Chain-free meaning: how a property chain works, and where you sit in it

Property chains at a glance

What does ‘chain-free’ mean on a property listing?

An estate agent can use “chain-free” about the buyer or about the home, and the two mean different things. The question is always the same: does anything on that side have to happen before this sale can go ahead?

Being a chain-free buyer does not take you out of a chain. If your seller is buying, you sit at the bottom of one. Agents’ labels for buyers (“cash”, “proceedable”) are explained in our guide to buying with cash, linked at the end of this page.

Who starts and ends the chains we see?

Every chain starts with a buyer who has nothing to sell and ends with a seller who is not buying. Our own quote requests show how often each kind of link turns up. These are totals from our website quote form, not a survey of the market.

Website quote requests, 2 Sep–29 Oct 2026. Rounded to the nearest 5%; groups under 10 are not shown.

With one firm on both, we can see where each side has got to and keep them in step.

Can my buyer’s deposit pay the deposit on my next home?

Often, yes. Many residential contracts use the Standard Conditions of Sale (Fifth Edition, 2018 Revision). Under them the buyer pays a deposit of 10% of the price by exchange, unless the contract says a different amount. If you, the seller, are buying another home in England or Wales to live in, you can use all or part of your buyer’s deposit as the deposit on your own purchase. That is how one deposit can pass up a chain. Any part you do not use is held by your solicitor as stakeholder until completion.

You only fund the gap. Say you sell for £300,000 and buy for £450,000, both with 10% deposits. Your buyer pays £30,000, your seller wants £45,000, so you add £15,000 of your own. If your buyer agreed a 5% deposit, your gap is larger. The planner in the check above works it out for your own figures.

Three limits:

• This does not apply if the home you are buying will not be your home (such as a buy-to-let), or if you are selling your home at auction.
• Your contract can change or remove the condition.
• If completion is late and a notice to complete is served, a buyer who paid less than 10% must top it up to 10% straight away.

Our deadline: send your share of the deposit to us at least 1 working day before exchange.

Who pays if one link completes late?

After exchange each buyer and seller in the chain is bound to complete, usually all on the same date, and the money moves up from the bottom buyer one sale at a time. A delay low down reaches everyone above.

Under the Standard Conditions:

• The 2pm cut-off. If the money arrives after 2.00pm, completion counts as the next working day for working out compensation for lateness (and the bills split on completion), unless the home is sold empty and the money is late only because the seller had not moved out by 2.00pm.
• Compensation. The side whose delay is longer pays interest at the “contract rate” on the price (less any deposit, if the buyer pays) for the extra days of delay. The contract rate is the Law Society’s interest rate, set at 4% above Barclays base rate, unless your contract sets another rate.
• Notice to complete. Once the time on completion day has passed, a side that is ready can serve a notice to complete. The buyer and seller in that sale then have 10 working days (not counting the day the notice is served) to complete, and time becomes “of the essence”.
• If the buyer still does not complete, the seller can end the contract, keep the deposit, resell and claim damages.

So a delay in your buyer’s money can leave you owing your own seller.

Our deadline: send the balance to us at least 1 working day before completion. What happens on the day itself is in exchange and completion explained.

What do I lose if my chain breaks before exchange?

Until contracts are exchanged nobody in the chain is bound. A contract to sell a home must be in writing, signed by both sides, and in a chain that happens at exchange. Before then any buyer or seller can walk away, and nobody can claim their costs back from them under the sale.

What it costs you with us: if your sale or your purchase falls through, you pay our File Opening Fee (Non-refundable) and any third-party costs we have already paid out for you, such as searches. Anything else you have paid us is refunded, or carried over to your next property when you find one.

Costs set by others are separate: a surveyor’s fee, a lender’s or broker’s fees, and removal deposits follow their own terms.

If your buyer pulls out but you still want to buy, tell us at once.

The usual causes of a broken chain are in our guide to how long conveyancing takes. Being outbid while you wait is gazumping.

Should I sell first and rent, to become a chain-free buyer?

It turns you into a buyer with nothing to sell, which sellers like. It also adds costs you would not otherwise have: rent, a second move, perhaps storage, and a tenancy that may not end when you find a home. Some landlords also check income, which can be hard if you are retired or between jobs even with sale money in the bank.

If you buy your next home before your old one sells, different tax rules apply; and if you want to keep your mortgage for the next home, that is porting. Both have their own guides, linked at the end of this page.

In Wales, a tenancy is an “occupation contract” and a tenant is a “contract-holder”, under the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016, in force since 1 December 2022.

Do chains work differently in Wales?

The chain itself works the same way. Contracts in England and Wales are made the same way, the Standard Conditions of Sale cover both, and the deposit rule above applies to a home you buy anywhere in England or Wales. Of the 141 people who asked us to quote for a sale and a purchase, 12 were buying in Wales.

The tax differs. In Wales you pay Land Transaction Tax to the Welsh Revenue Authority, and the return is due within 30 days of the day after completion. In England it is Stamp Duty Land Tax to HMRC, due within 14 days. A chain that crosses the border has each purchase taxed where the home is.

What do we charge when you sell and buy in the same chain?

Our ranges for a sale and a purchase are in the fee box below, each plus VAT. Because your sale and purchase run on one file, your quote charges the File Opening Fee (Non-refundable) and your identity checks once.

Stamp Duty Land Tax or Land Transaction Tax on the purchase, and the HM Land Registry fee, are government charges. They are never added into one total with our fees. You get a written, itemised quote before you instruct us.

More on conveyancing for buying and selling, or work out a figure with our conveyancing fees calculator.

What happens next

• Conveyancing for buying and selling
• Porting your mortgage when you move
• Buying before you sell: claiming back the higher rates
• Exchange and completion explained
• More guides, explained