Selling a house in poor condition: 2026 UK options guide
Defects are real and the buyer pool for unmortgageable stock has narrowed since 2022, but a poor-condition property isn't unsellable. There are five realistic UK routes in 2026, and the right one depends on three honest tests: how much time you have, how wide the gap is between the as-is price and the refurbished ceiling, and how much risk you can carry. This page is the full options comparison, with worked South Yorkshire £-figure maths.
Get a Free Cash Offer Call us nowQuick answer: There are five realistic routes for selling a house in poor condition: refurbish then sell, sell as it is on the open market, traditional auction, modern method of auction, or sell directly to a cash buyer. A cash sale needs no repairs and no mortgage survey, and completes in 7 to 28 days, which is why it suits properties that are hard to mortgage. If you aren't under time pressure and the house sits in a strong postcode, the open market will usually pay you more.
Three steps, whatever condition it's in
No repairs, no skip, no clearing out, and no mortgage survey to fail.
Step 1
Tell us what's wrong with itFill in the form at the bottom of this page. It takes a couple of minutes. The worse it is, the more we want to know.
Step 2
Get your offer the same dayIn writing, valid for 14 days. Our best offer on what you have told us, with the condition already priced in.
Step 3
You pick the completion dateWe handle the paperwork with your solicitor. Most sales complete in 7 to 28 days, or later if you need longer.
Written and reviewed by the South Yorkshire Property Buyers team.
The six seller profiles that arrive on this page
You have inherited it
A probate property, often empty for years and still deteriorating, with the council tax empty-home premium already ticking up.
You're a landlord getting out
The tenancy has ended, the EPC is F or G, and the Renters' Rights Act 2025 makes re-letting uneconomic. You're selling, not refurbishing.
The structure is the problem
Subsidence, underpinning history, mining damage or settlement cracks. The survey will catch it and the lender will hold money back.
It's non-standard construction
Airey, Cornish, Boot, Unity, Wates, Tarran, Orlit, Reema or Parkinson Framed, designated under the Housing Defects Act 1984, with no certificate.
Money got in the way first
Arrears, illness or a relationship breakdown came first. The condition of the house is the symptom rather than the cause.
Fire, flood or escape of water
The insurance claim is closed or contested, the property is uninhabitable, and the timeline is what matters now.
Not sure where you stand?
Tell us about the property and we'll come back the same day with a written offer, valid for 14 days. No obligation, and no pressure either way.
Get my free cash offerWhat "poor condition" actually means in 2026
The phrase is broad in everyday use but tightly defined in the surveying and lending world. Three frameworks matter.
The RICS Home Survey Standard grades defects on a traffic-light scale across three survey levels. A Level 1 (formerly Condition Report) is the cheapest; a Level 3 (formerly Building Survey) is the deepest. Lenders typically commission a separate mortgage valuation, not a survey at all, but a desktop and brief inspection. Red findings on a buyer's Level 2 or Level 3 are the most common cause of mid-conveyancing renegotiation.
The Property Care Association (PCA) defect taxonomy classes properties as worn-out, damp and timber defects, structural, non-standard construction, or severely distressed. The PCA's PCA Damp Diagnosis Report is widely accepted as the gold-standard third-party assessment for damp.
The Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS), the local-authority enforcement framework, classifies hazards into Category 1 (must enforce) and Category 2 (may enforce). A Category 1 hazard typically renders a property uninhabitable for letting purposes and is a major price-driver on owner-occupier sale.
The practical effect: a property is "unmortgageable" to mainstream lenders in 2026 when it lacks a working kitchen or bathroom; has active subsidence without monitoring; has Category 1 HHSRS hazards; is designated PRC without a current certificate; or is rated EPC F/G with no clear remediation path. Once unmortgageable, the buyer pool narrows to cash buyers, traditional auction, modern method of auction and specialist lenders. Around 14.7% of English homes are non-decent under the English Housing Survey 2023-24, with pre-1919 stock: which dominates inner Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley, running above 22%.
The 2026 legal stack: what you must disclose
Three layers of law govern disclosure. Get them wrong and you carry liability long after completion.
The Misrepresentation Act 1967 allows a buyer to rescind or claim damages where a seller (or agent) made a false statement that induced the contract, fraudulent, negligent or innocent. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (as amended in 2014) made it explicit that omissions of material information are caught, not only false statements. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 consolidated and replaced the CPR provisions from April 2025, with civil monetary penalties up to £300,000 for individuals and 10% of global turnover for businesses, plus a private right of action for consumers. This is the most material disclosure reform in a decade.
The TA6 Property Information Form (5th edition) is the central conveyancing disclosure document. High-risk fields for poor-condition properties are Section 5 (insurance: declined or loaded cover, claims history), Section 7 (environmental. Japanese knotweed Q7.8, radon, flooding, contaminated land), Section 3 (notices: planning enforcement, building-control enforcement, HHSRS hazard notices), Section 4 (alterations without building regulations sign-off) and Section 12 (services: outstanding boiler, electric, drain issues). "Don't know" answers where the seller in fact has knowledge expose them to claims.
NTSELAT Material Information Parts A/B/C (now in full force after the 2022, 2023 and 2024 rollouts) require certain information in the marketing listing, not later at conveyancing: Part A (tenure, council tax, price), Part B (property type, construction, services, parking, utilities), Part C (planning, restrictions, accessibility, rights, environmental issues, including non-standard construction and known structural concerns). A vendor with a PRC home can't lawfully market it as "traditional construction".
The Renters' Rights Act 2025, and why it affects owner-occupier sellers
The single biggest 2025-2026 market shift on poor-condition stock is one most owner-occupier sellers don't realise applies to them, at least indirectly. The Renters' Rights Act 2025 received Royal Assent on 27 October 2025 and extends the Decent Homes Standard and Awaab's Law into the private rented sector for the first time, alongside the abolition of Section 21 no-fault evictions. Together with the proposed PRS EPC C minimum trailed for 2030, the Act has visibly shrunk the buy-to-let investor buyer pool that historically absorbed defective stock at auction and on the open market.
The data confirms it. EIG Q1 2026 traditional-auction sale-rates on investor-target lots fell from 72.2% in Q1 2024 to 67.6% in Q1 2026, a 4.6-point drop concentrated in poor-condition tenanted and ex-tenanted stock. Reserves are tighter; bid books are shorter; deal-flow that used to clear at the room is now coming directly to cash buyers and modern method platforms.
For an owner-occupier seller this matters in two practical ways. First, traditional auction reserves on poor-condition lots are less generous than they were in 2022. Second, the relative competitiveness of direct cash buyers has improved: the discount has narrowed, not widened, because the alternative buyer (the small-portfolio landlord) has partially retreated from the market.
The five routes compared, with worked South Yorkshire figures
We have based the worked example on a South Yorkshire archetype: a 1900-1920 mid-terrace in S5, DN5, S60 or S70, with damp, a failed roof, dated services, EPC F, and a Gross Market Value Refurbished (GMV-R) of about £155,000. Every figure below is post-fee, post-cost, and risk-adjusted. The headline price is rarely the right comparison. The cash figure in the table is an illustration for that one archetype, not a formula we apply to every house. We price each property individually on what it actually is and on what you tell us.
| Route | Headline price | Costs | Net to seller | Time to completion | Risk-adjusted net |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Refurb then open market | £155,000 | £82,942 (works + holding + fees) | £72,058 | ~10 months | £62,000-£72,000 (BRE 47% overrun risk) |
| B. As-is on open market | £105,000 | £8,992 (fees + 5mo carry) | £96,008 | ~6 months | £88,000-£94,000 (46% fall-through) |
| C. Traditional auction | £94,000 | £6,916 (fees + 2mo carry) | £87,084 | 8-14 weeks | £81,000-£87,000 (32% unsold) |
| D. Modern method auction | £92,000 | £4,400 (entry + 56-day carry) | £87,600 | ~12 weeks | £82,000-£87,000 (4.5% fee drag) |
| E. Direct cash buyer | £77,000 | £1,400 (solicitor only) | £75,600 | 7-28 days | £75,600 (near-certain) |
Want a real figure rather than an estimate?
Two minutes on the form is enough. We price on the property itself, not to a set percentage, and it's our best offer first time.
See what we'd payThe honest read: auction (C or D) and as-is open market (B) sit closest to each other on risk-adjusted net; refurb (A) only stacks up in S7, S10, S11 and S17 where the refurbished ceiling materially exceeds £155,000; cash (E) wins where speed, certainty or severe distress make the carry-cost compound and the headline gap shrinks accordingly. For a deeper auction breakdown: South Yorkshire auction houses, fee stacks, and the modern-method reservation-fee mechanic, see our selling at auction page.
Non-standard construction (PRC) and the Housing Defects Act 1984
Non-standard construction is one of the highest-friction defects in the poor-condition market. The Housing Defects Act 1984 (consolidated into Part XVI of the Housing Act 1985) formally designated nine prefabricated reinforced concrete (PRC) types built between 1945 and 1970 as defective: Airey, Cornish, Boot, Unity, Wates, Tarran, Orlit, Reema and Parkinson Framed. South Yorkshire carries substantial PRC inventory in Parson Cross, Wickersley, Wheatley, Wombwell, Athersley and parts of Maltby, much of it sold under Right to Buy in the 1980s and 1990s and now reaching second-generation owners.
A mortgage buyer for a PRC home needs a current PRC certificate, typically issued after a Halifax-approved repair scheme that replaces the defective panels with traditional brick-and-block or steel-reinforced equivalents. Without a certificate, the buyer pool is cash buyers, specialist lenders (Saffron, Vida, Kensington at materially higher rates) and investors familiar with the type. Repair-scheme cost in 2026 is typically £45,000-£80,000 depending on the type, frequently higher than the uplift between unrepaired and repaired comparable sales in the same street, which is why owner-led repair is rare.
Repair first, then sell
A Halifax-approved scheme replaces the defective panels. Only worth it where the post-repair value justifies £45,000 to £80,000.
Traditional auction
A full legal pack disclosing the PRC type and any historic structural reports. The room decides the price, and the fees come off it.
Sell to us
We carry the construction risk and price the repair scheme ourselves. No certificate needed, and you pick the completion date.
Working to a deadline?
Tell us the date. Most sales complete in 7 to 28 days, and if we can't work to your timescale we'll say so straight away.
Talk to us todaySelling a poor-condition property in South Yorkshire, the local picture
Sellers in Sheffield, Doncaster, Rotherham and Barnsley need local detail: which auction houses cover the patch, which postcodes have selective licensing (and therefore a shrunk investor pool), how the Mining Remediation Authority CON29M search affects the timeline, and which flood corridors the Environment Agency maps cover.
The principal regional auction houses
Three principals dominate poor-condition auction in South Yorkshire. Mark Jenkinson (part of Eddisons, established in Sheffield in 1909) runs roughly six in-room and live-streamed catalogues a year and is the most established name for Sheffield investor stock. Auction House South Yorkshire runs monthly and skews toward Rotherham, Doncaster and Barnsley. Bond Wolfe runs national catalogues with strong South Yorkshire representation. Modern method platforms (iam-sold, SDL Property Auctions, Pattinson) operate alongside, with a 30-day bidding window and a non-refundable reservation fee of commonly 4.2 to 5% of the price plus VAT. The fee is described as paid by the buyer, not the seller, which is the auction industry's framing and it hides the economics. A bidder works to one total budget, so the fee comes out of what they can bid, and your own fee stack then comes off the suppressed hammer price. Compare what lands in your account, not what is quoted on the lot.
Selective licensing and the BTL investor pool
Several South Yorkshire neighbourhoods operate selective licensing schemes that materially shrink the small-landlord buyer pool for terraced stock: Sheffield: Page Hall, Burngreave, Fir Vale (covering parts of S4 and S5); Doncaster. Hexthorpe, Hyde Park (DN1 and DN4); Rotherham. Eastwood (S65). Inside these zones, the per-property licence cost (£600-£1,000), the inspection regime, and the additional housing-standards exposure visibly reduce auction bid depth. Cash buyers (including SYPB) factor this into pricing but continue to buy.
The Mining Remediation Authority and CON29M
Most of South Yorkshire sits within the Coal Mining Reporting Area, which means a CON29M search by the Mining Remediation Authority (renamed from the Coal Authority on 22 May 2024) is standard on every transaction. The reporting area covers DN1-DN12, S20, S26, S35 and S60-S75. Where the report shows shallow workings, ground-stability concerns or active claims, a poor-condition transaction typically needs a structural engineer's opinion and a Mining Remediation Authority risk-assessment letter, adding 5-10 days but not normally killing the deal.
Flood corridors
Stock affected by the 2007, 2019, 2023 (Storm Babet) and 2024 (Storm Henk) events is concentrated at Catcliffe, Bentley, Toll Bar, Fishlake and the lower Don corridor. Flood-history disclosure on the TA6 5th edition Section 7 is mandatory, and post-2022 insurance correspondence is increasingly demanded by buyers' solicitors. Flood-zoned poor-condition stock typically trades 10-20% below comparable non-flood-zoned stock; we buy across these zones, with the flood-risk priced into the offer.
Get an honest figure on your property
One written offer, valid for 14 days. Free, no obligation, no pressure. We are a small local team buying with our own funds, so the person who answers the phone is the person who prices your house. We buy in any condition across South Yorkshire: damp, subsidence, mining damage, fire, flood, knotweed, PRC. Tell us what we are dealing with and we will tell you what we will pay.
Get Your Free Cash OfferHow to verify a legitimate poor-condition cash buyer, the six-check playbook
The poor-condition sub-sector attracts more lead-flippers than the mainstream cash market. The pattern is well documented: an inflated headline offer wins the lead; a low-ball "survey" finding is used to renegotiate close to exchange; the seller, by then committed, agrees. Before signing anything: instruction documents, option agreements, exclusivity letters, run the six-check playbook.
- Companies House. Search the buyer's legal entity at Companies House. Active status, real registered office, named directors, filed accounts.
- Proof of funds. Dated PDF bank statement (not a screenshot) on a named business account within 30 days, or a solicitor's undertaking that completion funds are in client account. Bridging isn't the same as cash and must be disclosed.
- TPO and NAPB membership. Verify on the live TPO directory and NAPB directory. False claims of membership are common in the poor-condition sub-sector.
- Reviews with depth. 30+ reviews spread over 12 months mentioning specific defects, surveyor outcomes, completion dates. Stock five-stars dated within a single week are a flag. Real poor-condition reviews mention the defect by name: "subsidence", "PRC", "knotweed", "fire".
- Footer signals. Company number, registered office, ICO registration, complaints procedure. Missing signals are signals.
- Your own solicitor. Never the buyer's nominated firm. A legitimate buyer welcomes independent representation. A buyer who pushes back is telling you something. We can cover your legal fees if you use our panel solicitor, but you are free to use your own.
The above-85% red flag. A poor-condition cash offer above 85% of GMV-R is almost always a lead-capture offer, not a real offer. The arithmetic doesn't stack: GMV-R minus refurbishment minus profit margin minus carry can't land above 85% on a defective property. The most likely outcomes are re-trade at survey, walkaway with exclusivity-period damages, or fees stacked at exchange. Be sceptical.
The honest gut-check, three tests
Three tests. Run them honestly before committing to any route.
- Time test. Is your deadline within 12 weeks? (Empty-home premium activated, repossession threatened, probate executor pressure, divorce long-stop, work-relocation date.) If yes, Routes C/D/E. If no, Routes A/B remain viable.
- Cost-to-uplift test. Is the gap between refurbished comparable value and as-is comparable value greater than 1.5× the realistic refurbishment cost? If yes, Route A may pay; if no, Routes B/C/D/E almost always net more once overrun risk is priced. On most South Yorkshire pre-1919 terraces outside the strongest postcodes, the answer is no.
- Risk-tolerance test. Can you absorb a six-figure refurb that runs 47% over budget, or a 46% open-market fall-through? If yes, Routes A/B. If no, Routes C/D/E.
If at least two of three tests point toward "cash" or "auction", the certainty premium is rational. If only one or none, the open-market route usually wins on price. For a wider comparison of all the fast-sale routes (cash, auction, assisted sale, modern method), see selling quickly. For the lighter-touch sister page (cosmetic-tier defects, not unmortgageable stock), see selling a house that needs repairs.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Direct cash buyers, traditional auctions and modern method of auction all accept properties in any condition. The open market is also possible, but the buyer pool narrows sharply once a property is unmortgageable. The trade-off is price: a direct cash sale prices in the repairs and the risk that comes with them; traditional auctions clear at 80-95%; refurb-then-sell at 95-100% but with 47% average budget overrun (BRE 2024).
Want to check that against your own house? Get a free, independent estimate from Zoopla or Rightmove, then ask us what we would pay. Every property is different, so we price yours on what it actually is rather than on a formula. There is no fee and no obligation.
No, and any buyer promising full market value for a defective property is mispricing or misleading. There is no fixed percentage for direct cash. We price each property on what it actually is, so we won't put a number on yours before we have spoken to you. The arithmetic behind any cash offer is Gross Market Value Refurbished (GMV-R) minus verified refurbishment cost, minus buyer profit margin, minus buying and holding costs, and each of those changes from house to house. Auction routes can clear at 90-95% of GMV-R less around £6,000 of fees and around 8-14 weeks of carry. The figure we give you is our best offer on the information you have given us. We don't start low and work up.
Three layers of law govern disclosure in 2026: the Misrepresentation Act 1967, the CPR 2008, and the DMCCA 2024, with civil penalties up to £300,000 for individuals and 10% of global turnover for businesses. The TA6 (5th edition) asks specific questions on knotweed, subsidence, flooding, planning enforcement and insurance. NTSELAT Material Information Parts A/B/C require non-standard construction and known structural concerns to be disclosed in the listing, not at the conveyancing stage.
It depends on cost-to-uplift ratio. BRE 2024 records 47% average budget overrun and 38% encountering concealed defects. The maths only stack in strong-postcode locations (S7, S10, S11, S17) where the refurbished ceiling materially exceeds the as-is floor. Outside those postcodes, sell as-is. If you don't live in the property, monthly holding costs of £380-£820 compound during the 6-10 month refurbishment timeline.
No, but it does shrink the mortgage-funded buyer pool to almost zero unless a PCA-registered treatment plan and insurance-backed guarantee are in place. With an IBG (£2,500-£4,500), most mainstream lenders will fund. Without one, the property typically sells only to cash buyers or at auction, at a 10-20% discount. Our deeper knotweed guide is at selling a house with Japanese knotweed.
Properties are treated as unmortgageable in 2026 when they lack a working kitchen or bathroom; have active subsidence without monitoring; have Category 1 HHSRS hazards; are designated PRC without a current certificate; or are EPC F/G with no clear remediation path. Specialist lenders sometimes consider these at materially higher rates, but the realistic routes are traditional auction, modern method of auction and direct cash.
NSC covers properties built outside traditional brick-and-block. The Housing Defects Act 1984 designated nine PRC types: Airey, Cornish, Boot, Unity, Wates, Tarran, Orlit, Reema and Parkinson Framed. South Yorkshire has substantial PRC stock in Parson Cross, Wickersley, Wheatley, Wombwell, Athersley and parts of Maltby. To sell to a mortgage buyer, you need a current PRC certificate (typically issued after a Halifax-approved repair scheme). Without one, the buyer pool is cash buyers, specialist lenders and investors familiar with the type.
Indirectly, yes. The Act (Royal Assent 27 October 2025) extends the Decent Homes Standard and Awaab's Law into the private rented sector and abolishes Section 21. The BTL investor buyer pool for poor-condition stock has measurably contracted. EIG Q1 2026 traditional-auction sale-rates on investor-target lots fell from 72.2% to 67.6%. For an owner-occupier, the practical effect is that auction reserves are tighter and direct cash routes are relatively more competitive.
Traditional auction (Mark Jenkinson, Auction House South Yorkshire, Bond Wolfe in our region) typically nets £4,000-£8,000 more than direct cash, but takes 8-14 weeks, costs £4,000-£7,000 in fees, requires viewings, and 30-35% of lots fail to meet reserve. Modern method compresses to 30 days but adds a non-refundable reservation fee, commonly 4.2 to 5% of the price plus VAT, which the buyer funds from the same budget they bid with, so it depresses the hammer price. Direct cash completes in 7 to 28 days with no fees, and the offer is the figure that reaches your account on completion. The right answer depends on your time pressure and risk tolerance.
We can complete in as little as 7 days on a clean-title freehold; most poor-condition cash sales complete in 7 to 28 days. Extenders: leasehold management-pack (5-10 days); Mining Remediation Authority CON29M with active or shallow workings (5-10 days); Form A restriction or unilateral notice on title (5-10 days); knotweed PCA report exchange (5-7 days); flood-history insurer correspondence (3-5 days). We sequence in parallel where possible.
Yes. TA6 5th edition Sections 5 (insurance) and 7 (environmental) have specific questions on subsidence claims, loaded or declined cover, underpinning, and mining damage. The Mining Remediation Authority CON29M search is standard across DN1-DN12, S20, S26, S35 and S60-S75. Concealed subsidence or mining damage is the largest single ground for post-completion misrepresentation claims. Disclose up front in writing.
Run the six-check playbook: Companies House search; dated proof of funds; live TPO and NAPB directory check; reviews with depth and specific defect names; footer signals (company number, registered office, ICO, complaints procedure); your own solicitor, never the buyer's nominated firm. Treat any offer above 85% of GMV-R as a probable lead-capture, re-trade at survey is the most common outcome.
- Selling a house that needs repairs: the lighter-touch sister guide
- Selling a house with Japanese knotweed
- Selling at auction: UK 2026 guide
- Cash buyer vs estate agent: net-after-costs comparison
- All the fast-sale routes compared
- Sell house fast Sheffield
- Sell house fast Doncaster
- Sell house fast Rotherham
- Sell house fast Barnsley
- Sell house fast Wakefield
- How the SYPB process works
- PRC defective housing in Sheffield: the Airey, Cornish, Boot story
- Coal Authority mining search 2026: CON29M explained
This page is a general guide and not legal, tax or surveying advice. Every property is different. Before making decisions on a poor-condition sale, take advice from a RICS-registered surveyor, an SRA-regulated conveyancer, the Property Care Association for damp and timber, and the free services at Citizens Advice and MoneyHelper.
Yes. Damp and mould don't stop a sale, but they change who can buy. Most banks won't lend on a house with serious damp, so mortgage buyers drop away and you are left with cash buyers, investors and auction. You still have to tell your solicitor and any buyer about it, because hiding it can come back on you years later. We buy damp properties and price the repair into our offer.
You have three realistic choices, and none of them need you to find the money. You can sell as it is on the open market and accept a lower price and a slower sale, put it into an auction, or sell to a cash buyer like us. We buy with the roof as it is and take the repair on ourselves. If you aren't in a rush and the house is in a strong area, the open market may still pay you more.
No. You can leave everything where it is. Take out what you want to keep, photos, paperwork, jewellery, and we will clear the rest once the house is ours. Full rooms, full lofts, old furniture and carpets are normal to us. Nobody will make you feel bad about the state of it. The clearance is part of what we take on, and we work that into the offer rather than asking you to sort it first.
First, get a copy of the survey and read it, because the next buyer's surveyor will find the same things. You then have three choices: fix the problem and go back to the market, drop your price to reflect it, or sell to a buyer who needs no mortgage and no survey. We buy without a mortgage, so there is no lender valuation for the property to fail. We price on the condition you tell us about, so it helps to tell us the worst of it up front. Sales falling through after a survey are common. It isn't a failure on your part.
No, but it does narrow the field. Lenders want buildings insurance in place, so a house that insurers have refused to cover is hard for a mortgage buyer to fund. That pushes you towards cash buyers and auction. You must tell your buyer about the flooding and about any cover an insurer has refused or made dearer. We buy in the lower Don corridor and the villages hit in 2007, 2019 and 2023, with the flood risk priced into what we offer.
Sometimes, but it depends on the claim. If money is still to be paid out, you and your buyer have to agree who keeps it, and the solicitors write that into the contract. Some sellers settle the claim first and sell after. Others sell as it is and let the buyer take the repair on. Tell us where the claim stands at the start and we will build it into the offer rather than raise it as a problem later.
No. Asbestos is very common in houses built before 2000 and rarely breaks a sale on its own. Left alone and in one piece it is normally low risk. The trouble starts when it is broken or crumbling, because it then has to be removed safely by a specialist and that costs money. Tell your buyer what you know about it. We buy houses with asbestos and factor any removal into the figure we offer.
Being empty doesn't stop you selling, and an empty house can be simpler for a buyer because there is nobody to move out. The problem is cost. Councils can charge extra council tax on homes left empty long term, insurers restrict cover on empty properties, and the building itself goes downhill. Those costs mount up every month. We buy empty houses and can complete in 7 to 28 days. Work out what holding on costs you each month before you decide, because it changes the sums on a slower sale.
It can do on a normal sale. Your solicitor will ask about extensions, knocked-through walls, rewiring, new windows and boilers, and the buyer's solicitor will want the building control sign-off. Where there is none, the usual fixes are an indemnity policy or getting the work checked after the event, and both take time. A cash buyer takes the work as it stands, so missing paperwork doesn't stall things in the same way.
The figure we give you is our best offer at that point, based on what you have told us, and it is valid for 14 days. We don't open low and then creep up to get a deal over the line. It only moves if something material turns up that we didn't know about, such as a title problem or serious structural damage nobody mentioned. That is why it pays to tell us the worst of it up front. Nothing about the condition will shock us, and an honest description at the start is the best protection against the figure changing later.
Guides that might help right now
Selling a House With Subsidence
What lenders do when movement shows up, and the routes left when a valuation comes back short.
Read guide →
Airey, Cornish and PRC Homes in Sheffield
Why a designated PRC home without a certificate is hard to mortgage, and what selling it looks like.
Read guide →
How Much Do Cash Buyers Offer Below Market Value?
What a cash offer reflects on a defective property, and how to judge whether it is fair.
Read guide →Tell us what condition it's really in.
We buy across South Yorkshire in any condition: mould, subsidence, mining damage, fire, flood, knotweed, PRC. Nothing needs fixing first.
Our promise to you: We will never pressure you into a sale. Your enquiry is completely confidential. If we make you an offer and it isn't right for you, there is absolutely no obligation to proceed.