Whether you’re visiting the Property Sale Watchdog website to read our review of a cash house buyer you’re considering, or you just want to look for a cash house buyer you can trust, chances are your biggest concern is getting ripped off.
Believe me, we know how you feel. It’s a daunting choice to have to make, with thousands and thousands of pounds at stake.
Table of Contents
In this guide to cash house buyer scams, we’ll show you how to avoid the most common cons and find a genuine cash home buyer you can trust. We’ll also show you how you can use the unrivalled experience and expertise of the PSW to find the right cash house buyer for you.
Choosing the right cash house buyer means you’ll sell your home fast, for cash, and you can get on with your life so much sooner, with many of your personal and financial problems solved.
Choose wrong, and you’ll end up with more problems and less money than you started with, and you could still be stuck with your house many months from now.
Expert Insight
To gain real insight into how these companies operate and the steps you should take for due diligence, we reached out to property expert and commentator Kelvin Elliott, founder of myhomebuyers.co.uk a highly reputable cash buying company with extensive experience in property purchases. Here’s what he had to say:
1. What are the biggest red flags homeowners should watch out for when dealing with cash house buyers?
The biggest red flag when dealing with a cash house buying company is if they make you an offer and then ask you to sign a contract. A genuine company should never require you to sign a contract before the sale is completed.
To put this into perspective, if a buyer made an offer through an estate agent, you wouldn’t sign a contract directly with them. The only contract you should be signing is the one your solicitor provides just before completion.
When selling to a company at a discount, you are paying a significant premium for their service, and it’s their responsibility to deliver on that service. If, at any point, you become dissatisfied, you should be free to walk away.
Many companies claim that if they change their offer, you can cancel without cost. However, they fail to mention that if they delay the process, you might still be bound by their contract and could face penalties for withdrawing. Some companies inflate their initial offer to win your business, only to drag out the sale and later reduce their offer when you’re already committed.
Bottom line: Never sign a contract with a cash house buying company. If you avoid this, you’re already 90% of the way to dealing with a legitimate company.
2. How can sellers verify that a cash house buying company truly has the funds to complete a purchase?
The first step is to check Companies House to review their balance sheet for assets and equity. A reputable company should have a strong financial position.
Secondly, if you find their formal offer acceptable, always request proof of funds before proceeding. A genuine company will have no issues providing this. If they hesitate, make excuses, or refuse to show proof, this is a major red flag, and you should walk away.
For context, when an estate agent receives an offer on a property, they always confirm proof of deposit/cash in the bank and, if needed, an up-to-date mortgage agreement. The same standard should apply to cash house buying companies—always verify their funds.
3. What common tactics do scam cash buyers use to manipulate sellers, and how can people avoid falling victim?
The two most common tactics used by unscrupulous companies are:
- Overinflating the initial offer – They make an offer much higher than they intend to pay, just to win your business. They then ask you to sign a one-sided contract. Later, at the last moment, they find an excuse to significantly reduce the offer, hoping that by this time, you are packed up and committed to moving, so you reluctantly accept the lower amount. Unfortunately, they never intended to pay the original offer from the start.
- Not actually buying the property themselves – Some companies don’t buy your property at all. Instead, they secure your property under contract and then try to sell it to a third party for a profit. If they fail to find a buyer, they lower their offer to you. Even if they do find a buyer, they essentially act as an estate agent, and the sale could still fall through. In many cases, they will simply list your property on Rightmove—something you could do yourself.
The good news: These companies will always ask you to sign a contract, so by refusing to sign one, you’re already protecting yourself from these scams.
4. How reliable are online reviews for assessing cash house buying companies, and what should sellers look for when reviewing them?
Online reviews can be an extremely useful tool when assessing a cash house buying company, but you need to know what to look for:
- Start by reading the 1-star reviews first. These will give you an honest picture of how the company treats its customers.
- Look for reviews from sellers who have actually completed a sale. Some companies push for positive reviews after just the initial phone call, which doesn’t reflect the full experience.
- Be cautious of manipulated reviews. Some companies remove bad reviews or artificially inflate their ratings.
- Check multiple platforms. Compare reviews on Google, Trustpilot, and independent forums to get a more accurate picture.
By focusing on verified customer experiences and completion reviews, you’ll get a much clearer idea of how the company actually operates.
5. What legal protections exist in the UK to safeguard homeowners from fraudulent or unethical cash house buyers?
Unfortunately, there is very little regulation in the cash house buying sector, and more protections are desperately needed.
The Property Ombudsman provides a redress scheme, but its powers are limited. While it can assist with complaints, it does not have the authority or power to prevent bad practices.
Since there are no strong legal protections in place, homeowners must take extra precautions themselves when dealing with cash house buyers.
6. What practical steps can homeowners take to protect themselves from being scammed by a cash house buyer?
To avoid being scammed, homeowners should follow these three key steps:
- Never sign a contract with a company. A legitimate cash house buyer has no reason to tie you into an agreement before the sale.
- Request proof of funds. If the company is genuine, they will provide this without hesitation.
- Ask the company to exchange contracts first and set a completion date that suits you. For example, if you need two months before moving, you can agree to exchange contracts within 2–3 weeks. Once exchanged, the sale becomes legally binding, and the company cannot change their offer. If they delay or make excuses before this stage, you are free to walk away since you never signed a contract.
By following these steps, you stay in control of the process, ensuring you only deal with reputable buyers.
Final Summary
To protect yourself from cash house buying scams:
✔ Never sign a contract with a company upfront.
✔ Always ask for proof of funds.
✔ Insist on an exchange of contracts within 2 – 3 weeks, with completion at a time that suits you.
If you follow these guidelines, your chances of being scammed are extremely low. To see what a genuine cash house-buying company might offer, click the Cash Offer Calculator tab below.
Proceed with caution
You’re right to be cautious about cash house buyer scams. The cash house buying industry has a terrible reputation, and unfortunately in many cases, that reputation is well deserved. That’s why we created the PSW in the first place, to highlight the cash home buyers that you can trust, and to help you to avoid the rest.
But how do you avoid getting ripped off by a cash house buyer? How do you know if a company is really going to pay what they say for your home? And how can you find out if they actually have the means, or even the intention, to genuinely buy your home?
There are hundreds of cash house buying companies out there, covering the full spectrum of service, from the pleasingly open and honest, to the downright devious. The good news is that there are lots of quick and easy ways to help you to sort out the wheat from the chaff.
There’s a lot a stake
In each of the sections below, you’ll find an overview of the kind of checks you should do when you’re looking for a cash house buyer you can trust. We’ve listed the gold star standards, as well as the red flags to watch out for, we show you how to use reviews and we’ll discuss how to dig deeper for complete peace of mind. Each section is also linked to a more detailed article, where you can learn more.
This kind of research might seem like a lot of work, but it’s well worthwhile. As of November 2024, the average price of a home in the UK is £289,707 (source: Land Registry). That means that if you take the average price drop of 20% of the market value to sell your home fast, your quick house sale will cost you around £58,000.
This may well be a price that you think is worth paying to avoid repossession, to speed up your divorce settlement, or to get your hands on an inheritance sooner. However, when you’re paying this much for a service, you have to make sure you’re getting your money’s worth. Selling your home fast for cash is not a cheap option, and so you deserve the very best service in return.
From gold stars to red flags
In this section, we’ll list the gold standards you should expect to see from the best cash house buyers, and the red flags that you need to be very wary of. By using a list like this, you can usually eliminate around 95% of companies and narrow down your list to find a cash house buyer you can trust.
Gold standards
- Well established (5years or more)
- Registered with Companies House
- Members of the Property Ombudsman
- Proof of funds available
- Published complaints procedure
- Satisfied customers
- Open and honest communications
- Recommended by the Property Sale Watchdog
You may not get every single one of these gold standards, but the more you can tick off, the more likely you are to find a cash buyer you can trust.
Red flags
- An offer that’s too good to be true
- Being asked to sign a contract
- Being forced to use their solicitors
- Negative reviews
If you come across even one of these red flags, you should always walk away. There are plenty of cash house buyers to choose from, so there is no need to compromise on quality or take risks with disreputable companies.
To find out more details about each of these benchmarks, read our companion article ‘gold standards and red flags’. Alternatively, click the button below to get an estimated offer and see which cash house buyers PSW think meet the gold standard with no red flags.
Reviewing the review sites
Like most people, you probably turn to review sites when choosing a product or company. These can be really useful in giving you an overall impression, but you need to be cautious about how you use them and how much faith you put in their reviews.
Even the best independent review sites, such as Google and Trustpilot, can be manipulated by unscrupulous companies. Bad reviews are often challenged and removed, while good reviews are not always as genuine or independent as they claim to be.
There are lots of tricks and techniques that dodgy companies can use to keep their ratings up. Fortunately many of these are quite easy to spot. Many good reviews may not be as good as they first appear to be. At the same time, there are some circumstances in which you can safely discount bad reviews.
Even if you don’t spot all the tricks a company uses, having a better understanding of the review system will help you get a feel for how genuine a company is. Remember, if you have any doubts, move on. There are plenty more to choose from.
At the end of the day, even the best independent reviews can never be fully trusted. That’s why they should only ever be a small part of your search to find the best cash house buyer in the UK. You should give other factors, like those discussed above, much more weight.
To find out more about reviews, and how to spot the dirty tricks, read our companion article, ‘how to interpret independent review sites’. Alternatively, you can trust our own, genuinely independent reviews. Simply click the button below for a free estimate of what your home is worth to a cash buyer and if you’re happy with the figure, we’ll put you in touch.
Digging deeper
If you want to be completely sure you’ve found a cash home buyer you can trust, you can take your investigations to the next level. By using publicly available websites, such as Companies House, you can find detailed information about your chosen cash house buyer.
Not only can you see how long a company has been trading and who the directors are, you can also find their company accounts online. If you know what you’re looking for, company accounts can reveal a great deal about how a cash house buyer operates.
Company accounts can tell you whether or not a cash house buyer actually buys houses or simply sells them on behind the scenes. Accounts can also tell you whether the buyer has cash on hand, or what other forms of financing they may be using.
This might seem like a step too far for many people, but it’s easier than you think. Companies House can help you find the best cash house buyers in the UK, as well as helping you spot potential problems with companies that might initially appear legitimate.
You can find a complete guide to digging deeper in our companion article, ‘investigating a cash house buyer in detail’. Alternatively, you can leave the forensics to our expert team and simply click the button below for your free estimated offer from a trusted cash home buyer.
Finding the best cash house buyer for you
With so much at stake, both in financial and personal terms, you simply have to do your homework before you put yourself in the hands of a cash home buyer. But don’t worry, because it’s easier than you think to catch out the crooks and conmen.
If you follow the simple steps outlined above, you’ll soon spot most cash house buyer scams and tick off the untrustworthy. Just this article alone should help you avoid most of the misfits. Remember, you can always find out more on each subject by reading the detailed companion article as well.
Here at the Property Sale Watchdog, we’ve been exposing cash house buyer scams for years, so you can trust our reviews to be as thoroughly researched as they come.
We’re happy to save you the trouble of trying to find the best cash house buyer yourself, by putting you in touch with our pick of the pack. But before we do that, your first step is to find out what you could get for your home by clicking the button below. We’ll only connect you to a trusted house buyer if you think the numbers will work. If not, there’s absolutely no obligation to proceed.
You’ve got nothing to lose by finding out, so click for your free estimate now.