threatening letters and ‘anticipated charges’ tactics — feels designed to fine people rather than help.

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

The Guardian reports average service charges for leasehold flats rising 11% in a year to £2,300, with over half of leaseholders now paying more in service charges than in council tax.

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 MoneySavingExpert user had their sale fall through and then discovered their conveyancer still wanted the full fee, helped by a referral kickback to the estate agent.

Process dragged on for months with radio silence and a clunky online portal.

We had TR1 forms signed and were agreeing a completion date with PM Law at the end of January. Days later the firm disappeared and now we have no idea who to contact, what’s happening with our file, or how to get the purchase moving again.

Quarterly Legal Ombudsman data shows that almost half of accepted complaints are about poor communication or delays, with over a third relating to residential conveyancing alone.

Our flat has been on the market for five months with only occasional viewings despite lowering the price by 23k. We are close to negative equity and cannot afford to reduce the price further. We are worried the flat will never sell.

The Ombudsman reports hundreds of complaints where consumers say missing or unclear information would have changed their decision to proceed.

A homeowner complains that their second set of buyers pulled out after a title defect was discovered — something their own solicitor hadn’t spotted earlier.

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

We picked this company on price alone and soon found we'd made a terrible mistake!

Leaseholder alleges months waiting for a certificate/deeds item needed to complete a sale of a recently purchased flat.

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

No one ever answers calls; complaints get no response; basic communication is nonexistent.

One MSE user said their home insurance claim turned into a nightmare – months of strip-out, repeated flooding and almost no progress from the insurer or builders.

Action Fraud describes a case where a man lost £67,000 after fraudsters hacked email accounts and diverted a property purchase payment.

The first buyer walked away as soon as they realised there was a management company fee on top of the service charge; they said it felt like paying twice.

Another buyer posts that the sellers keep delaying and their mortgage offer is about to run out, meaning a replacement deal would cost thousands more.

Unfortunately, my experience as a seller ... there was almost no proactive communication.

My solicitor uses only email but doesn’t check their inbox. If I ring I get told ‘we will email you’ but I don’t get one.

Felt bullied and pressured throughout the sales process by an aggressive staff member.

We had buyers and then lost them because communication between the two conveyancers was non-existent; each side thought the other was dealing with key issues.

A Law Gazette summary of Ombudsman guidance reminds firms that they can still face criticism if they fail to manage expectations around third-party delays.

Ongoing false promises and constant chasing over months, with the paying customer feeling ignored.

They say they’d already paid for a valuation and searches and were devastated to lose the house with no warning.

Seller felt the buyer’s panel conveyancer model artificially extended the process and risked costly errors.

Over the years several estate agents have given such poor service that they really damaged the industry's reputation.

A payments glitch on moving day left one family homeless and paying for hotels and removal firms twice.

A buyer alleges an estate agent didn’t disclose a severe flood risk (level 3) before they offered — and they only found out weeks before completion via solicitors, after spending thousands.

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.

Which? highlight that the main reasons house sales fall through are buyers changing their minds, bad surveys, mortgage problems, chains breaking and legal delays – and most of that is outside your control.

The agent did almost nothing to manage expectations in the chain; buyers were allowed to drift for months and then pulled out without penalty.

A lender-appointed surveyor refused to value the property due to proximity concerns after a short visit, stalling the mortgage and piling on stress.

We’d booked removals and arranged child care, then got a call at 4pm saying completion wouldn’t happen because funds hadn’t been released in time.

Our first attempt to sell a rental property fell apart; the second buyers also dropped out and we ended up storing everything while we sold with no onward purchase.

We relied on a mortgage illustration to secure a property and paid a holding deposit, then after weeks of delays and repeated document requests they suddenly refused to proceed due to an internal restriction.

Our home was marketed as ‘affordable’, but sky-high service charges mean it’s now almost unsellable; every attempted sale fizzles out when buyers do the maths.

Their behaviour around access and viewings showed no regard for privacy or basic professionalism.

Seller says their sale fell through after the company took around six weeks to answer a solicitor enquiry needed to proceed.

“I was told I couldn’t relist the property.”

Our sale fell through and the ‘no move, no fee’ deal turned out to be an insurance policy that cost us nearly £800 for a move that never happened.

tell them your mortgage offer is about to expire and demand to understand what's causing the delay.

A buyer says they were effectively punished with a very late viewing date after refusing the agent’s mortgage adviser.

Before completion I paid my share of the annual estate maintenance fee to my solicitor, who sent it on to the seller's solicitor. Four months later the managing agent has written to me saying I still owe the amount, and the seller's solicitor is not responding, leaving me stuck in the middle.

Felt pressured into using the in-house mortgage adviser rather than it being a genuine option.

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.

Our late relative’s bungalow sale almost failed after the first buyer dropped out; without a proactive agent it would probably still be languishing on the market.

Seller: multiple buyers pulled out in a row; huge stress, delays, and costs mounting each time.

They describe missed timescales and difficulty getting through to the solicitor, with calls and emails often not returned when promised.

Another ReviewSolicitors complaint about Cunningtons says the client’s formal complaint took over a month to be answered, citing staff absences as the reason.

The government’s plan to move towards commonhold is partly a response to years of complaints that the current system is outdated, unfair and actively damages the resale prospects of some flats.

The poster says the neighbour only fixed the problem after the sale collapsed – they lost the buyer but finally got some peace and quiet.

“Lost two buyers due to lies he told our buyers.”

A Times article on conveyancing says the system is ‘organised chaos’, with one in three transactions falling through and average timescales stretching to around 185 days.

Seller says their solicitor held onto signed documents for a week before posting them, without explanation.

We had an offer accepted on a house that needs a fair bit of work because of damp. We thought we could get a damp survey after agreeing the price, but were then told there was already a damp report that should have been sent with the home report and we never received it. Now we have finally seen it and want to lower our offer because of the extra cost, but we are not sure where we stand.

We were told we’d pay a modest service charge, but years later the numbers have crept up so much that it’s scaring off potential buyers.

The agent was more interested in chasing new listings than dealing with our complicated chain; once it wobbled a bit, they let it collapse instead of fighting for it.

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

Booked viewing then cancelled shortly before; travel wasted and no proper handling.

Attempts to get any sense from the managing agent about future costs went nowhere; we didn’t want to buy into a blank cheque so we withdrew our offer.

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

Even if they price the flat aggressively, they worry buyers will run a mile once their solicitor points out the service charge history.

“Once the deal collapsed… repeatedly refused to refund the money.”

A lender-arranged mortgage valuation slot was booked, the estate agent waited at the property, and nobody arrived. Then we were told nobody was available.

We were eight weeks into selling and buying when our buyers pulled out over a personal issue – the agent for the house we want has given us two weeks to find someone new.

The buyer says the down-valuations and collapsed sales have left them feeling totally broken by the current market.

Felt like the default outcome was to down-value, regardless of evidence. It caused stress and threatened the mortgage offer.

Agents quoted in the article say high charges are reducing buyer demand and forcing sellers to drop prices just to get interest.

Survey flagged serious structural movement and other major issues. Buyer felt trapped after paying around £700 and feared the deal collapsing.

Endless delays and being asked to review documents that were never actually sent.

A Guardian feature on a cladding-blighted block describes residents living for years under scaffolding and blue netting, with flats practically unmortgageable.

They’re blunt that hiding it is not an option: if the buyer finds out later, you could face claims, legal fees and a nightmare dispute of your own.

On Trustpilot, a mortgage-broker service from Sequence/Sequencehome is called ‘a total waste of time’ – the reviewer says after a 90-minute call, they got a hard sell on insurance instead of helpful advice.

After getting the keys, we discovered the seller had replaced all the downstairs switches and sockets with cheap white ones despite signing to say all fixtures and fittings would stay. They also left two light fittings incomplete. We want the original fittings back but do not know how enforceable this is.

Buyer experience: keybox code missing, no one showed up, long holds on phone, blamed everyone else.

NetLawman explain that neighbour disputes cover everything from boundary rows and blocked driveways to noise and anti-social behaviour – all of which must be disclosed on the TA6 when you sell.

I have paid for searches again and my solicitor keeps adding admin fees for every small thing.

Totally incompetent - they should pay me. I have to constantly chase them to do their job. Expensive and happily miss deadlines.

Another commented that every time they spotted a listing reappear, they assumed the previous buyer had discovered something nasty in the survey or lease.

Our solicitor sat on the management pack request for nearly a month. The delay pushed our buyer to withdraw, costing us the entire chain.

They warn that on top of daily stress, unresolved rows can make selling harder and encourage buyers to chip away at the price.

Broker claimed a buy-to-let mortgage was arranged, took money, and then nothing progressed. Looked and felt like a scam operation.

The whole chain was hanging on one vendor buying a place with solar panels and non-standard construction; when that got rejected by their lender, everyone else’s sale collapsed too.

The conveyancer changed half‐way through and the new person inherited zero briefing. We got no handover and no update for weeks.

“Buyer’s solicitor didn’t like something on the title… waiting weeks.”

The reviewer says the delays exasperated their lender and the seller’s solicitor and that they would never consider using the firm again.

A Mumsnet thread about buying a leasehold flat pointed out that high maintenance fees and the fact you don’t own the land can make resale much harder than people expect.

We were advised to be vague about why the last buyer pulled out, but that just made new viewers even more nervous and slowed everything down.

On r/HousingUK, people were saying that leasehold flats with short leases, cladding or sky-high charges are already cash-buyer only and hard to sell even then.

One comment notes that if a bad survey causes a fall-through, at least the buyer hasn’t also paid for searches on a property they’ll never own.

They describe being devastated after paying for searches, legal work and removals planning, only to see months of preparation vanish overnight.

A PistonHeads thread about a flat service charge warns that if the bill isn’t paid, you can end up unable to sell at all because the arrears hang over the property.

By the time the surveyor had finished listing every minor defect as a potential hazard, our buyers had completely lost confidence and pulled out.

Our solicitor misfiled our ID verification forms and asked us to repeat the entire onboarding process two weeks before completion. The mistake cost us our removal slot.

A service-charge article points out that high annual fees can seriously shrink the buyer pool; lots of people simply will not touch a flat where the running costs eat half their disposable income.

They say some delays are avoidable with better communication, but others stem from a system still reliant on post, paper and overworked local authorities.

They felt stuck between overpaying for a risky property or walking away and losing their survey and legal costs, eventually choosing to withdraw.

Mid-purchase, told property would stay on market, then someone else bought — feels mishandled.

Appalling communication and customer service. Our buyers have used this solicitor and we're currently a month delayed.

Our leasehold flat has a service charge so high that no first-time buyer can afford it and no investor can make it stack up – we’re just stuck.

Estate agents are warning that multiple chains have at least one PM Law-linked firm in them, multiplying the risk that a single collapse could create dozens of failed sales.

Resident complains a big service-charge increase and poor responsiveness left an entire estate frustrated.

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

We had packed up the whole house when the buyer pulled out; we lost around three and a half thousand pounds in fees with absolutely no recourse.

Chain stalled: poor competence and communication; lender and other solicitor exasperated by delays.

We switched to Movuno after the first sale fell apart, and the difference in day-to-day updates and effort to get us sold was night and day.

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

Says high charges on leaseholds don’t match service; described as extortionate.

A 2025 article says the Legal Ombudsman now stresses that even if delays come from lenders or local authorities, law firms must still keep clients updated and explain what’s happening.

We instructed Gaddes Noble Law for a straightforward sale and purchase. Now, after the PM Law collapse, we’ve been left with no updates and no idea who holds our deeds.

They were described as an unhelpful lender with very high rates; we felt trapped paying more than expected.

Another Ombudsman case about subsidence shows an insurer refusing to fund preventative stabilisation work until the service intervened and ruled the policy should cover it.

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’.

We have a very unusual property to sell in Cambridgeshire, with features like a built-in sauna, and it is not comparable to anything nearby. We have tried various agents but they do not give feedback, the auction route has not worked, and although viewers say there is nothing wrong with the house, nothing is selling in our area. I keep being told the market is fine, but we feel completely stuck and poorly supported by the agents.

One agent attempted to enter my home without proper notice, leaving me feeling unsafe and disrespected.

Our buyers chose a solicitor based in Asia and the time difference meant nothing ever got done; weeks slipped by with no replies until the whole sale fell through.

Buyer complains that their solicitor failed to catch an issue with unadopted road access before exchange.

A government consultation on material information notes that missing or unclear details in listings can badly affect buyers’ decisions and lead to wasted time and money.

The system lets sellers and buyers walk away after months, leaving people like us broken, out of pocket and still without a home.

A separate thread shows a buyer whose mortgage offer expires in five days and they still haven’t exchanged – they feel the whole move hangs on one date.

They repeatedly asked for documents we had already uploaded to their portal weeks earlier. It became obvious they were not reading anything properly.

The sellers converted the cellar into a habitable room without building regulations approval and there is no FENSA certificate for the window. They only offer an indemnity policy. We are unsure of the long-term risks for lending and resale.

This has to be the most unprofessional company ever... lost numerous important documentation.

Service felt inconsistent compared with prior experience—left us disappointed mid mortgage journey.

We didn’t realise we had to disclose our dispute with the management company; once it surfaced, the buyer demanded compensation and then pulled out anyway.

As a first time buyer my solicitor did not flag anything from the searches, even when there was an issue that could affect the mortgage or insurance. I only found out about the implications myself before exchange and feel the solicitor has not been useful at all.

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

We lost our buyer when the landlord demanded a huge premium for extending the short lease and refused to negotiate.

Some have dropped the price repeatedly yet still get no serious offers, because the service charge figures look terrifying on paper.

Another lender guide says if your offer expires before completion, you could face extra legal and valuation costs on top of a higher interest rate.

Our completion nearly failed because the solicitor sat on the file for weeks right as the mortgage offer was about to run out.

A seller says their buyer’s mortgage was withdrawn due to lease ground rent terms, and they’re scrambling to fix it with a deed of variation to save the sale.

Our solicitor at Proddow Mackay stopped answering calls after the closure notice. The phone is constantly engaged and the website has vanished.

TaylorMade Finance note that if your mortgage offer expires, you might suddenly need to find a completely new deal or face your purchase collapsing at the last hurdle.

It showed us how much difference proper case tracking and communication makes when you’re trying to keep a chain from collapsing again.

Our first buyer walked away after their solicitor raised concerns about a garage that was on a separate title; nobody had warned us it might be a problem.

Our sale was held up because the freeholder’s managing agent took nearly six weeks to answer basic pre-sale enquiries.

Avoid like the plague! Very poor competence and communication.

They also mention sellers who believe their home was under-sold because the agent mishandled offers, leaving lingering resentment after completion.

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.

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.

They stress that brokers can do everything right and still see clients’ purchases put at risk by other parties in the process.

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.

We are buying our dream home but the survey found that the neighbour's trees are damaging an outbuilding on the boundary wall. The estate agent is minimising the issue and suggesting the sellers will not fix it, which feels like pressure to proceed regardless.

We bought a council flat and later realised the service charges made it really hard to sell on; most people just want security for life, not an asset that other buyers will avoid.

LandlordZONE reports landlords struggling to sell leasehold flats because charges have climbed above £2,000 a year, making the numbers unworkable for many buyers.

After spending significant money on survey and conveyancing, the buyer discovered the chain situation wasn’t as advertised.

Not even 1 star... Absolute ridiculous service. I would never want anyone else to go through the same experience.

Pinney Talfourd note that the new TA6 puts even more weight on accurate answers – incorrect or missing information can now more easily lead to misrepresentation claims.

The Legal Ombudsman’s latest data shows complaints about residential conveyancing still centre on poor communication and delay, often tied to missed purchase or sale deadlines.

The Housing Ombudsman recorded a complaint where a shared-owner disputed being billed for a whole year of service charges despite only buying late in the year.