Direct Sale, No Estate Agent
No estate agent taking a cut, no weeks on the market, no public viewings. An honest offer in writing and a clear timeline from your first call to completion.
When you sell directly to us, you are dealing with a buyer who knows leasehold flats: short leases, slow managing agents and defective leases. We deal with these problems every week and know how to keep a sale on track.
Our offers are below open-market value, and we are open about that. In return you get speed, certainty and a sale that does not fall through. If you are facing a lease problem, a flat in poor condition or a sale that has already collapsed, that certainty can matter more than the last few thousand pounds.
If your flat would do better through an estate agent or at auction, we will tell you. We would rather say so early than waste your time.
Here is exactly what happens when you get in touch.
Call us on 020 7183 5114 or fill in our online form. Tell us the address, roughly how long is left on the lease and anything you already know is a complication. There is no obligation at this stage.
We check the lease, the title register and any known issues, then come back to you within 24 to 48 hours with an initial offer estimate. This early figure shows whether we are the right buyer for your flat and roughly where our offer would land. It is not a high number we plan to cut once the solicitors get involved.
We ask a few follow-up questions about the flat, your timescale and your situation. You can ask us anything about the process. There is no pressure to go further.
We arrange a time to see the flat before we make our formal offer. The visit usually takes no more than about 30 minutes, depending on the size of the flat, and one of our directors normally carries it out. Condition matters, but it rarely stops us going ahead: we work out what the flat needs and price for it. You do not need to tidy up or stage the flat.
If we want to go ahead, we confirm our offer in writing. The figure reflects the lease length, condition, location and any complications. It is not a headline number we plan to revise later. You are under no obligation to accept.
Both sides instruct solicitors to handle the conveyancing, the legal work of transferring the flat. You need your own solicitor, acting independently for you. Ours deal with leasehold sales every week and know how to handle the complications that come up.
The money is transferred and the sale completes on the date you chose. We do not push you into a timeline that does not suit you.
Selling directly is not right for everyone. For some situations it is the most practical option.
Our offer is below open-market value. The trade-off is speed and certainty. Read more about selling to a cash buyer.
The best route if your flat has a long lease, is in good condition and you are not in a hurry.
Worth considering if you want a fixed timetable and can accept an uncertain price. Read more about selling at auction.
Selling through an estate agent can be unpredictable. Buyers pull out. Surveys turn up problems. Chains collapse, and months of effort disappear overnight. We offer the opposite: no public viewings, no chain and no avoidable delays.
Our offers are below market value in return for a quicker and simpler sale. If that trade-off suits your situation, we make it easy. If it does not, we will say so and may suggest a better route.
We do not make headline offers and then cut them once solicitors have read the lease. We start with research, looking at the title register, the lease length and any known issues with the building or managing agent, before we put a figure to you. So the offer we make reflects the real position of the flat. Our Buying Code sets out the standards we hold ourselves to on every purchase.
A leasehold flat sold through an estate agent typically takes three to six months, and that is when everything goes smoothly. Problems with the lease, slow management information or a hitch with the buyer's mortgage can push that out a long way. Our timeline guides show where the weeks go on each route.
Selling to a direct buyer removes the main causes of delay. There is no chain, no mortgage to arrange and fewer people involved. We can usually complete in three to four weeks from the day you accept.
If you need longer, to arrange your next move, wait for probate or manage a tenant's departure, that is fine. You set the completion date.
Timings are estimates and assume weekday office hours. They vary with the complexity of the purchase, since we do as much research as we can before solicitors are instructed.
Usually three to four weeks from the day you accept our offer to completion. If you need longer, for example to arrange your next move or to wait for probate, that is fine: you choose the completion date. The exact timing depends on the flat and the legal work involved.
None from us. There is no estate agent commission, and we do not charge arrangement, valuation or administration fees. You pay your own solicitor for the conveyancing, as in any sale. Our guide to the cost of selling a leasehold flat compares what each route usually costs.
You do, as in any property sale. Your solicitor acts for you alone, so it cannot be the firm acting for us. If you do not have one, we can suggest firms that handle leasehold sales regularly.
Short leases are our speciality. We are cash buyers, so there is no mortgage lender to satisfy. We regularly buy flats with fewer than 80 years left, including those with 60 years or less, and we have bought flats with fewer than 7 years remaining. The lease length goes into our offer from the start, so we will not come back with a lower figure once the lease has been reviewed. See short lease flats we buy.
One of our directors visits the flat once, before we make our formal offer. The visit usually takes no more than about 30 minutes, depending on the size of the flat. There is no need to tidy up or stage the flat: we buy it as it is. We look at the condition and anything that affects the price, then confirm our offer in writing.
At the start, just the address, roughly how long is left on the lease and anything you know about the building or the lease that might affect a sale. Once the sale is under way, your solicitor orders the management pack from the freeholder or managing agent. That covers the service charge, ground rent and any planned works.
Yes. Neither side is legally bound until contracts are exchanged, the same as in any property sale. If you change your mind before then, you pay only your own solicitor for the work done so far. There is nothing to pay us.
Many of the sellers we work with come to us after a sale has collapsed, often because of a mortgage problem, a lease complication or delays during conveyancing. Selling to us removes most of those risks: there is no buyer's mortgage, no chain and no survey to unsettle a nervous buyer.
