As a prospective home buyer, you can legally walk away from a proposed purchase at any point up until the moment when you exchange contracts with the owner of the property you were intending to buy.
Generally, the sooner you pull out of a transaction the better that will be for all parties involved, including yourself, not least because an earlier exit leaves greater scope for associated fees to be avoided and for time to be saved.
Seeking to walk away from a purchase deal once the relevant contracts have been exchanged could result in significant legal and financial ramifications, however.
Ending your interest
Having an offer accepted by the current owners of a property you’d like to buy is generally a happy moment and one that’s well worth celebrating. But circumstances can (and often do) change suddenly and significantly for people involved in plans for property transactions.
You might lose a job or find yourself getting divorced, for example, or you might decide that, on reflection, a given property just isn’t quite right for your purposes. You might also find it difficult to secure the kind of mortgage deal you need or you might come to the view that a price you’ve been quoted is actually too high. Regardless of the reasons, it’s important to act quickly, if you can, to end your interest in buying a particular property, for your own benefit and in fairness to the selling party.
Deals falling through is not uncommon
According to figures published by Quick Move Now, 28.8 per cent of residential property sales across the UK fell through for one reason or another in 2024, and at a rate of 33 per cent during the final three months of the year.
Sometimes the challenges that arise in these situations can be overcome but other times a changed set of circumstances are enough to derail a deal entirely and mean it must be walked away from before it reaches the contract exchange and completion stage.
What to do/what happens
If you have had a purchase offer accepted by the seller of a property but you decide you need to pull out of it then it’s imperative to notify your conveyancer as early on in the process as possible.
Terminating a transaction at an early stage will tend to be quite a straightforward process and there shouldn’t be any significant legal ramifications. In essence, all that happens is that the potential for a deal is lost and both parties move on.
However, there are likely to be some financial costs incurred in the case of aborted or abandoned property purchases.
A good conveyancer will be perfectly capable of tying off any legal loose ends associated with your planned transaction but they will generally need to be paid for whatever work they’ve carried out on your behalf up to the point where you pull the plug. Hence why walking away sooner rather than later is generally better for all parties involved.
It is often the case, however, that planned transactions fall though shortly prior to the contract exchange stage of the process. For buyers and sellers, this is a not a great situation usually because an array of conveyancing fees will have been accrued along the path to that point.
All of which is why ‘no sale, no fee’ conveyancing can provide valuable peace of mind for people looking to buy properties.
The seller’s perspective
From a seller’s perspective, having a buyer walk away from a deal to acquire your property can be frustrating for various reasons but not least because there could be some extra solicitors’ fees to pay on their side of the equation.
Usually, it’ll be easy enough for an enlisted conveyancer to repurpose relevant information and forms they’ve gathered on behalf of their seller in these situations but they might also need to charge some extra fees to cover their own costs.
For sellers, the extra costs shouldn’t be extreme but could add up if one or more agreed deal falls through. So, if you can, it’s a good idea to budget for that possibility before putting your property up for sale.
What if contracts have been exchanged?
If contracts have been exchanged but you need or intend to walk away from a property purchase, then the dynamics involved will generally be quite different.
It could be that the sellers in your case decide to take the matter to court in pursuit of a legal ruling that essentially makes you liable for covering their costs.
There are exceptions to the rules around post contract exchange transactions, such as where there is evidence of fraudulent activity or when sellers have knowingly misled their potential buyers or misrepresented themselves or their property in ways that are legally provable and pertinent.
Other issues with walking away post contract exchange
Among the penalties that a buyer might be hit with if they walk away from a property deal after they’ve exchanged contracts include:
- Deposits paid might be kept by the seller
- Any interest accrued will also likely be kept by the seller
- Damages might be sought through legal channels
The seller will also be within their rights to seek a new buyer for the property they thought they were selling to you.
On the other hand, if a seller pulls out of the deal after contracts have been exchanged then they will need to repay their buyer’s deposit, plus any interest that might have accrued.
Getting the right support
Online platforms like Home Legal Direct give homebuyers across the UK the opportunity to instantly access a list of experienced conveyancers well placed to meet their needs.
Home Legal Direct also offers tailored, confidential and reliable advice on any associated issues. You can contact our experts any time if you’re uncertain on how best to proceed at any stage of a property buying process, even if you’re looking to extract yourself from a specific transaction.