Letting agents and how to choose the correct agent

Chain-free or no onward chain can happen for a number of reasons:

• The seller may have already bought a new home and vacated the property
• The seller is not buying a new home
• The property is a new build
• The property has been repossessed

The benefits of buying chain-free

The sale of a chain-free property is simpler and faster than in a chain and has less risk of falling through. You are also in a great deal more direct contact during and throughout the entire sale / sales process.

A chain can add a great deal of time, expense and risk to the buying process, as there are far more people involved. All the properties in the chain are linked, and if one part of the chain fails it can impact on every stage.

Basically the chain links houses that are being purchased where each are dependant on the sale of the next one in the chain. If one of those house sales falls through, then the whole chain of purchases can fail and affect numerous buyers and sellers as a result - usually the bigger the chain, the bigger the impact.

A break in the chain can therefore be heartbreaking because it can not only add to the expense of the selling and buying process but means delays are almost inevitable. A chain-free property, however, can present much greater peace of mind for the purchaser.

They are often new homes or vacant properties where the seller has already bought a new home or is not buying another property. Usually there is only one property, one buyer and one seller and so it's much easier in terms of dealing with valuations, survey reports and even legal titles. Buying chain-free is often particularly beneficial to first time buyers, or those without an existing house to sell, who could find themselves the owners of a new home within just weeks of searching.