Buying a house with cash: what still happens, and what you skip

Buying a house with cash at a glance

Am I a cash buyer if my money comes from selling my home?

Estate agents use three labels for buyers, and only one of them means you can go ahead today.

• Cash buyer: all the money is already in your own bank account, with no mortgage and nothing to sell first.
• Proceedable buyer: you can go ahead, but something still has to happen first, such as your own sale exchanging or a mortgage offer arriving.
• Chain-free: nothing on your side depends on another sale.

If you pay with money from a sale that has not completed, you have no mortgage, but you are not a cash buyer in the agent’s sense yet. Your purchase still depends on your buyer.

This is common. Of the 141 people who asked us to quote for a sale and a purchase together, 75 chose “Cash buyer” for the new home on our quote form (website quote requests, 2 Sep–29 Oct 2026). If your money comes from your sale, tell the agent, so the seller is not surprised later.

What does a cash purchase cost with us?

Our legal fee is set by the price band and whether the home is freehold or leasehold. On top of it sit fixed lines, each shown by name. A purchase with a mortgage has two more: the Mortgage Handling/Admin Fee and the Lender Portal Management Fee. A cash purchase leaves out the Mortgage Handling/Admin Fee and the Lender Portal Management Fee, because there is no lender to act for. We also never list “Dealing with your lender’s own solicitors” on a cash quote, because there is no lender.

Lines on every cash purchase, names exactly as our quote engine has them: Legal Fees · Preparation of SDLT forms (in Wales, the Land Transaction Tax return) · Application for Registration · File Opening Fee (Non-refundable) · Telegraphic Transfer Fee (Per Transfer). A leasehold home has a higher legal fee on our scale, and also adds Dealing with Leasehold. Each figure is in the fee box below and on our fees page.

Paying cash does not change the tax. At £325,000, a home mover in England pays £6,250 Stamp Duty Land Tax; in Wales, £6,000 Land Transaction Tax. The HM Land Registry fee is £150 either way. These are government charges and are never added to our fees. Stamp Duty Land Tax is worked out for a UK resident buying as an individual. Buyers who are not UK resident pay an extra 2%. Work out stamp duty for your price, or compare costs in our conveyancing cost calculator.

We give you a written, itemised quote before you instruct us.

Which steps drop out when there is no mortgage?

Most of the legal work is for you, not the lender, so it stays. What goes is everything we do for a lender. Here is the purchase step by step, with and without a mortgage; our buying guide sets out the full buying process.

Our deadlines for your money are the same either way: the deposit at least 1 working day before exchange, and the balance at least 1 working day before completion. With no lender, the balance is all yours to send, so plan the transfer from savings or investment accounts early. Without a mortgage offer to wait for, a purchase can move sooner, but the searches and the seller’s replies still set the pace. Our guide sets out how long it takes to buy a house, stage by stage.

What proof of funds will the agent and we ask for?

Two different checks, by two different people.

• The estate agent usually wants to see that you have the money before they put your offer to the seller, often a recent bank statement or a letter from your bank. This is about whether your offer is real.
• We must check where the money came from. The money-laundering rules require us to scrutinise our clients’ transactions, “including, where necessary, the source of funds” (Money Laundering Regulations 2017, regulation 28(11)(a)). With no mortgage, we check the source of the whole price, not only a deposit. Every purchase quote we send includes a “Verification of Source of Funds” line in the disbursements.

Expect us to ask for bank statements and evidence of how you built up the funds, such as a sale, savings or an inheritance. Sending them early helps avoid a hold-up later.

What we ask for, money type by money type, is on our source of funds page, linked below. If part of the money is a gift, the Gifted Deposit Check applies; from outside the UK, the Gifted Deposit Check (from outside the UK). Both are in your written quote and on our fees page.

Can I skip the searches if I’m not borrowing?

You can. No law says a cash buyer must have searches. A lender requires them; without a lender, the choice is yours. Even in a cash purchase we’d advise them: searches reveal things no viewing can, such as planning issues, road schemes, flood risk and who owns the drains.

Every purchase quote we send includes a “Search Pack (estimated)” line, cash or not, because search fees are set by the council and the search providers, not by us. More in our guide to conveyancing searches.

Who checks the value and condition if no lender does?

With a mortgage, the lender sends a valuer. That valuation is for the lender, to decide what it will lend; it is not a survey of the building. As a cash buyer you have no valuation at all, so nobody independent looks at the price or the condition unless you pay for it.

A survey is your choice. RICS-regulated surveyors offer three levels of home survey, from a short condition report (Level 1) to a detailed look at the structure (Level 3). Level 2 comes with or without a valuation. Book it before exchange: once contracts are exchanged you are bound to buy.

We are solicitors, not surveyors. We report on the legal side: the title, the searches and the seller’s answers.

Why do some sellers ask for cash buyers only?

“Cash buyers only” on a listing usually means the seller or agent thinks a lender may not lend on the property, or the sale has to happen faster than a mortgage usually allows. Common reasons:

• A short lease. Many lenders will not lend once a lease falls below their minimum. Before buying, find out what a lease extension would cost: see our short lease page, linked below.
• Building or condition problems, such as an unusual construction type or a home with no working kitchen or bathroom.
• An auction. At a traditional auction, contracts are exchanged when the hammer falls, and you must complete by the date in the contract. See buying property at auction.

The reason a lender would say no can also matter when you come to sell. We report on what we find in the legal papers before you commit.

Where do cash purchases still go wrong?

Five things we see come unstuck, and what helps with each.

• You call yourself a cash buyer, but the money depends on your own sale, and the seller finds out late. Tell the agent the true position at the offer. If you are also selling, we can run your sale and purchase together.
• The seller’s own purchase falls through, so a ready cash buyer still waits or loses the house. Ask the agent early what the seller is buying and how far along it is. Paying cash cannot fix the seller’s side of the chain.
• A seller said to be chain-free turns out to need somewhere to move to. Same question, asked before you spend money on searches or a survey.
• Questions about where the money came from arrive near exchange, for example about cash paid in years ago or an account we cannot verify. Send your evidence early. Money paid in as notes, or moved through several accounts, takes longer to trace, so keep it in one account in your name.
• A cash-only flat has a short lease and the extension costs more than expected. Get the lease extension figure before you agree a price.

Is a cash purchase in Wales any different?

The legal steps are the same. The tax is not. In Wales you pay Land Transaction Tax, not Stamp Duty, and the return and the tax go to the Welsh Revenue Authority within 30 days after completion (in England, the Stamp Duty return goes to HMRC within 14 days). Paying cash changes neither. At £325,000, a home mover pays £6,000 in Wales and £6,250 in England. Our Land Transaction Tax calculator, linked below, works out your figure.

We act on purchases in Wales.

What happens next

• The full buying process
• Buying and selling at the same time
• Gifted deposit: what we check
• More buyer situations, explained