How House Buying Companies Work: Real Buyers, Lead-Generators, and How to Tell Them Apart
A genuine house buying company uses its own funds to buy your home directly, gives a written offer, usually covers your legal fees, and holds the price to completion. Many "we buy any house" brands aren't buyers at all. They are lead-generators who pass your details to investors, which is where last-minute price drops usually come from.
Get a Free Cash Offer Call us nowQuick answer: A genuine house buying company buys your home with its own money, puts the offer in writing, and holds that price to completion unless conveyancing turns up something material. The quickest way to tell a real buyer from a lead-generator is to ask for written proof of funds dated in the last 30 days and check the company at Companies House. Lead-generators own no property and hold no funds. They sell your enquiry to investors, and that is where most late price drops start.
What a house buying company actually is
A house buying company buys your home directly, for cash, rather than listing it for you and waiting for a buyer to appear. There is no chain, no mortgage application on the buyer's side, and no estate agent in the middle. A genuine one holds the money itself, either in a UK bank account or already on its solicitor's client account, so it can complete without waiting for a lender to say yes.
That last point is the whole difference. In UK conveyancing a cash buyer is simply a purchaser who can complete without applying for a mortgage, a bridging loan, or any other secured borrowing. The funds have to be cleared and available. A company that first needs to raise finance, sell something else, or find an investor before it can pay you isn't a cash buyer, whatever its website says.
The reason these companies can move in days rather than months is that they remove the two things that usually cause a sale to collapse: the chain, and the lender. That certainty, rather than the headline price, is what you are really buying when you sell this way.
Genuine own-funds buyers vs lead-generators
This is the single most important distinction, and most sellers never hear it explained. There are two very different businesses hiding behind the same "we buy any house for cash" wording.
A genuine own-funds buyer owns property, has its own money, and buys your home to keep, refurbish, re-let, or resell. Its offer is its own decision because it is the one paying. It can prove funds, it appears at Companies House with filed accounts, and it has no reason to tie you into anything, because it intends to buy the house itself.
A lead-generator is a marketing front. The polished website looks like a buyer, but the company behind it doesn't own any property and has no money set aside to buy yours. It takes your enquiry, runs an online "valuation", and shops your details to a network of small investors who then decide whether to buy and at what price. The brand you contacted never had the funds. You end up dealing with whoever they sold your details to, on terms you never agreed to at the start.
You can usually spot the difference in one question: "Are you the company that will actually buy my house, and can you prove your funds?" A real buyer answers yes and sends proof within a day. A lead-generator gets vague.
Why last-minute price drops happen
The complaint sellers make most often about house buying companies is that the price agreed at the start isn't the price offered at the end. There are two common versions, and both trace back to how the company is structured.
The first is the lowball-after-survey. A company agrees a strong headline price to win your agreement, then runs a survey weeks later and uses it to renegotiate down, often by 10 to 20%. The "findings" are usually things any real buyer should have priced in from day one, such as damp, a dated kitchen, or single glazing.
The second, more aggressive version is a completion-day price drop. The company waits until you are fully committed, with solicitors instructed, removals booked, and notice given somewhere, then drops the offer by a further chunk. By that point most sellers accept rather than collapse everything and start over. That is the entire point of the tactic. It pushes your commitment earlier than the price is ever locked in.
Both patterns are far more common with lead-generators and loosely funded operators than with a direct buyer using its own money, because a direct buyer has already decided it can pay the figure it quoted. The trade body for genuine buyers, the National Association of Property Buyers, runs a code of practice that caps any post-agreement reduction at 0.5% of the agreed offer, and only where a survey or legal search turns up something genuinely material. A company that drops 10 or 15% late in the process is operating well outside that code.
The six checks that verify a genuine buyer
You can separate a real buyer from a marketing front in under five minutes, mostly using free public records. These are the six checks worth running before you commit to anyone.
1. Companies House. Look the company up by name on the official register and confirm it is incorporated, active, and has filed accounts. A brand new shell with no accounts is a warning sign. While you are there, check the directors against the disqualified-director register and see whether the company has changed its name repeatedly.
2. Trade body membership. Check whether the company is a member of the National Association of Property Buyers or registered with The Property Ombudsman, and verify it on those bodies' own registers rather than taking a logo on a website at face value. Membership means a code of practice and access to independent redress.
3. Proof of funds. Ask for written proof dated within the last 30 days, either a redacted bank statement or a solicitor's letter naming the buying company. A genuine buyer sends this without fuss. A lead-generator can't, because the money was never theirs.
4. A named solicitor. A real buyer will name a solicitor regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority before you commit to anything.
5. No upfront fees. A legitimate buyer never charges you a valuation fee, an admin fee, a booking fee, or an exclusivity deposit. If anyone asks you to pay something before completion, walk away.
6. A written offer with a held price. The offer should be in writing, with a fixed figure and timeline that only changes if something genuinely material is later uncovered, not because you have become too committed to argue.
Also be wary of exclusivity or option agreements that lock you to one buyer for 28, 56, or 90 days. A direct buyer that intends to buy your house has no need to tie you down.
The honest maths: what the discount is really for
A cash buyer's offer sits below what the same house might eventually fetch on the open market. That gap isn't a trick, it is the price of certainty and speed. The buyer absorbs any refurbishment, the holding costs while the property is repaired or re-let, stamp duty (often at the additional-dwelling rate), legal fees on both sides, and the risk that the property doesn't resell at the assumed price. What all that adds up to is different on every property, which is why we don't publish a percentage. We price the house in front of us, on its condition, its tenure, its location and what you tell us about it.
The headline discount also looks larger than the real gap once you account for what the open market actually costs. Industry data in 2026 puts the average marketing-to-completion timeline at around 25 weeks, with roughly 30% of agreed sales falling through before completion. Against that you would set estate agent commission, conveyancing, and the running costs of holding the property while it sits on the market. How much that closes the gap depends entirely on your house. If it is mortgage-free, in good order and likely to sell within a few weeks, most of those assumed costs never land and the agent route keeps a clear advantage. If it is empty, mortgaged and hard to shift, the gap narrows a long way. Work it out on your own numbers rather than on an average.
Two figures should make you cautious. Anyone quoting 95% or more before they have even seen the property is almost always making a bait offer they intend to revise down once you are committed. And anyone offering below about 70% without a clear, specific reason is simply not competitive. Getting two or three written offers is the simplest way to sanity-check whether yours is fair.
Whatever you compare, compare what actually lands in your account, not what is quoted. An estate agent's asking price isn't what you bank after commission, conveyancing and months of waiting. A modern method of auction hammer price isn't what the buyer could really afford either, because that buyer also pays a non-refundable reservation fee on top, commonly 4.2 to 5% of the price plus VAT. It is described as paid by the buyer, not the seller, but a buyer works to one total budget, so that fee comes out of what they can bid, and your own fees then come off the suppressed price. A cash buyer's figure is the one that needs no adjustment. That doesn't mean it is always the biggest number. It means the three numbers aren't like for like until you do the sums.
How we work, as the counter-example
We are a direct buyer. We use our own funds, so there is no lender approval, no mortgage survey, and no investor behind the scenes deciding whether to proceed. That is what lets us complete in as little as 7 days, though most sales complete within 7 to 28 days, and we work to a longer date if that suits you better.
The process is deliberately plain. You fill in the short form and we ring you back ourselves. We are a small local team buying with our own funds, so the person on the phone is the person who buys the house, not a call centre or a lead desk. We arrange to see the property by photos, video walkthrough, or a short visit, and then make a formal written offer, usually the same day. It stays valid for 14 days. There is no percentage formula behind it. The figure is our best offer at that point, based on the information you have given us, and we don't open low and creep up to get a deal over the line. If you accept, we hold that figure, and we don't chip offers down late in the process. The only thing that would move it is something material coming out of conveyancing, such as a title defect or a structural problem nobody knew about, and we would show you the evidence. We can cover your legal fees if you use our panel solicitor, or you can use your own, and you choose your completion date.
Everything on the six-check list above, we pass on purpose. You can look us up at Companies House, we prove funds in writing, we name a regulated solicitor, we charge you nothing, and barring something material coming out of conveyancing, the offer we put in writing is the offer that reaches your account on completion day. If the open market is genuinely the better route for your property, we will tell you that too.
Frequently asked questions
A genuine one buys your home directly with its own cash, gives you a written offer, pays your legal fees, and completes in days or weeks with no chain and no mortgage lender involved. Many brands using that phrase aren't buyers at all. They are lead-generators who pass your details to a network of investors, which is where most last-minute price drops and problems come from.
A real buyer owns property, holds its own funds, and can prove them within a day, because it is the company that will actually buy your house. A lead-generator is a marketing front with no property and no money set aside. It sells your enquiry to investors who then decide whether to buy. Ask directly: are you the company that will buy my house, and can you prove your funds?
Usually because the company either never had firm funds or is a lead-generator relying on an investor who renegotiates. The two common patterns are a lowball after a survey weeks in, and a drop on completion day once you are fully committed. A genuine direct buyer has already decided it can pay the figure it quoted. The NAPB code caps any post-agreement reduction at 0.5%, and only for a genuinely material finding.
Check it at Companies House for active status and filed accounts, verify NAPB or Property Ombudsman membership on those bodies' own registers, ask for written proof of funds dated within 30 days, confirm a named SRA-regulated solicitor, confirm there are no upfront fees of any kind, and get a written offer with a price that is held to completion. All the public-record checks are free.
There is no single figure, and any company quoting one before it has seen your house is guessing. A genuine buyer prices the individual property, so the answer turns on condition, location, tenure, and how quickly you need to complete. That is why we won't put a percentage on your house before we have spoken to you. Two things are still worth watching for in any offer you receive: 95% or more before anyone has viewed is usually a bait offer that gets revised down later, and an offer far below 70% without a clear reason isn't competitive. Getting two or three written offers is the best way to judge.
A genuine cash buyer with funds already available can complete in as little as 7 days where searches aren't strictly required, and most sales complete within 7 to 28 days. The bottleneck is normally the conveyancing, not the buyer's money. If you need longer, a good buyer will work to your timeline.
No. A legitimate company pays its own legal costs and usually covers your solicitor's fee too, and charges you nothing upfront. There are no valuation fees, admin fees, booking fees, or exclusivity deposits. If any company asks you to pay something before completion, treat it as a red flag and walk away.
Be cautious. These tie you to one buyer for a fixed period, often 28, 56, or 90 days, during which you can't accept other offers but the company has little real obligation to complete. A genuine direct buyer that intends to purchase your house has no need to lock you in, so a demand for exclusivity is worth questioning.
No. If your property is in good condition, there is no time pressure, and local demand is strong, an estate agent sale will usually net you more after costs, even allowing for fall-through risk. A house buying company tends to win when speed and certainty matter more than the last slice of price, for example facing repossession, a fixed probate or divorce deadline, a property needing work, or a sale that has already fallen through once.
A genuine buyer prices the property, not how worried you are. The gap between a cash offer and an asking price pays for the speed and the certainty of a sale with no chain and no mortgage lender. We price on the property itself rather than on a formula, and the figure we give you is our best offer at that point, based on what you have told us. We don't start low and work up, and we don't cut a figure because we find out you are under pressure. If a company lowers its offer once it learns how urgent things are for you, that tells you what kind of company it is. Get a second written offer so you can compare.
Often it isn't too late, but you need to move now and tell your lender what you are doing. A sale can still go through before a repossession hearing, and sometimes even after a possession order, if the timing works and your lender agrees to hold off. We can complete in as little as 7 days, with most sales taking 7 to 28. Get free advice from Shelter or Citizens Advice as well.
Yes, you pick the completion date and we work to it. Most sales complete between 7 and 28 days, and the fastest we have done is 7 days. If your date is further out, because you are waiting on a grant of probate, a court settlement or somewhere to move to, that is fine too. We would rather hold a date that suits you than push you out before you are ready.
The paperwork, nearly always. The money is the easy part. Hold-ups usually come from missing title deeds, a leasehold pack that a management company is slow to send, waiting on probate, unregistered land, or a charge on the property nobody knew about. You can help by digging out your deeds, mortgage statement and ID early. A good buyer will warn you at the start if something looks likely to slow things down.
Yes, and a sale that has just collapsed is a common reason people come to us. We buy with our own money, so there is no chain and no mortgage lender who can pull out at the last minute. Your solicitor may already have most of the paperwork ready from the first attempt, which often makes the second sale quicker. Completion is usually 7 to 28 days from the day you accept.
Often the same day. Fill in the form or ring us, we will call you back as fast as we can, and we will ask about the property and what is going on for you. We look at the house by photos, video or a visit, then put the offer in writing. It stands for 14 days, so you get time to think it over or compare it with someone else.
No, and it is a good reason to slow down. A buyer with real money doesn't need your signature this afternoon. Pressure to sign on the spot, a price that supposedly expires in an hour, or a request for a deposit are all warning signs. Our written offer stands for 14 days on purpose, so you can talk it over with family, get a second offer, or take legal advice first.
No, and be very wary of anyone who says they can. The money for your house is paid in full on completion day, solicitor to solicitor, and that is the only safe way to do it. Cash advances, goodwill payments and any fee you have to pay first are common in scams and in deals that later fall apart. If you need money sooner, speak to your lender or a free debt adviser.
No. You can walk away at any point up to exchange of contracts, and so can the buyer. Accepting our offer costs you nothing and doesn't tie you in. We don't ask for exclusivity agreements, option agreements or deposits. If a better offer turns up, or you decide the open market suits your house better, just tell us. We would rather you made the right choice than felt trapped.
Selling and staying on as a tenant is called sale and rent back, and it isn't something we offer. It is regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, and plenty of people who did it in the past ended up worse off, on short tenancies with rent they couldn't keep up. If staying put matters most to you, talk to your lender or a free adviser at Shelter or Citizens Advice before you sell to anyone.
Get your free, no-obligation cash offer
If you would like our best offer in writing, with no fees and no pressure, fill in the short form on our get an offer page and we will explain exactly how your figure was worked out. We price every property individually, so we won't put a number on yours until we have spoken to you.
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