Gazumping. Bad surveys. Collapsed chains. Down-valuations. These happen. Knowing what to do when they do makes the difference between recovery and giving up.
Oliver and Vikki's own experience of saving for a house deposit - and then life getting in the way - is part of what built this brand. The emotional reality of the home buying process is rarely discussed in the guides and calculators. This module is different.
Property purchases fall through for many reasons. Surveys reveal problems. Chains collapse. Sellers change their mind. Lenders down-value properties. Each of these is genuinely stressful. Each is also survivable. The couples who get through them are the ones who had a plan for what to do if things went wrong.
In England and Wales, a sale is not legally binding until exchange of contracts. A seller can accept a higher offer from another buyer at any point before exchange - even if they've already accepted yours and you've started conveyancing. This is called gazumping.
What you can do: Ask the estate agent to take the property off the market once your offer is accepted (some will, some won't). Move quickly to exchange - the longer the period between offer accepted and exchange, the greater the gazumping risk. Consider a lock-out agreement with the seller (ask your solicitor).
What to do if it happens: You will have lost solicitor and surveyor costs (typically £500–£1,500). These are not recoverable unless you had specific insurance. Take 48 hours before making any decisions. The property that felt like the only one usually isn't.
A HomeBuyer Report or Building Survey comes back with significant issues - structural movement, roof failure, damp, Japanese knotweed, or something requiring expensive remediation. This is more common than most people expect, especially in older properties.
Your options: (1) Renegotiate the price - use the survey findings to justify a reduction equal to the cost of remediation. (2) Ask the seller to fix the issue before completion. (3) Walk away. (4) Accept the property as-is if you're comfortable with the risk and cost.
What not to do: Ignore the findings. Surveys are opinions, not guarantees, but a surveyor flagging significant issues is doing so for a reason. Get specialist reports on anything serious before making a decision.
In a chain, every purchase depends on another. If the buyer at the bottom of your chain can't get their mortgage, or the seller at the top of the chain pulls out, the whole chain can collapse. Chains of 3–4 properties are common; chains of 5+ exist. The longer the chain, the higher the risk.
Signs a chain is fragile: Unusually slow progress, agent reluctance to give updates on chain status, rumours of problems further up or down.
If a chain collapses: You lose your legal costs to date (typically £500–£1,000 if early, more if late in conveyancing). The property may become available again and you may be able to renegotiate. Some chains collapse and reform - it's worth staying in contact.
Your lender sends a valuer to assess the property and they value it lower than the price you've agreed to pay. If you've agreed to pay £250,000 and the lender values it at £235,000, they'll only lend against the £235,000 figure. You'd need to either make up the £15,000 difference in cash, renegotiate the price with the seller, or find a different lender.
Why it happens: Lenders are conservative. They're lending against what they could sell the property for in a forced sale, not what you think it's worth. Down-valuations are more common in rapidly rising markets and on properties that are unusual or difficult to compare.
There will be a point in this process - for most couples, there are several - where it feels too much. The chain is fragile, the surveyor has flagged something, you've lost a property you loved, or you've just been searching for eight months and everything feels hopeless.
When that happens, use this exercise. It takes 20 minutes and it works.
Step 1: Pause all property discussions for 24 hours. No Rightmove. No conversations about the purchase. A full day off.
Step 2: Separately, write down your answer to: Why are we buying a home? Not the practical reasons - the real ones.
Step 3: List three things that have gone well in this process, however small.
Step 4: Identify the single next action - just one. Not the whole problem. The next thing.
Step 5: Share your answers with each other.