The HomeOwners Alliance points out that the largest number of Legal Ombudsman complaints relate to residential conveyancing – especially poor communication and delay.

Buyer says their solicitor failed to notice incorrect boundary lines on the title plan, now causing a dispute with neighbours.

The first conveyancer didn’t understand the quirks of our lease and the buyer walked away; the second firm had to unpick a lot of previous mistakes.

Buyer alleges poor confidentiality and unprofessional calls created mistrust during an active transaction.

We almost completed without anyone checking building regs for the loft conversion; when the lender asked for paperwork that didn’t exist, the buyers walked.

Our sale fell through because the buyers ‘suddenly realised’ the house doesn’t have a driveway – after two viewings and two months of back-and-forth, they just walked away over something that obvious.

I’ve spent money on surveys, searches and removals only to be right back at square one because the buyers walked away before exchange.

The seller worries whether to wait for their buyers to find someone new or immediately relist to avoid losing the house they’re trying to purchase.

the mortgage offer that his broker had got from Halifax to buy ours was conditional on him being released from his brothers mortgage.

Our lender has warned that if we miss the completion window because of the PM Law collapse, they may withdraw the offer altogether. Months of stress and surveys could be written off overnight.

One commenter says being gazumped feels brutal but is legal until contracts are exchanged, and warns ‘nothing is definite until you get the keys’.

Buyer says the conveyancing fee list feels like paying for every tiny step, adding stress immediately.

They took £2,222.0 from my account for a property i never view.

Our property still isn’t registered years after purchase. We’re now facing more delays and stress because the conveyancer didn’t finish the job.

New build warranty feels pointless: ‘always on your own’ when defects appear and claims rejected.

They warn that fall-throughs don’t just waste money, they also destroy confidence in the process and make people more reluctant to try again.

We finally sold on the third attempt after two buyers dropped out at the last minute, each time leaving us with survey and legal costs we couldn’t recover.

They describe clients who struggled to get basic answers about what stage their purchase had reached, or why nothing seemed to be happening for weeks.

BLB Solicitors warn that sellers must disclose any neighbour dispute – even historic – and that buyers’ enthusiasm often evaporates once they hear about a ‘troublesome’ neighbour.

By the time they resurfaced, the seller was threatening to remarket because they thought we weren’t serious.

Unacceptable delays, inaccurate paperwork, slow follow-ups, no sense of urgency

Case studies include owners whose lives and retirement plans are derailed because they can’t afford to extend leases or escape toxic contracts.

A conveyancing complaints guide lists big red flags: slow responses, difficulty getting hold of anyone and reviews mentioning constant delays and errors.

They contrast months of stagnation with the traditional agent against a much faster sale once they switched, highlighting how weak progression leaves chains vulnerable to collapse.

One person’s sale fell through three weeks before completion when the buyer suddenly decided they didn’t like the area, after months of faffing about.

A HousingUK thread about leasehold flats warns that service charges and ground rents can balloon to the point where you’re left with something you ‘can’t sell’.

MSE users describe flats where annual charges reached £3,000–£6,000; every time a buyer’s solicitor saw the schedule, the sale stalled or fell through.

“The buying experience was slow and stressful… communication was appalling.”

On Mumsnet, a buyer says their homebuyer survey valued a £680,000 house at £615,000 – the lender would still lend, but they suddenly felt like they were overpaying massively.

A MoneySavingExpert user said their buyer’s mortgage offer expired after months of delays, forcing everyone to sit and hope while a new lender was found.

They now feel misinformed, realising the ongoing charges dramatically change what they can afford each month.

The reviewer said calls and emails weren’t returned, and then extra money was demanded for paperwork, adding insult to injury after the deal died.

Not even 1 star but there is no option for that.

“Completed our sale and purchase after 13 months.”

They said the real pain is psychological – doing the whole mortgage application process twice because somebody else changed their mind.

Our tenant is refusing access for viewings and the managing agent seems to side with them. I’m trying to sell but they’re using every excuse not to cooperate and I’m stuck paying the mortgage.

The stress from our house sale falling through has wrecked my sleep and my mood; I feel like I’ve been living in limbo for months.

Reading through other clients’ experiences is terrifying. Some of us have sent completion funds, some have drawn down mortgage money, others are getting notices to complete, and a few may now be stuck paying two mortgages because their PM Law firm folded mid-transaction.

Our purchase is stuck because Butterworths Solicitors – part of the PM Law group – closed with only a handwritten notice on the door. We were expecting to exchange within days and now have no idea who holds our file.

Charged me for sales packs… they never even requested.

They’re clear that hiding a live row is likely to end in either a fall-through or a nasty legal fight after completion.

They list dishonesty, discrimination and serious breaches of rules as reasons to escalate beyond an internal complaint when a firm’s behaviour crosses the line.

Simple sale… fell through due to the poor quality of my solicitors.

Dawn Solicitors say failing to reveal neighbour disputes or serious defects can be property misrepresentation, especially if buyers relied on the false reassurance when deciding to proceed.

Buyers in the support group talk about having their life savings locked away while still paying rent or a previous mortgage, burning through emergency funds each week this drags on.

BetterMove’s blog explains that high service charges can put buyers off straight away and reduce the pool of people who can afford to run a flat, not just buy it.

In another MSE thread, someone said their sale fell through after survey and they were left deciding whether to fix issues or accept a lower offer from the next buyer.

This is the third time our house sale has collapsed right before completion – every time a different link in the chain breaks and we’re back to square one.

We’re stuck between pushing the sellers to hurry up or accepting that we’ll pay higher monthly payments for the exact same house.

Many say the moment the lender’s number comes back, negotiations turn sour and one side walks away, killing the deal.

Another thread describes a buyer’s survey throwing up ‘alleged issues’ that the sellers dispute, but the buyer still uses it to renegotiate and delay the sale.

Our buyers pulled out after their survey flagged old subsidence, even though previous reports and insurance showed it had been resolved.

Leaseholder says they had to phone daily for a basic update about building works, with poor follow-up.

We’re waiting for an insurance certificate to progress issues; experience shows why reform is needed.

Fall-throughs in 2025 have cost UK movers an estimated £275 million so far.

A seller says a ‘reservation agreement’ product was sold as protection against buyers pulling out, but they call it ‘a complete scam and unfit for purpose’ after their experience.

We’ve got a notice to complete, our solicitor has already sent the mortgage funds to a PM Law firm, but no keys have been released. Every day that passes increases the risk of us being in breach of contract.

They’ve slashed the asking price by tens of thousands, but high charges and exit fees make buyers wary and the flat still hasn’t sold.

Buyer claims their solicitor was unaware of basic Help-to-Buy requirements, leading to avoidable delays.

A buyer says they demanded the service charge in writing before offering, were quoted about £1,064, then discovered it was actually around £3,600 — and they wouldn’t have offered if told the truth.

CDPLL do nothing, you have to chase them by phone because they do not answer emails.

We had to go back to the market twice after buyers pulled out, and the whole process was so stressful it made us consider giving up on moving altogether.

Leaseholder says they paid a non-returnable deposit for a lease extension with an agreed timeline, but progress and communication collapsed.

By the time we completed, we’d lived through two collapsed sales and a third stressful one; the only positive was having a solicitor who actually kept us in the loop.

Our move date was sprung on us with only a day to prepare because no one updated us.

One agent attempted to enter my home without proper notice, leaving me feeling unsafe and disrespected.

My sale fell through and the conveyancers at Dee & Griffin barely communicated – it felt like I was just a walking bank account rather than a client they cared about.

We were told to be ready to move, so we booked removals and vacated on the assumption funds would be sent. Then we discovered the firm handling our completion had been shut down and we had no house to go to that night.

We carefully lined up sale and purchase for the same day so our two young children wouldn’t have to move twice. Our PM Property Lawyers branch closed without warning and we ended up in an Airbnb with no idea when we’d actually get the keys.

A buyer says completion was blocked because a managing agent didn’t provide the required leasehold pack despite multiple chasers.

They explained that if you can’t get an extension, you may be left reapplying at worse rates, which can make the numbers no longer stack up for the house you wanted.

High charges and hard-to-reach support made routine admin feel like deliberate obstruction.

Official statistics regularly highlight communication problems as a key driver of complaints.

They say that if they’d known charges could get this high, they would never have bought the property in the first place.

They worry that future buyers will take one look at the bill and either demand a big discount or walk away altogether.

Another buyer discovered their seller had a habit of offering on places and backing out just before survey – they’d done it ‘for years’, leaving a trail of collapsed chains behind.

My purchaser used these guys. Slow and misinformation to say the least.

“Aggressive and bullied me throughout the whole time.”

Solicitor repeatedly loses documents, forcing the buyer to resend the same ID and bank statements several times.

The Guardian reports shared-ownership leaseholders facing service charges up to £8,000 a year, leaving many trapped in homes they can’t easily sell.

They call the system ‘unregulated and vile’, saying leaseholders are trapped by rising charges and buyers run a mile as soon as they see the figures.

Our house sale fell through because the freeholder’s agent took six weeks to answer a basic enquiry from our solicitor – by the time they replied, our buyer had lost patience and walked.

We bought our terrace and quickly discovered both neighbours are extremely noisy; the seller had ticked ‘no disputes’ on the TA6 despite years of complaints.

They warn that trying to hide rows with neighbours can be treated as misrepresentation, leaving sellers facing legal claims long after completion.

Our flat sale collapsed when we found out, just before exchange, that the managing agent had invalidated all EWS1 forms and the buyer’s lender refused to proceed.

We lost money on a failed sale after the estate agent held onto the buyer’s deposit longer than they should and both sides argued about who’d lost out.

When our first sale collapsed, Jennifer at Avenue Road stayed calm, put the house straight back on the market and quickly found us another buyer.

A leaseholder claims basic issues and complaints were met with silence, feeding delays and stress for everyone involved.

They now feel they’ve moved into a street with problems that were deliberately glossed over, and are considering whether there’s any comeback.

Buyer says solicitor ignored multiple warnings from the surveyor about structural defects and didn’t raise enquiries.

Fresh Legal Ombudsman data for 2025/26 shows almost half of accepted complaints are about poor communication or delay, and a third concern residential conveyancing.

The whole chain was hanging on one vendor buying a place with solar panels and non-standard construction; when that got rejected by their lender, everyone else’s sale collapsed too.

Commenters replied that between cladding, insurance and service-charge hikes, they’d avoid that development entirely – it looked like a flat you could buy but struggle to sell.

Our chain is hanging by a thread – we sold in September, but third parties keep dragging their feet and it feels like any tiny wobble could bring the whole thing down.

A buyer even knocked on our door to complain that the agent had lied to them as well as us.

We pointed out the surveyor had inspected the wrong building, but she dug her heels in. You realise one incompetent report can kill a sale and there’s almost nothing you can do.

Client reports their solicitor ignored multiple urgent emails about completion funds until the last minute, causing near-collapse of the sale.

One reviewer says their high street estate agent did nothing for six months – no real progression, no updates – and they only realised how bad it was after switching to a different company.

It’s heartbreaking that the house we hoped to buy could be lost because one buyer in the chain changed their mind.

HSBC instructed a mortgage valuation which came back at £0 and ‘not habitable’ despite another valuation already existing.

We found out our sale had fallen through while we were on holiday; there’s nothing like checking your email poolside and discovering you no longer have a buyer.

A Which? survey found that 84% of people whose sale fell through lost money, with an average loss of nearly three grand in fees and costs.

Our sale fell through once already, and now the vendor is asking us to lower our offer just to get everything through quickly before the chain wobbles again.

Only discovered late the lease was 79 years — this triggered lender advising us to renegotiate or face higher interest.

The seller was stunned at how much power one valuation report had over the buyer’s ability to proceed.

Our house sale fell through at the very last minute but, to be fair to the agent, they had viewings and a new offer arranged within days.

Our chain collapsed because someone further up pulled out, and we still had to pay for surveys and searches on a house we never got.

They’ve booked removals and time off work and now face extra costs and stress because nobody can give a firm completion date anymore.

Action Fraud describes a case where a man lost £67,000 after fraudsters hacked email accounts and diverted a property purchase payment.

Seller says a chain-free sale ran for roughly six months with minimal progress until the buyer finally withdrew.

My buyer has suddenly requested a survey right before exchange. We were expecting to exchange this week and I am really worried about losing our onward purchase because of the delay.

We were stunned to learn that the average person who has a sale fall through loses nearly three thousand pounds in sunk costs, with no compensation.

Formal complaints go nowhere; they reply when they want and don’t resolve anything.

Threatening letters and ‘anticipated charges’ tactics — feels designed to fine people rather than help.

They say buyers too often assume the offer will be extended automatically, only to discover the lender has changed its criteria or rates.

We thought we were on a genuine no-move-no-fee deal but still had to pay for searches and extras when the chain fell apart, which no one had clearly explained.

They described the stress as ‘horrendous’, with constant anxiety that the vendors of their onward purchase would run out of patience and pull the plug.

You don’t forget the feeling of signing everything, then being told the sale you relied on has vanished overnight.

By the time we finally moved, we’d lost all faith in the system and were just relieved not to be starting from scratch again.

A very old Mumsnet thread simply begins ‘Our house sale has fallen through’ and goes on to describe young ‘property developers’ who ghosted both the agent and their own solicitor.

“We feel there’s no point re-listing until this is rectified.”

Santander research reported in The Times describes the home-buying process as ‘antiquated’, saying more than 500,000 transactions collapse each year and buyers collectively lose hundreds of millions in sunk costs.

Seller dealing with probate says they’d already paid for searches, struggled to get written updates, and felt left in the dark for weeks.

This has to be the most unprofessional company ever... lost numerous important documentation.

Seller says lack of updates and replies dragged out the process and threatened the whole chain.

They couldn't be any worse if they tried.

They say it was incredibly stressful to discover everything was off track after months of preparation, and they lost out on the house they’d hoped to buy.

I am a 74-year-old buying a flat in Tower Hamlets and had already transferred around £350,000 when PM Law shut suddenly. I’ve been left in limbo not knowing when, or if, I’ll get my money or my home.

Clients say the difference is simply being kept in the loop – emails answered the same day and clear explanations of what’s needed to get to exchange.

We’re over five months in and still haven’t completed. Every week our conveyancer promises ‘next week’ and nothing happens.

We submitted an offer but the agent insists on checking finances before passing it to the seller. We have had no confirmation that the offer was even communicated despite the agent telling us our figure was reasonable.

After spending money on valuation and legals, we had to abandon the purchase because cash buyers were our seller’s only hope.

Lease extension: paid a non-returnable deposit with an expected timeline, but progress afterwards felt unclear and slow.

Other Connells reviewers complain that surveyors lack local knowledge and that low valuations have wrecked their purchase or remortgage plans.

One older forum thread describes a home where the mortgage valuation came back £50,000 lower than the agreed price, leaving the buyers scrambling to plug the gap.

They said all the stories they hear from agents locally are about high-fee flats sticking on the market while houses and low-charge properties still move.

Shocked to be basically 'scammed' by this firm.

Buyer view: estate agent demanded address certification by a solicitor — extra cost and hassle.

Our sale collapsed because the deeds plan didn’t match the actual garden; nobody noticed the error until the buyers’ solicitor dug into it.

“Calls, voicemails, emails… all ignored for days.”

A long-running MSE topic ‘Selling house with noisy-ish neighbours’ includes a story where a sale fell through because the buyer couldn’t tolerate the loud TV of the deaf neighbour.

If we tried to sell a place with issues like this, buyers would run a mile. But as tenants we just live with it because enforcement is so weak.

We’ve now had two purchases collapse, each costing a couple of thousand in fees. Nearly a year of trying to buy and we’re about £5,000 down with nothing to show.

HomeOwners Alliance similarly notes that many complaints about solicitors relate to conveyancing, especially where clients feel they’re left chasing updates themselves.

I assumed the big fee was only payable on completion – turns out it was added to the loan and still due once the offer was issued.

Valuer seemed positive in person for the remortgage, then later down-valued the property. It caused shock and immediate mortgage stress.

The high street agent did very little beyond sticking it online; we had to chase for every tiny update.

MoneySavingExpert forum users discuss riverside flats where huge service charges meant values lagged far behind other blocks; owners struggled to sell even when the wider market boomed.

Says high charges on leaseholds don’t match service; described as extortionate.

The first buyers pulled out after survey, and now every new viewer wants to know what was in that report, even though we never got a copy ourselves.

I am honestly terrified the house will collapse. There are cracks everywhere and we’ve had insurance issues because of suspected subsidence, but nothing has been properly fixed.

Every time I called, the receptionist said the solicitor was out or in a meeting; by the time they finally rang me, the buyer had withdrawn.

A Reddit thread asks if anyone has sold successfully with a formal noise complaint recorded on the TA6 – the seller is anxious it will scare off all buyers.

It was sobering to hear the property described as too risky for a mortgage; we’d thought of it as a bit tired, not effectively unsellable.

I sold my flat last month using a PM Law firm. The collapse has left me worrying that the money isn’t safe and that the purchase I was about to make could fall through if I can’t access the proceeds.

We were told the solicitor had ordered searches, but when we checked with the authority the request had never been submitted. Our mortgage offer nearly expired waiting for them.

Another r/HousingUK post tells of a house down-valued by £170,000; when the sellers refused to renegotiate, the buyer simply walked away.

They now find that potential buyers are scared off by the possibility of further hikes, leaving them stuck with homes that don’t feel affordable at all.

The neighbour stormed over during a viewing to shout about the shared drive; the buyers left halfway through and never came back.

We were advised to buy ‘sale fail’ insurance only after our first buyers had already pulled out, which was exactly when we needed it but no longer qualified.

Calls went to voicemail, emails ignored, I had no idea what stage my purchase was at.

The reviewer tells others to avoid them ‘for your own sanity’, feeling stuck and unable to move forward with the extension.

We’re in limbo: campaigning with the MP and media, but in the meantime our lives are on hold because nobody wants to buy into this mess.

Another Guardian piece reports leaseholders accusing housing associations of ‘mis-selling’, saying the true level of service charges only emerged after they moved in.

One Redditor said their ‘useless’ solicitor took ages to acknowledge a complaint and then the sale fell through, leaving them paying for work they felt had been badly handled from day one.

Email responses were so slow I started wondering if this was normal for solicitors.

Mortgage was declined over a small bounced bill and the broker said they’d appeal, then went quiet. Extremely stressful when you’re buying alone.

Our conveyancer is impossible to get on the phone and rarely answers emails. We wanted to exchange next week but can’t even get an update.

A buyer asked online whether their seller’s lack of response to basic enquiries was a red flag – weeks had passed, no documents had come back, and their solicitor was warning the chain could fail.

A buyer describes being stuck for weeks with no clear answers while their conveyancer appeared disengaged.

Our buyers pulled out after their broker finally admitted he’d put them with the wrong lender for our property type, and their new bank wouldn’t lend enough.

Even when agents answer, it’s often something woolly like ‘buyer’s situation changed’, which doesn’t help you judge whether there’s a real problem with the property.

A Mumsnet poster asks if they’re being unreasonable not to disclose a long-running neighbour dispute, despite twenty years of noise complaints and council involvement.

They said it felt like signing up to an open-ended liability, and they didn’t want to end up with a flat that would be hard to sell on for the same reason.

Had we known there was no completion certificate for the extension, we’d never have spent months and hundreds of pounds on surveys and searches.

On HousePriceCrash, posters said many central London flats with £2,000-a-year service charges and hefty council tax are just sitting on the market because buyers don’t want the ongoing cost burden.

How long is it currently taking Land Registry? I bought my house 15 weeks ago and my title still has not been updated. It was a straightforward purchase with no complications, so I do not understand why it is taking so long.

Some buyers say the jump in charges has wiped out any sense of affordability and made their homes unattractive to future purchasers.

They say they’re trapped in a flat they can’t comfortably afford and can’t sell, with family plans on hold because there’s literally nowhere to move on to.

The same piece quotes Hamptons saying rising service charges are now a major factor slowing sales of leasehold flats.

They’d already spent money on surveys and legals and were now begging the developer not to put their reserved new-build back on the open market.

The conveyancer was so slow and unresponsive that not only did we lose a cash buyer, we also had to start over with a new solicitor halfway through.

Adviser filled in our application wrongly—entered incorrect income and deposit. Lender declined and we had to restart the whole process.

Buyer claims their conveyancer refuses to explain the local search results and simply says ‘it’s fine’ without clarification.

They say the freeholder has stated there are no plans to obtain the form, leaving them unable to progress and fearing the buyer will walk away.

That article also highlights confusion around the Building Safety Act, saying some conveyancers now refuse to act on certain flat sales because of cladding and liability concerns.

A complainant says a property was marketed as ‘no onward chain’, but later events meant the buyer had already spent on survey and conveyancing unnecessarily.

One family’s inheritance has been eroded by roughly £43,000 while they wait for a buyer, watching the flat sit on the market despite big price cuts.

The conveyancer changed fee-earner three times without telling us. Each new person claimed they ‘weren’t familiar with the file’, and basic questions had to be answered over and over again.

The solicitor incorrectly told us our property did not require a deed of variation, even though the lease contained a defect. The lender refused completion until the error was corrected.

Spent ages feeding all our details, then it turned into a hard sell for life insurance. Felt like a waste of time rather than real mortgage advice.

They had five days left on their mortgage offer and were begging solicitors and the other side to hurry up to avoid the deal collapsing completely.

Our buyer pulled out because of a boundary dispute we inherited from the previous owner – a hedge encroaching a few inches suddenly became a deal-breaker.

A forum user describes paying an invoice that later turned out to have been intercepted and altered with different bank details — a reminder of how easily ‘trusted’ payments get diverted.

Upfront fee paid; property didn’t sell; says advert was pulled after six months and terms were ambiguous.

I completed on my house in June 2021 but Land Registry still does not show me as the owner. The conveyancer keeps blaming a backlog and says it has been expedited, but almost four years later it still is not updated.

Our buyer's buyer pulled out, breaking the chain. The agent suggested giving them two weeks to find a new buyer, but we are unsure whether that is reasonable or too short.

the chaos they caused was the reason our property sale fell through in the end.

Buyer says their solicitor brushed off concerns about a shared septic tank and only after exchange did they learn it failed current rules and would need an expensive new treatment plant.

Commenters tell them they’ve already lost time and money and probably need to cut their losses and find a seller who is not so unreliable.

Our completion nearly failed because the solicitor sat on the file for weeks right as the mortgage offer was about to run out.

Slow, understaffed and liars.

We thought the buyers were chain-free but later discovered they were relying on a sale that kept collapsing; every time we got close to exchange, something else went wrong.

On MSE, a seller says their buyer’s buyer pulled out a week before exchange, and the agent immediately suggested relisting because their onward seller was unlikely to wait.

Our sale collapsed the day after the stamp duty holiday ended because our buyer’s buyer pulled out. Nobody would tell us why – just a short email and that was it.

We were forced to find a new solicitor in the middle of exchange week. The new firm has to re-do ID checks and re-review the file, costing us more fees on top of the money already paid to the collapsed firm.

We only found out the flat had no valid EWS1 form when the lender refused to issue a mortgage offer – the agent had listed it like any normal property.

A Latimer Lee review simply says the sale fell through because the buyer’s solicitor couldn’t get answers from them and the buyers lost patience waiting.

“장umping is alive and well… avoid at all cost.”

Our sale fell through maybe six weeks in, just after survey, and the buyers refused to give any reason at all; we think they simply got cold feet about how much they’d offered.

One seller says their first house sale fell through, so they switched to a different branch who actually chased the chain and gave proper advice about the offers.

We picked this company on price alone and soon found we'd made a terrible mistake! …We never heard from them.

Communication was awful; we were constantly chasing and still got incorrect information.

A LegalAdviceUK poster said their house sale was on the verge of falling through because the seller’s solicitor was so slow that everyone else in the chain was losing patience.

They now have tenants in situ and a property thousands of miles away, all because one buyer backed out at the last minute.

A Trustpilot reviewer for Agent & Homes said their first sale collapsed with a different agent who had simply stuck it on Rightmove, but the new agent stepped in and actually drove the deal through.

“Forced into visiting their in-house mortgage advisor.”

Two interested buyers said they loved the house but wouldn’t live next to that level of hostility.

A Times report says nearly 60% of leaseholders struggle to sell because of punitive clauses and rising charges, leaving many in ‘financial limbo’.

We’d been told exchange meant it was ‘all locked in’, then discovered that if the funds aren’t actually in place, the whole thing can still blow up.

On r/HousingUK, a seller asks if they’ll ever find out the real reason their sale fell through – after three years of trying to sell, they feel like the system is stacked against them.

Residents in ‘affordable’ housing say they were sold on low service charges, only to see them jump to unaffordable levels within a few years.

Our sale fell through because the leasehold dispute with the management company hadn’t been resolved and the buyers didn’t want to inherit the fight.

On Trustpilot, a seller said William H Brown took days to arrange viewings, failed to tell a tenant about an appointment and then broke promises about how offers would be handled.

Overstated value to win instruction, then kept pushing reductions with poor follow-through.

They say they constantly have to chase to get even basic work done, and feel the firm shows little care or engagement with the case.

Scammers created a fake law firm website so the buyer unknowingly sent their full house deposit to criminals.

Our house sale fell through while we were on holiday; we came back to an email saying the buyers had changed their minds.

After months of slow progress on a chain-free sale, the buyer eventually walked away; the reviewer says they had to chase constantly and got little back.

A bank error on moving day meant extra hotel bills and a second removals booking we could barely afford.

Service charges on flats have jumped sharply and many leaseholders say the rising fees are making their homes harder to sell.

We went with British Homebuyers after a previous sale using a local agent fell through, and just wanted a route that would actually complete.

The property we would like to buy has had building works done before 1995 and not all of the certificates are available. We want to know if the sale can still go ahead and whether we can get building control in to make sure it is safe.

The solicitor forgot to send the TA10 form to the buyer’s side. Without it, exchange could not happen and the buyer almost walked away from the chain.

They are painfully slow to respond, regularly ignored my emails, and never pushed the buyers for updates.

One poster said their vendor became seriously ill and pulled out just two weeks before exchange after five months of pushing the sale along.

They contrast that support with earlier experiences where other agents seemed to disappear the moment a ‘sold’ board went up.

Our buyers chose a solicitor based in Asia and the time difference meant nothing ever got done; weeks slipped by with no replies until the whole sale fell through.

The Guardian reported shared-ownership residents facing service charges up to £8,000 a year, leaving some homes effectively impossible to sell on the open market.

“Consistently sat on our case… lied about what work had been done… rarely responded.”

They failed to chase missing replies to enquiries, claiming the seller was slow. The estate agent confirmed the solicitor had never requested them in the first place.

Several of us in the Facebook group are at different stages of selling or buying – some have exchanged, some are pre-exchange – but all of us have the same problem: our PM Law firm shut and nobody is telling us how or when our home moves can be rescued.

An article on poor communication by a legal complaints firm advises clients to keep a log of unanswered emails and calls when their conveyancer goes quiet for weeks.

Our solicitor sat on the local search request for weeks; by the time it finally came back, the sellers had lost patience and put the house back on the market.

“Offered £50 compensation… adds salt to the injury.”

Another poster with a long-running home insurance claim said they felt completely stuck while repairs dragged on and they lived in a building site for months.

“No sense of urgency… forced to chase all the time.”

We’re FTB with no chain but our solicitor replaced halfway through the process and now exchange looks six months away.

Not even 1 star but there is no option for that. Absolute ridiculous service.

Buyer experience: keybox code missing, no one showed up, long holds on phone, blamed everyone else.

They say the firm didn’t answer emails, the portal wasn’t updated, and they had to chase by phone constantly while the sale went nowhere.

I complained that my conveyancer never returned calls; by the time the firm apologised, the chain had already fallen apart.

A seller says their property sale fell through again and they no longer trust the estate agent, after paying upfront and believing the sale would go through smoothly.

Avoid like the plague if you actually ever want to buy or sell.

Their management service seems designed to do the bare minimum while letting others bear the cost.

Not even 1 star... Absolute ridiculous service. I would never want anyone else to go through the same experience.

Local plan showed a new road behind the garden. Not mentioned anywhere in the listing or documentation.

A seller says their buyer’s mortgage was withdrawn due to lease ground rent terms, and they’re scrambling to fix it with a deed of variation to save the sale.

They praised the conveyancer for sticking with them through months of extra work and continually chasing others when the process kept grinding to a halt.

The deposit wasn’t properly handled when the sale fell through and we spent months chasing the agent to get our money back.

Another ReviewSolicitors entry for Gilson Gray describes ‘communication consistently poor’, with phone calls rarely answered promptly and emails often waiting days for a reply.

A remortgage valuation seemed fine in person, then came back downvalued afterwards—felt like a bait-and-switch.

They point out that when a solicitor stops communicating, chains wobble and clients start imagining the worst, even when problems could be fixed with a frank update.

A Legal Ombudsman report on residential conveyancing highlights cases where delays and hidden costs left customers losing the home they wanted or facing large unexpected bills.

Multiple days to a week to reply to emails. My solicitor says they’re very busy but I feel totally ignored.

We’ve spent thousands on surveys, searches and removals over those failed attempts – our savings are disappearing while we still live in the same house.

Two buyers pulled out and the conveyancer billed for each aborted sale, so we paid hundreds for transactions that never completed.

I was repeatedly told by the Yopa agent that my listing would be on a no sale, no fee basis, but when I called head office two weeks after going live they said it was actually a pay-later contract. I only signed up because the agent talked me through it over the phone and kept reassuring me it was no sale, no fee. Viewings have been cancelled, feedback is poor, and when a colleague tried to book a viewing they were told there were no slots, which was not true. My house has been on the market for two months and I feel completely misled.

They said people in the block couldn’t sell because buyers were immediately put off by the fees, leaving owners financially trapped.

The buildings insurance quote nearly doubled after we declared past movement; our broker said some lenders would flat-out refuse, so we withdrew before it got that far.

Propertymark says the sector needs clearer, enforceable standards on material information so buyers can trust what they see on portals and agent sites.

We are mid property transaction and the service is worse than useless. Endless delays, lies and inefficiencies.

We were told… smooth process if using their mortgage advisor and solicitors.

Our buyer used Angela Viney and the file moved at a snail’s pace. Emails were ignored, they posted documents instead of emailing and the whole thing was a mess from start to finish.

A seller on a UK forum says they want to exchange and complete on the same day for personal reasons, but they’re worried about bank transfer timing and what happens if completion fails.

We discovered late in the day that the property relied on a ‘flying freehold’ over next door; our lender’s underwriters were deeply uncomfortable.

Their clerk scanned our ID incorrectly twice, delaying our AML verification. Only after escalating did the firm admit it was human error.

An Avenue Road review mentions how stressful it was when their first sale fell through, and how vital it was having someone on the phone to calmly explain the next steps.

Buyers used a ‘case handler’ model; seller says delays are built in and chain almost collapsed.

Leaseholders report being billed thousands for repair works they never approved or even knew about.

Our chain collapsed after five months when the vendor at the top lost their onward purchase and the agent kept quiet about it for weeks.

A second set of buyers then dropped out just days before exchange, citing devastating work news – we felt like the rug had been pulled twice.

After five years of a boundary dispute over about a foot of land, an elderly homeowner has been ordered to sell her bungalow just to pay the six-figure legal bill.

I was left stressed and unsure because emails and calls were ignored for long periods.

Owners on the same thread said they pay around £180 a month service charge and still worry buyers will balk at the running costs when they eventually sell.

Our agent never explained why the previous sale had fallen through; only later did we learn about serious issues that should have been disclosed from the outset.

The Ombudsman criticised the firm for failing to keep the seller informed, leaving them confused and out of pocket once the transaction collapsed.

Poster says their agent was poor at handling basics, kept them out of the loop and communicated badly throughout the sale.

On two occasions we have been told things have been done (over the phone) when in fact several days later we get the notification to tell us they have only just been completed.

We paid for two valuations and the reports were nearly identical and full of basic errors, which didn’t justify the price at all.

Poor communication, slow process. We didn't feel any confidence in their capability and definitely didn't feel listened to.

A Trustpilot review says their house was under offer but progress was extremely slow and their case handler didn’t respond to emails or calls for long periods.

We only discovered right before exchange that the seller’s ongoing dispute with the freeholder hadn’t been disclosed; we walked away.

Buyer says their purchase fell apart when the vendor let the place instead, and now refuses further viewings until after notice to the tenant.

Our buyers changed their minds after six weeks, refused to give any reason and just disappeared, leaving us to start again from scratch.

A trustpilot reviewer says their chain-free home sale took over 180 days with almost no progress, and the buyer finally pulled out because conveyancing was so slow.

Solicitor failed to warn that the loft conversion didn’t have building regs, now leaving buyers with a compliance mess.

Buyer’s purchase nearly lost because the solicitor’s delays and silence put the deal at risk.

The piece warns that hiding rows with neighbours can easily lead to fall-throughs or legal claims once buyers discover the truth.

Our conveyancer never clearly explained that we’d be responsible for insuring the property from exchange, which nearly delayed things when the lender checked the policy details.

Our buyers became increasingly aggressive over minor defects, sending long, hostile emails via their solicitor until our own lawyer advised us to walk away.

our buyers buyer pulled out, no one told us, lost our onward purchase

They note that the burden on sellers is higher than before – you’re expected to answer everything as fully and honestly as you reasonably can.

The amount of delays, no communication and me chasing them is utterly unacceptable!

Our conveyancer misread the freehold title and failed to notice a third-party charge which had to be cleared before completion. The issue surfaced on the day funds were due to be sent, forcing a last-minute delay.

A leaseholder on Reddit said insurers still treated their block as high-risk after cladding works, sending premiums sky-high and making it very hard to sell because lenders were nervous.

Conveyancers still in the dark on material information: guidance withdrawn and sellers unsure what must be disclosed.

Management company is claiming I owe for the rest of the year... can't add the new leaseholder until I've paid.

One seller posts that their buyers did all the paperwork and searches, they’d signed contracts, and then the buyers suddenly pulled out just as they approached exchange.

They say even the broker got involved to chase the solicitor, but it still felt impossible to get straight answers or timely action.

The buyer’s solicitor asked for documents that had already been supplied twice. Each time they ‘couldn’t locate the file’, and the buyer nearly withdrew in frustration.

The constant ultimatums from the other side left us feeling bullied; our own solicitor seemed unwilling to push back, so we withdrew the property from sale.

Our sale didn’t complete on the day it was supposed to – we sat surrounded by boxes while the chain quietly died in the background.

The broker miscalculated the rental stress test and only spotted it after valuation; the deal fell through and we were still billed for their fee.

They’d already switched to a different onward purchase once, so when this chain collapsed as well, they were left wondering if moving was even worth the stress.

They felt stuck between overpaying for a risky property or walking away and losing their survey and legal costs, eventually choosing to withdraw.

We are buying a flat and only recently learned that each owner must pay about 4500 pounds for fire safety improvements in January, without clear information on what the work involves. The flat already needs major refurbishment and we are unsure how much reduction to request without risking the sale collapsing.

Seller alleges they lost at least two sales because required pre-sales information wasn’t issued to solicitors despite repeated chases.

Reallymoving advises buyers to scan the TA6 carefully for any hint of neighbour trouble and to walk away if the seller seems evasive.

We’ve been trying to sell for months but buyers either cannot get comfortable with the lease terms or are scared by the prospect of more cost hikes in future.

Waiting months for a certificate needed to complete the sale of an apartment.

The lawyer never explained that I’d still have to pay hundreds of pounds if the sale didn’t complete; when it fell through, I got a bill I wasn’t expecting.

How this company has more than one star is baffling!! Consistently sat on our case with no action being taken, lied about what work had been done.

They say the buyer’s own lawyer couldn’t even get hold of their client, leaving the property technically ‘sold’ but with no progress and no explanation.

A buyer describes nearly losing a six-figure deposit right before completion after an email containing solicitor bank details was allegedly intercepted and swapped for scam details.

People keep saying ‘don’t buy a leasehold’ because of hidden management charges and ground rents that buyers only appreciate after moving in.

A Waterstone Legal article lists causes of slow conveyancing including overworked law firms, unmotivated sellers and simple lack of communication between parties.

Lack of updates. Agreements to call back never happened. Documents not read. Horrendous experience.

On Trustpilot, a Springmove reviewer says their house sale collapsed just before exchange and they were exhausted from a year-long selling process before being referred to a quick-sale firm.

We were only told after offer that this property was non-standard construction. That should have been in the listing but wasn’t.

After selling, says they dragged their feet closing the account and removing name from liability.

A buyer says they waited with little clarity and felt the handling was disorganised and difficult to progress.

Citizens Advice list examples where buyers and sellers lose money when a sale falls through – from deposits mishandled by agents to conveyancers charging full fees despite poor service.

They described themselves as ‘totally broken’ by a system where your entire year can vanish into dead chains and sunk costs.

After my first purchase fell through I used the same surveyor again, but this time he kept rearranging and going quiet for weeks, leaving the whole purchase in limbo.

The agent and sellers were aware of a major issue with the property but did not disclose it. We discovered it later from their social media and had to fight to recover our costs.

On another MSE thread ‘Pulling out of a house sale’, a first-time buyer wants to end their relationship and asks how late they can cancel the purchase.

Chain stalled: poor competence and communication; lender and other solicitor exasperated by delays.

Mid-transaction: long delays, inconsistent updates, and being asked to review documents that hadn’t been sent.

A Sun article features a couple whose service charges rose from under £3,000 to £7,500 a year, making their leasehold flat effectively unsellable despite big price cuts.

We had to abandon the purchase when we realised the loft conversion had been done without proper building regs; the solicitor advised it would cause problems if we ever sold.

Seller says a required management pack for the sale was chased for roughly two months with little help or updates.

A Trustpilot review for Agent & Homes describes switching agents after an initial sale fell through; the new agent actively marketed the property instead of just relying on a big brand name.

The report contained multiple factual errors about safety features and basic details, which we then had to spend time disproving.

“Poor communication, slow process… very frustrating to deal with.”

A guide on why flats aren’t selling in 2025 points to cladding, short leases, high service charges and poor management as recurring reasons buyers walk away.

We lost our buyer because we couldn’t afford to replace old electrics up-front and their lender wouldn’t release funds until the work was done.

my solicitors have said that they WILL NOT under any circumstances, issue draft contracts until the registration has been made

Buyer says their solicitor forgot to request the EPC until very late, delaying completion unnecessarily.

On r/HousingUK, a seller says their buyer pulled out just two days before exchange, and they are ‘absolutely gutted’ after months of planning a move back home.

After the survey, the valuation came back tens of thousands lower than expected and flagged issues we’d never been told about, creating panic late in the process.

terrible comms from day 1; no replies to requests to amend my ad.

A Yopa reviewer says their house sale initially fell through with one buyer, but the agent quickly found another and kept them informed throughout the rescue process.

One day we thought we were completing, the next day the agent called to say the buyers had changed their minds – no warning, no explanation.

Our purchase fell through one day before exchange and I’m still over a thousand pounds out of pocket from surveys, searches and broker fees.

On Trustpilot, a mortgage-broker service from Sequence/Sequencehome is called ‘a total waste of time’ – the reviewer says after a 90-minute call, they got a hard sell on insurance instead of helpful advice.

Our buyer pulled out on the eve of exchange citing ‘service charge concerns’ despite knowing about them for months; seven months of conveyancing gone overnight.

A lender-appointed surveyor refused to value the property due to proximity concerns after a short visit, stalling the mortgage and piling on stress.

The sale fell through because the seller hadn’t disclosed past flood damage; once the survey and insurance checks revealed it, we no longer felt safe buying there.

They say buyers are rightly cautious, because once you’ve bought in, you’re the one who has to live next to the arguments, noise and parking wars.

NetLawman’s guide on neighbour disputes makes it clear you must disclose both resolved and ongoing disputes on the TA6 when selling your home.

The Guardian reports brokers seeing surveyors shaving 10% or more off agreed prices in some areas, with entire deals collapsing as a result.

We were stunned that you can get all the way to the finish line and still lose the sale in a single phone call.

Guidance for Part A material information makes it clear that key facts must be provided in listings, not left for buyers to find later.

Very disappointed with the whole sales process... the papers we were sent for signing had the wrong address for the property we were selling.

We got almost no proactive contact; everything had to be chased repeatedly.

After seven months of conveyancing our buyers decided it was just taking too long and pulled out, leaving us emotionally exhausted.

Sale fell through after E&M took ~6 weeks to reply to an enquiry needed to proceed.

Shocked to be basically 'scammed' by this firm.

After our house sale fell through just before exchange, Spring stepped in with a guaranteed purchase so we could still move and not lose our new home.

User complains about repeated nuisance calls asking about a sale even after being told it had completed.

I was warned that the recommended conveyancers rarely picked up the phone.

Connells is the worst estate agent I've dealt with. Just pure harassment start to finish.

We relied on a mortgage illustration to secure a property and paid a holding deposit, then after weeks of delays and repeated document requests they suddenly refused to proceed due to an internal restriction.

Our late relative’s bungalow sale almost failed after the first buyer dropped out; without a proactive agent it would probably still be languishing on the market.

Survey flagged serious structural movement and other major issues. Buyer felt trapped after paying around £700 and feared the deal collapsing.

Selling agent called ‘totally incompetent’; after 6+ months the buyer pulled out the day before completion.

It felt like nobody read our messages; we were never told what was happening.

Our searches show public sewers in the street but nothing within the property boundaries, yet we have a manhole and several inspection hatches in the garden. We need to understand what they are before adding an extension and are concerned the searches missed something.

after we pulled out of a sale due to unforeseen circumstances, totally unreasonable.

One seller says their house sale fell through while they were on holiday – they only found out via email and still haven’t managed to resell.

A MoneySavingExpert poster said their riverside flat became hard to sell because the service charge got so high that buyers looked elsewhere, and even years later the prices still lagged behind similar blocks.

They describe trying again with a new buyer and still being stuck in stalemate because lenders keep insisting on documentation the freeholder won’t provide.

Campaigners accuse housing associations of mis-selling by massively under-estimating future charges, leaving owners stuck in properties they can’t sell or afford long-term.

Our sale fell through twice for different reasons, and the final sale was plagued by leasehold problems. Thankfully our solicitor stayed patient and kept pushing it along.

Sam Conveyancing warns that mortgage offers often last around six months and can be withdrawn if they expire before completion unless the lender grants an extension.

Our entire chain depends on a PM Law group firm that has suddenly closed. Estate agents and other solicitors can’t get any answers, and everyone is scared the chain will collapse.

A reviewer says they paid for a document and received nothing, then struggled to get help or resolution.

Buying delayed around 15 weeks due to Land Registry/title boundary mismatch concerns.

“Land Registry can take time… should she be worried?”

So slow we lost our buyer. After over 180 days of waiting for CDPLL to process the sale of our chain free home our buyer finally pulled out and I don't blame them.

A seller blames slow replies and high fees for losing their sale, describing the arrangement as exploitative.

Broker claimed our mortgage was guaranteed and encouraged us to book surveys. The lender declined days later leaving us £700 out of pocket.

The reviewer said a competent progressor made all the difference when it came to keeping the subsequent chain from collapsing again.

Which? even lodged a ‘super-complaint’, saying some insurance customers found dealing with insurers more stressful than the incidents that caused the claims in the first place.

They point out that if rates or lending criteria change while you’re stuck in delays, the same buyers can suddenly no longer afford the property they were approved for.

We’re out of pocket on valuations, legals and searches and the lender just walks away. It makes you feel like the whole process is stacked against ordinary buyers.

An MSE poster nearly at exchange is told someone in the chain has let their mortgage offer expire – nobody had spotted the date until the last moment.

We’re racing the clock before our fixed-rate with consent to let ends – if we can’t sell, we’re stuck with a rental that barely covers the costs.

Our first buyers pulled out months into the process; the agent had to run an open day to find a new buyer so we didn’t lose our onward purchase.

They see buyers who only discover old complaint letters and council reports after moving in, then wonder if they can undo the deal.

I have zero idea of a timescale. I would just like to know if I need to start applying for a mortgage offer extension

Solicitor kept asking for documents already sent and claimed files were ‘mislaid’, stalling progress.

They argue that better updates alone would ease much of the anxiety that currently pushes people to complain about their conveyancer.

Mortgage valuation visit lasted minutes, then the property was declared unmortgageable because communal areas were ‘poor’. Buyer felt it was absurd.

They thought they were relocating with a portable deal, but after repeated fall-throughs and missed payments they ended up being ‘dumped’ by their lender completely.

Some clients in the PM Law victims group say they’ve already had removal vans booked and children taken out of school, only to find out days before moving that their solicitor has shut and no keys will be handed over.

Service felt inconsistent compared with prior experience—left us disappointed mid mortgage journey.

We discovered on the survey that the loft conversion had no building regulations approval; the lender refused to treat it as habitable space and our sale died overnight.

Communication was well below expectations and we got almost no notice of completion.

We were pressured into meeting an in-house mortgage advisor and it felt like a condition of being taken seriously rather than an optional service.

“Only the seller pulled out… they aren’t giving me my money back.”

We are close to exchange and completion and are wondering whether we should wait for the November budget. Does anything change after signing contracts or are we already committed?

Our leasehold flat has been on and off the market since 2021 – high service charges and a saturated local market mean every buyer eventually walks.

I’m here to warn others who might be thinking about using this company who ultimately cost us the sale of our property.

A ReviewSolicitors complaint about Fishers Solicitors says communication was poor and mistakes were made, leaving the client very dissatisfied with how the conveyancing was handled.

They described the journey as ‘painful’, with months of uncertainty and repeated collapses before a determined solicitor and agent team finally made it happen.

Our landlord ignored repeated reports of mould and damp; when we tried to buy the place using right to buy, the surveyor’s report was so bad our mortgage was declined.

Our sale fell through a week before exchange when the buyer suddenly ‘changed their mind’ – no real reason given, just months of stress down the drain.

A recent article notes a ‘significant rise’ in people seeking help from the Ombudsman, with conveyancing complaints heavily focused on missed purchase deadlines.

Delay is built into the system.

They argue the solicitor handled sensitive information too lightly by not verifying the details properly, and note the fallout can drag on for months.

“Very aggressively asking me to pay £3K… asked to view… refused.”

As a broker I constantly see deals fail because conveyancers don’t realise how hard mortgage offer expiry dates are; they treat them like suggestions, not deadlines.

“Constant delays and stress… truly awful experience.”

Our conveyancer sent confidential bank details in an unsecured email without any warning about fraud. We later learned the regulator had issued multiple alerts about this exact risk.

A Reddit post titled ‘Down valued house at a bit of a loss’ describes two purchases falling through, £5,000 wasted and a year completely lost to the housing market.

As a Butterworths client I was never clearly told they’d become part of PM Law. Only after the social media posts did I spot a quiet change in the email footer. Now the firm has shut, my will and other documents are locked away and nobody is replying to requests for them.

They warn that on top of daily stress, unresolved rows can make selling harder and encourage buyers to chip away at the price.

A Digital Spy poster described being ‘so stressed’ when their sale fell through, saying they had no idea you could get that close to moving and still lose everything.

Overall bill was other £1000 more than I was told it would cost.

The HomeOwners Alliance lists ‘delayed or unclear communication’ as one of the most common reasons people end up formally complaining about their conveyancer.

They also say their solicitor won’t really ‘advise’ when they question the risks, leaving them feeling exposed at the point everything matters most.

By the time we discovered the boundary fence had been in dispute with next door for years, we’d already spent hundreds on surveys and had no appetite for a legal fight.

Seller says the agent mishandled their sale over many months and the buyer walked away the day before completion.

A first-time buyer with a mortgage offer expiring in five days said they hadn’t even exchanged yet and were frantic that one missing bit of paperwork could blow the whole deal.

Some property lawyers argue the revamped property information form is unworkable but it does force more detail on flood risk and charges upfront.

We’re months in and still waiting for replies. I’m permanently stressed because every update takes forever.

I had my offer accepted in early July. I have still not completed the purchase.

Locked into a long contract while service felt slow and unprofessional; increased stress during sale.

Our buyer vanished after their mortgage valuation came back with ‘too many issues’ – nobody would tell us exactly what, just that the lender was no longer happy.

They say some buyers only realise at resale that lenders and purchasers treat uncapped estate charges as a major red flag.

A resident claims mismanagement led to buildings being left uninsured and describes major worry and knock-on consequences.

They describe the system as paper-based, slow and overly complex, with average transactions taking around 200 days from offer to completion.

Government is talking about digitising property data because the current system is so slow. Buyers are routinely waiting many weeks just for basic information.

Repeated late-night messages and demands from the buyer’s side turned the whole transaction into a toxic slog, and we eventually pulled out for our own sanity.

We felt we were paying almost full fees for a transaction that never reached exchange, on top of the cost of trying again with another buyer.

On r/HousingUK someone wrote that their seller used Taylor Rose and the conveyancing was so chaotic and unresponsive that they were actually relieved when the sale fell through.

They feel completely trapped – not just by the size of the bills, but by the stigma those charges create when the flat is marketed.

After a very long 5 months in a 4-property chain, our buyer's solicitors have repeatedly delayed exchange because they keep getting the mortgage agreement number wrong. We are supposed to complete on Friday and I am completely stressed.

Half the house had been remodelled without sign-off and our solicitor made it clear we’d be inheriting the headache, so we scrapped the purchase.

We felt helpless watching a perfectly good offer slip away thanks to a backlog at the council.

Service charges rose 11% — we hadn’t budgeted for that level because nothing in the listing mentioned the historic increases.

“Lost two buyers due to lies he told our buyers.”

Just for the sake of getting his commission

Useless staff… Phone calls and emails were not returned.

Buyer was told by the estate agent that their solicitor was refusing to take calls, slowing the whole chain.

In the end it wasn’t a single big problem, just a thousand tiny delays from different firms that pushed us past our mortgage expiry date.

Estate agents have had to issue special guidance to sellers and buyers whose files were with PM Law firms, because so many chains are now frozen.

Estate agent promised fast sale; repeated confidence claims, but vendor complains of poor follow-through.

A buyer says their purchase is stalling because the vendor’s estate agent won’t reply, and getting basic information about a management pack is ‘like getting blood out of a stone’.

The same page also highlights a review praising another agent as an example of what an estate agent should be – knowledgeable, responsive and proactive, by contrast.

I had the same experience as a buyer. Sale collapsed and the solicitor still invoiced me £1,000.

Despite paying the broker fee upfront, we spent 11 days with no update on our decision in principle while the seller grew impatient.

Twice we got to the point of almost exchanging, and twice different buyers pulled out at the last minute – it’s soul-destroying watching months of progress vanish overnight.

Our chain finally collapsed when the buyer at the top decided they were no longer comfortable borrowing so much with interest rates rising.

Buyer’s sale collapsed; they felt their solicitors kept cashing cheques while knowing their own sale hadn’t completed.

Like many others, we found out the hard way that one in three transactions can collapse, taking thousands in sunk costs with them.

Buyer says the agent failed to call back after an offer and then the property was marked as having an offer accepted.

Two prospective buyers withdrew immediately after witnessing the behaviour, saying they didn’t want to live next to constant drama.

The first buyer pulled out just before exchange, claiming their circumstances had changed; the agent gave us almost no detail about what went wrong.

A Mumsnet thread listed all the classic points where sales fall through – survey, mortgage application, searches – basically any stage where new bad news can surface.

The solicitor told us they were waiting on the management company, but the company confirmed they had never been contacted. Three weeks were wasted unnecessarily.

So slow we lost our buyer.

Another estate agent review article mentions sellers who only got two viewings in five weeks with a ‘reputable’ agent before switching to a different company in frustration.

Leaseholder alleges months waiting for a certificate/deeds item needed to complete a sale of a recently purchased flat.

Hundreds of us have joined support groups because we’re effectively homeless in the middle of a transaction – our old homes gone, our new homes blocked, and nobody giving clear answers.

The solicitor misinterpreted a clause about drainage easements, which later caused our insurer to increase our premiums due to 'unknown liability risk'.

Another thread highlighted how buyers can be scared off when there’s no clear history of service charge accounts and the lease hints at big upcoming works.

They pointed out that buyers might ignore the price and fixate on the annual charges instead, especially when they see how quickly they’ve already gone up.

Claims the site impersonates Land Registry and targets bereaved people searching for deeds.

Another Ombudsman case about subsidence shows an insurer refusing to fund preventative stabilisation work until the service intervened and ruled the policy should cover it.

We discovered on the day of exchange that our lender wouldn’t draw down until an obscure wording in the lease was amended, which added weeks and cost us the buyer.

Booked several viewings as a cash buyer and the estate agent never turned up or called. I had to chase them and was told it was a mix-up.

We felt pushed towards a fire-sale rather than being given sensible advice about how to actually get sold without throwing away tens of thousands.

They felt that without a specialist chain-rescue option, they’d have lost the house they were buying and wasted everything they’d spent on legal fees.

A seller on GetAgent said their sale unfortunately fell through near completion, but their new agent quickly found another buyer and kept them better informed throughout.

On another thread, a seller said their buyers pulled out just after survey with no explanation and stopped answering calls, leaving the house back on the market with zero warning.

Two weeks after my sale fell through the ‘sold’ board was still outside and Yopa still hadn’t taken it down, which summed up how poor their communication had been from day one.

A separate Ombudsman insight piece again names poor communication and delay as the most commonly upheld complaints, ahead of issues like costs or failure to advise.

NetLawman reminds sellers that any neighbour dispute, even a past one, must be disclosed on the TA6 form or they risk misrepresentation claims later.

Several recent court cases show how boundary disputes can completely destroy people’s finances – one pensioner was ordered to sell her home to cover over £100k in legal costs after a fence row.

One poster said they’d had multiple failed buyers on the same property, each collapse triggered by a different problem: survey, mortgage, then a change of heart.

We learnt most about our sale directly from the buyers until they pulled out

A different Reddit user asks if they’re ‘overreacting’ to their solicitor’s delays, saying the lack of updates is causing serious stress during their first home purchase.

It’s a simple no-chain flat purchase, but the conveyancing alone has dragged on for more than four months and I’m losing rental income.

Spent months with little progress on the mortgage side despite fees paid upfront. Communication was weak and we were left chasing constantly.

They love the property but feel trapped between their heart and the cold numbers in the valuation report.

“Drag​ged out the whole conveyancing process… exasperation of my lender and seller’s solicitor.”

Shocked to be basically 'scammed' by this firm.

Our agent seemed more interested in protecting their relationship with a pushy developer than in being honest with us about why our sale had collapsed.

Interest rates jumped twice while we waited for the chain to sort itself out; by the time we were ready to exchange, the payments were no longer affordable and we had to walk away.

Dreadful. Our buyers are using this shambolic firm we now in month 6 of a simple convayncing empty house no chain

Twice now, our purchase has died at the survey stage. It makes you feel like every property is a ticking time bomb once a surveyor gets involved.

On Gransnet, one seller said their sale had fallen through a couple of times during Covid; by the time a reliable buyer came along, they were exhausted by solicitors ‘mucking about’.

Looking back, we entered into a leasehold agreement that leaves us paying more and more every year while the flat’s resale appeal lags far behind other properties nearby.

A seller says their sale collapsed at the last minute for the second time and they blame the estate agent for repeatedly saying the buyer’s mortgage was sorted when it wasn’t.

Our solicitor misfiled our ID verification forms and asked us to repeat the entire onboarding process two weeks before completion. The mistake cost us our removal slot.

Countrywide Home Surveys reviewers accuse the firm of ‘down-valuing and practically ridiculing’ properties, saying their reports have blocked further borrowing or stalled moves.

Many can’t sell because lenders won’t touch the building while fire risks, mould and unfinished remedial work hang over the whole development.

Leaseholder says they still couldn’t get an online account set up after years, despite emails and calls.

Our previous sale fell through but the mortgage broker stepped in again and sorted a fresh deal without fuss when we found another property.

“Buyer’s solicitor didn’t like something on the title… waiting weeks.”

“I’ve just had a breakdown of the conveyancer fees… pay a fee for every single element.”

We’ve lived in limbo for months, paying for a house we no longer want to be in while the chain repeatedly falls apart around us.

One seller said their buyers pulled out after survey because of ‘damp and movement’ even though the house had stood for over a century with no problems.

A buyer says their conveyancer told them their email had been intercepted and scammers swapped bank details; the fake email and letter looked totally convincing and they nearly lost a six-figure sum.

The estate agent added nothing but stress. Constant chasing, contradictory updates and no real sales progression. Selling a house felt like a scam.

Before we switched agents, we went through several failed chains where nobody seemed to coordinate the move properly, leaving us stuck in limbo.

They point out nobody in the chain seemed to be watching the expiry date, even though every other link depended on that offer being valid.

They answered eventually but never actually addressed the questions I had sent.

Our buyer pulled out after seven weeks, right after their survey, and never gave a clear reason. We were first-time sellers and had no idea this happened so often.

Told it was a scam: documents not delivered and refund requests ignored; no phone number.

A buyer on LegalAdviceUK said their purchase was in danger because the seller’s conveyancer simply wasn’t responding, and everyone in the chain was losing confidence.

Our sale fell through after the buyer’s surveyor flagged ‘damp issues’ everywhere. It feels like surveyors go nuclear so buyers panic and walk rather than negotiate.

We’d had twelve months of stressful selling and one failed sale before using a quick-sale company just to get the move done.

We used a budget online firm and it was such a relief when the sale fell through because dealing with them had been a nightmare from day one.

The freeholder wanted nearly £500 just to answer basic pre-sale enquiries; the buyers saw that as a red flag and decided not to proceed.

We sold last September and put an offer in straight away on our next place; months later the chain is still crawling along and now our buyer’s mortgage offer is about to expire.

They highlight cases where clients thought they had a fixed fee, only to find extra charges added when a sale dragged on or fell through.

Our buyers pulled out after discovering Japanese knotweed two doors down; their lender insisted on a management plan and nobody wanted to pay for it.

The constant uncertainty around our rental sale meant we couldn’t plan repairs or new investments. Everything hinged on buyers we’d never even met.

One buyer in the legal section said the sellers pulled out days before exchange, after months of obstructing survey access and being vague about their mortgage situation.

The piece warned that doubling ground rents and steep service charges can put buyers off and even make mortgages harder to obtain on some flats.

The couple loved the house but panicked when they saw a separate garage title on the deeds; instead of asking questions, they simply withdrew their offer.

They warn that failing to mention a serious dispute can be treated as misrepresentation, giving the buyer grounds to claim compensation later.

Chasing the solicitor became a full-time job; voicemails, emails, nothing answered, and in the end the buyers assumed we weren’t serious and dropped out.

Seller says their solicitor refuses to call the buyer’s solicitor and insists everything must be by email, causing huge delays.

Massively undervalued the property I am purchasing by £12k which caused a lot of stress, and wasted time.

We discovered after completion that our solicitor never checked whether building regulations approval existed for the loft conversion. The council later issued a notice.

After our sale fell through, we found out we could buy indemnity insurance for missing paperwork instead of doing expensive remedial works no one had explained properly.

Try to get you to pay extra £500 commission as an 'incentive' for them to do their job.

They’re watching neighbouring houses sell while their high-fee flat sits, because anyone who can do the maths realises the charges kill affordability.

Our first house fell through the same week we got our mortgage offer, but our broker managed to transfer it to a new property a month later.

The same guide lists common reasons for fall-throughs – mortgage problems, broken chains, survey issues, gazumping and conveyancing delays – all of which can leave sellers out of pocket.

I thought helpful until our buyer pulled out due to his survey.

I thought I was just paying normal conveyancing fees – nobody clearly explained that part of the bill was for ‘failed sale’ insurance I never really wanted.

The Law Society says residential conveyancing makes up about a quarter of the Legal Ombudsman’s caseload, with delay, failure to progress and poor communication top of the list.

Our conveyancer at Proddow Mackay (Conveyancing) Limited closed overnight. We turned up to sign papers and found a ‘CLOSED’ notice on the door.

They warn the reservation contract is written to protect the seller and the fee is non-returnable, meaning you can pay thousands and get nothing back.

The quality-branded solicitors were anything but: slow, uncontactable and vague, and we nearly lost the house because of them.

The Times reported a family who’ve spent more than £43,000 on service charges and council tax while struggling for five years to sell a retirement flat they inherited.

The buyer says the down-valuations and collapsed sales have left them feeling totally broken by the current market.

We bailed on a purchase when we heard the sellers were in an ongoing row with the downstairs neighbour about noise; we didn’t want to inherit that stress.

We were told our complaint would be handled under the firm's internal procedure and that someone would respond within 28 days. Three months later nothing had happened, and we had to escalate straight to the Ombudsman.

A seller claims they lost multiple sales because the management company didn’t send required information to solicitors.

Commenters advise setting money aside for disputed charges, because until the account is settled, buyers and their solicitors may simply walk away.

It’s frustrating that when a sale collapses you rarely get a straight answer; as the seller you are just told the buyer has withdrawn and you’re left guessing what put them off.

Our first-time buyer walked away after eight months because the managing agent took four months to produce a service charge pack and nobody chased them.

We were not told our rising ground rent could make the flat unmortgageable for buyers.

A Times piece on retirement flats showed one family spending over £43,000 on service charges and council tax while they struggled for years to sell their late mother’s apartment.

By the time our sale collapsed we’d spent nearly three thousand pounds on fees and reports, which is apparently close to the average loss when a transaction fails.

They say many deals either collapse or have to be painfully renegotiated once the surveyor’s number doesn’t match what the estate agent promised.

They give examples where failure to chase other parties or explain slow progress left clients convinced their lawyer just didn’t care.

A Yopa customer wrote that their house sale fell through at the last minute, but their local agent had new viewers through the door within days and it soon resold.

After the fourth chain collapse in two years I’m exhausted and heartbroken; this time the buyer at the bottom said a surprise bill meant they couldn’t afford to continue.

Nobody had explained that the historic claim would keep causing problems every time someone tried to get a mortgage on the house.

They only realised how poor the previous service was once they saw what active sales chasing and communication looked like.

Our buyers backed out when their lender refused to lend on a pre-fab construction – something nobody flagged when the property was first marketed.

We listed our house, got an offer and then watched the sale crumble. We were back on the market ranting about the whole thing just weeks later.

Another Redditor did a same-day exchange and completion because their mortgage offer expired that day; they said they’d spent the entire weekend feeling sick with fear.

We are buying a rural property with a non compliant shared septic tank and expected to install our own treatment plant, but our lender will not proceed because the UK lenders handbook says septic tanks must have a certificate of compliance. We are struggling to get a standard mortgage at all.

Appalling communication and customer service... we're currently a month delayed... a week to "process" documents.

Service charges ‘expected’ then surprise demands later — stressful, unclear, and impossible to get answers.

Only thing stopping completion was the management pack — everyone chased and still nothing.

I put my well maintained 1930s family home on the market and accepted a full asking price offer within two weeks, but since then the buyer's solicitors have been bullying, questioning a new boiler and new insured windows, and demanding indemnity policies. I have pulled out because the stress has become unacceptable.

Our sale fell through several times with a previous solicitor and housing association. It was only when Watson Ramsbottom took over that things finally moved.

SharedOwnershipResources warns that estate service charges can make a supposedly affordable home hard to sell later, especially when the lease flags future charge risk.

Vendor says service was worse than expected: poor handling, poor communication, and extra costs later.

The buyer pulled out the day before exchange claiming they had found another property; we were packed and ready to go and suddenly everything collapsed.

The collapse of our completion left us technically in breach of contract; instead of celebrating moving day, we were on the phone to solicitors arguing about liability.

The same article notes that chains are fragile at the best of times – one nervous buyer or slow solicitor and the whole thing can unravel.

Our buyers chose a PM Law group firm because it was on an online panel. After the shutdown there’s nobody to answer enquiries and we’re now stuck paying a mortgage on an empty house while we wait.

They say buyers can justifiably walk away or seek compensation if they later discover a paper trail of complaints that wasn’t mentioned.

We’d planned everything around completing before the stamp duty deadline. When the chain broke the day after, we were left paying higher tax and facing a collapsed sale at the same time.

Chain almost collapsed because the buyer’s ‘case handler’ setup built delays into every step.

I received a letter from RMG, dated 13 Feb 2025

The Sun highlights a couple whose service charges jumped from £2,800 to £7,500 a year, leaving them unable to sell and delaying plans to grow their family.

Buyer complains both their solicitor and estate agent couldn’t contact the other side’s lawyer for a week, stalling an exchange they thought was imminent.

If I answer ‘yes’ to having subsidence or insurance refusals I can’t even get online quotes, but if I answer ‘no’ I’m terrified a future claim will be rejected for non-disclosure.

An advice site reminds buyers that if they feel an estate agent has misled them about why a previous sale fell through, they can escalate the complaint to the Property Ombudsman.