Sold As It Stands. No Renovation Required.
Buyers love the idea of a renovation project, until they see the quotes. We buy unmodernised flats as they are, and we price the refurbishment in from the outset rather than after the survey.
Buyers may like your flat and its location, but worry about how much work it needs. An old kitchen, a dated bathroom and concerns about the wiring can make them hesitate. Some may offer less to cover the cost of improvements. Others may agree a price, then ask for a reduction if their survey reveals problems.
For sellers, renovating before selling carries risks. The work takes time, you may not recover what you spend, and your choice of fittings may not suit the buyer. Selling the flat as it is avoids that upfront expense, but buyers may expect the price to reflect the work needed.
Leasehold flats can bring extra complications. A short lease can make it harder for buyers to get a mortgage, while high service charges add to their ongoing costs. These issues can affect a buyer's decision even if they are happy to take on the renovation.
Together, these concerns can mean lower offers, longer negotiations or buyers pulling out. If a sale falls through, you may have to start looking for a buyer again.
We buy unmodernised flats in their current condition, so you do not need to renovate before selling. We use costs from our own recent refurbishment projects to account for the work in our offer from the start.
Unmodernised covers a wide range. Here is what we see most often.
Dated decor, original carpets, older kitchen and bathroom fittings: the flat is habitable but shows its age. Most buyers price in the refurbishment and then either offer low or negotiate again after the survey. We price it in once, at the start. A cosmetically dated flat is straightforward to value and price accurately.
Old wiring, failing plumbing, outdated heating systems or a layout that needs reconfiguring. Buyers with mortgages often struggle here. A lender's valuer may report the flat as not readily mortgageable, and the lender may then hold back part of the loan until the work is done (a retention) or decline to lend at all. We buy with our own funds, so there is no lender, no retention and no survey condition to satisfy.
A surveyor's report that mentions damp, movement or structural concerns stops many sales in their tracks. We look at these issues before we make our written offer and price the remediation in. A survey that confirms what we saw does not change the offer; only something neither of us knew about would make us look at it again. We buy the flat, not the surveyor's verdict on it.
We start with the end value: what the flat would be worth once modernised, in today's market, in that location. We then work backwards, taking off the cost of the refurbishment and our margin for doing the work. Investors sometimes call this the after-repair value, or ARV. Whatever the label, it gives both of us a transparent basis for the offer.
We do not guess at refurbishment costs. We have been buying and refurbishing leasehold flats for over 20 years, and we have a clear understanding of what it costs to update a kitchen, a bathroom, the wiring and the plumbing in flats of any size, across England and Wales.
Our offer will be below what the flat would achieve fully modernised, and below what it might achieve unmodernised through an estate agent given enough time. Across the flats we buy, that works out at roughly 15 to 30 percent below open-market value. The gap is the refurbishment cost, our margin and the certainty of a sale that does not depend on a survey. For sellers who do not want to project manage a renovation or fund it themselves, that trade-off is often worth making. Compare our written offer with what an agent expects to achieve after refurbishment, holding costs and fees, and decide on the numbers.
Buying as seen does not mean buying blind. Tell us early about anything you know: damp or movement, works carried out in the past and whether the freeholder consented to them, anything started and not finished, and the lease length and service charge position. You complete the same TA6 and TA7 property information forms as in any sale (the Law Society forms every seller in England and Wales fills in; since 30 March 2026 only the sixth edition of the TA6 is accepted), and the answers have to be honest. Telling us at the start is what keeps the written offer steady.
If a past alteration turns out to have no consent, tell your solicitor before anyone contacts the freeholder. Approaching the freeholder first can rule out an indemnity policy, and your solicitor will know whether retrospective consent, insurance or a price adjustment fits the case.
The lease itself is worth a look too. Many unmodernised flats sit in older converted houses, and their leases can be as dated as the kitchen: a missing right of support, no clear duty to repair the roof, or service charge shares that do not add up. None of that stops us buying, but knowing about it early keeps the legal work short. Our guide to reading your lease shows what to look for.
Sellers of unmodernised flats have three main routes: an estate agency sale (sometimes called private treaty), a traditional auction or a direct sale to a cash buyer like us. Each has trade-offs, and the right one depends on whether the headline price, speed or certainty matters most to you.
An estate agency sale usually achieves the highest price, but it takes longest and carries the greatest risk that condition derails the sale at the survey stage. The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024 (DMCC) means the agent has to put known material problems, such as damp or structural movement, on the listing from day one. That is fairer to buyers, but it narrows the pool from the start, and a buyer who needs a mortgage can still lose their lender once the valuer reports.
A traditional unconditional auction suits unmodernised flats well. Bidders expect dated condition, and many are cash buyers or developers who price the work in before they bid. Contracts exchange when the hammer falls, and completion usually follows within 28 days, or whatever the auction terms say. The trade-offs: the guide price is set below market value to attract bidders, so on a quiet day the flat sells at your reserve rather than for what it is worth; a legal pack costs about £300 to £600 to prepare, and the auctioneer charges a fee; and you are bound from the moment of sale. If certainty is the point, avoid the Modern Method of Auction, where the buyer pays a reservation fee and there is no exchange on the day.
This is the fastest and most certain of the three, and the lowest headline price. There is no lender, no mortgage survey and no chain. We give you an initial figure within 24 to 48 hours, so you can see whether we are likely to be the right buyer for you. We then arrange a visit to the flat (there are no public viewings), and a written offer follows. That written offer is the price we intend to pay. Completion usually takes 3 to 4 weeks from acceptance; the management pack from the freeholder or managing agent is the usual cause of any delay. We factor refurbishment costs in from the start and carry the condition risk ourselves.
If you have time and want the highest price, an estate agency sale is the usual answer. If certainty matters and an auction price works for you, the saleroom suits an unmodernised flat well. If you would rather skip the renovation, the viewings, the survey and the post-survey negotiation, sell direct: a known price, a known timeframe and no condition-related surprises.
No. We buy the flat as it stands. You do not need to decorate, repair or clear it before completion, and you can leave the contents behind if you want to. Any work the flat needs is priced into our offer from the start.
No, not because of the condition. Within 24 to 48 hours of you contacting us we give you an initial figure, so you can see whether we are likely to be the right buyer for you. We then arrange a visit to the flat, and a written offer follows. That written offer is the price we intend to pay, and anything we saw on the visit is already priced in. It can change if something neither of us knew about comes to light in the legal work, for example a lease defect or a major works bill.
Not at all. Buying unmodernised flats is what we do every day. Older decor, original fixtures and dated kitchens and bathrooms are not problems for us; they are factored into our valuation. Where the fit-out is dated throughout, we usually price for a full refurbishment, which keeps the costing straightforward.
A short lease alongside an unmodernised flat is a combination we buy regularly. We look at the lease length and the refurbishment together and make a single offer that reflects the full picture, with no need to extend the lease or renovate before selling.
Yes. The Energy Performance of Buildings Regulations require the seller to give a valid Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) to the buyer on any sale, with or without an estate agent. If you do not have one, an assessor can produce it in a few days for about £50 to £100.
