Selling a fire or flood damaged house: your 2026 options

Yes. You can sell a fire damaged house exactly as it stands, with no repairs done. The damage puts it outside normal mortgage lending. So the realistic buyers are cash buyers, traditional auction and modern method of auction, rather than an ordinary buyer with a mortgage. We buy fire damaged homes in any condition across South Yorkshire, with a written offer the same day.

Yes. We buy fire damaged and flood damaged houses, including ones still going through an insurance claim. It doesn't matter whether the damage is smoke staining, one burnt-out room, a lost roof or a flooded ground floor. We just need you to be honest about the damage and where any claim has got to.

Yes. We buy with the insurance claim settled, in progress or contested. Sometimes the claim can be passed to the buyer. Sometimes it is settled to you first, and the house is then sold in its damaged state with the insurance money kept separate. Your solicitor and insurer will confirm what your policy allows. Tell us exactly where the claim sits and share any letters from the loss adjuster, so we can price it properly and move quickly.

Yes, in writing. The TA6 Property Information Form asks directly about flooding, insurance claims, and cover that has been refused or made more expensive. Fire damage and any repairs never signed off belong there too. Behind that form, the Misrepresentation Act 1967, the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 and the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 make hiding what you know unlawful. A buyer can take you to court over a false 'no' for six years. Selling for cash doesn't change any of this. Being open protects you, because once a buyer has bought knowing the history, it is priced in and behind you.

Yes. A house that can't be lived in right now can still be sold. No working kitchen or bathroom, drying out, part boarded up: that only puts it outside normal mortgage lending. It is exactly the market cash buyers and auctions work in. You set out the condition in full and the sale goes ahead on that honest basis. We buy uninhabitable properties across South Yorkshire in any state.

Less than full market value, and often well below it. The offer is worked backwards from what the house would be worth fully repaired, minus the cost of the works, minus a margin, minus the costs of buying and holding it. The buyer is taking on the repairs, the time and the risk. Be careful of any offer above roughly 85% of the repaired value. The maths can't stack that high on a damaged house, and a figure like that usually gets chipped down later. A buyer worth dealing with will show you the sum, not just a number.

Most cash sales on a damaged house complete in 7 to 28 days, and 7 days at the fastest on a clean freehold title. An open or disputed insurance claim, a flood history, or a coal mining search showing shallow workings can each add about a week. That is still far quicker and more certain than the open market, where a damaged house can take months and often falls through at survey.

Usually a bit less, yes. Houses in a flood zone sell for less than similar houses outside one, and buyers' solicitors now ask to see years of insurance letters. Local buyers know the flood corridors at Catcliffe, Bentley, Toll Bar, Fishlake and along the lower Don, so they aren't frightened off by them. We buy across these areas with the flood risk priced into the offer, whether the house is repaired, mid clean-up or still in the claim.

Sometimes yes, and we would rather say so. If the damage is small, like smoke staining or some replastering, and you have the money, the time and the patience, doing the work first and selling through an agent will usually put more in your pocket than we can. Be honest with yourself about the cost, the delay and the stress. If the job is big, selling as it stands is the calmer route.

Some will, some won't. Plenty of agents will list a fire or flood damaged house, but they know most buyers need a mortgage, and lenders rarely lend on a home with no working kitchen, bathroom or roof. So the house can sit for months, draw low offers, then fall through at survey. Agents who deal with auction and investor buyers are the ones worth ringing first.

No. Leave it where it is. We buy houses with burnt furniture, soaked carpets, ruined kitchens and boarded windows still in place, and we sort the clearance out ourselves. The only thing worth doing is taking out anything personal you want to keep, such as photos and paperwork. Check with your insurer before you throw anything away, because they may still want to see the damaged items.

Yes. A refused quote or a big loaded premium doesn't stop a sale. It does shrink the buyer pool, because a lender won't lend without buildings cover in place, but cash buyers aren't tied to that rule. You will need to tell us, and put on the TA6 form, that cover was refused or loaded, along with the claims history. We factor that into the offer rather than being put off by it.

It can be. Auction suits a house that several investors will bid over, and competition sometimes pushes the price above a single cash offer. The trade-offs are the wait for the catalogue and then the completion window, fees taken out of your sale, and no certainty it sells on the day. Compare what lands in your account, not what is quoted. With modern method of auction the buyer also pays a non-refundable reservation fee, commonly 4.2 to 5% of the price plus VAT. That is called a buyer fee, but a buyer has one budget. The fee comes out of what they can bid, so it holds the hammer price down before your own fees come off it. A direct cash sale gives you an agreed figure and a completion date you can plan around, and that figure is what reaches your account. That doesn't mean you always end up with more with us. It means the numbers aren't like for like. Both are honest routes.

Nothing to us. There is no fee for an offer, no estate agent commission, and no charge for us to come and look at the house. We can cover your legal fees if you use our panel solicitor. You are free to use your own solicitor instead, which is your right, and we would never talk you out of it. You won't be asked for money up front at any point.

No. There are no viewings and no stream of strangers through the door. We look at the property once, and you don't have to tidy it, air it out or even be there the whole time. There is no For Sale board and no listing online. After that it is paperwork between solicitors, handled by post, phone and email.

Tell us early and we will be straight with you. The sale money pays the mortgage off first, and if the offer doesn't cover the balance there is a shortfall you would still owe, so the sale can't simply go ahead. Your lender would have to agree to it, and sometimes an insurance payout closes the gap. If the numbers don't work, we will tell you rather than string you along.

Our written offer stands for 14 days, so you have time to think and talk it over. It rests on what you have told us and what we have seen, so if something big turns up in the legal work, a title problem or damage nobody knew about, the price may have to change. That is the honest position. What we won't do is agree a figure and quietly chip at it near completion.

Yes, once the sale completes. Until then you usually still pay council tax, buildings insurance and any mortgage on the empty house. Some councils give a discount or drop the bill altogether while a home can't be lived in after fire or flood damage. Some charge extra on homes left empty a long time, so check with your council. Those running costs are one reason people choose a quicker sale.