We Buy Any House: How It Works, the Scams to Avoid, and How to Get a Genuine Offer

What “we buy any house” actually means

“We buy any house” is a promise made by property-buying companies (also called cash house buyers or quick-sale companies) to purchase your home directly, quickly, and in whatever condition it’s in — no estate agent, no chain, no viewings, no waiting for a buyer’s mortgage. A genuine company buys with its own funds, then refurbishes the property and either resells it for a profit or keeps it to let. The discount it pays you is its margin and its buffer against the risk of holding and reselling.

The phrase is also used, heavily, by businesses that don’t buy any houses at all. These are lead-generation companies: slick websites and adverts that exist only to capture your details and sell them on to third parties — sometimes several at once — who then call you. You get bombarded, the “offer” comes from someone you never chose, and there’s no certainty behind it. Telling a genuine principal buyer apart from a lead broker is the single most important thing you can do, because it changes everything: your price, your timescale, your privacy and your exposure to the tricks later in this guide.

✓ Genuine buyer

• Buys with its own cash
• Shows proof of funds today
• NAPB & TPO member
• Firm offer, held to completion
• One company, one point of contact

vs

✕ Lead broker

• Owns no property
• Can’t prove funds
• No memberships or redress
• Sells your details to several firms
• You get bombarded with calls

How big — and how unregulated — is the industry?

This is the part most adverts won’t tell you: house-buying companies are not regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, or by anyone else with statutory teeth. There are hundreds of them operating in the UK, ranging from long-established, ethical buyers to fly-by-night operations and pure lead-generation sites. Because there’s no regulator, there’s no licensing barrier to entry and no official body that can fine or shut down a company that behaves badly.

The only meaningful standards are two voluntary schemes: the National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB) and The Property Ombudsman (TPO). Members agree to a code of practice and, crucially, to independent redress if something goes wrong. They’re voluntary — a company doesn’t have to join — which is exactly why checking for both is your first line of defence. A genuine, confident buyer will be a member of both and will tell you so without being asked. We come back to what these schemes actually require later in the guide.

How a genuine cash sale works, step by step

With a reputable company the process is short and predictable. Here’s what actually happens at each stage — and what to check:

1. 1Enquiry & desktop valuationYou share a few details. They estimate your value from sold data and make an initial, indicative offer.
2. 2Formal cash offerUsually within 24–48 hours, at 75–85% of market value. Get it in writing.
3. 3Survey & searchesAn independent survey confirms the figure. Insist this happens early, not at the end.
4. 4Exchange of contractsThe point the price becomes legally fixed and the sale is binding. Push to reach it quickly.
5. 5CompletionFunds land in your account, on a date that suits you — typically 7–28 days from offer.

Use your own solicitor throughout — never one “recommended” as a condition of the deal — and remember that nothing is binding until exchange. The whole point of a genuine cash buyer is that there’s no mortgage application, no chain and no buyer-side survey to fall through, which is what compresses months into days.

How fast is it, really?

The speed difference is the headline selling point, and it’s real. A typical open-market sale takes around 5–6 months end to end — roughly 40 days just to find a buyer, then 8–12 weeks of conveyancing — and around one in four of those sales collapses before completion. A funded cash buyer removes the slowest, riskiest stages entirely:

Open market~5–6 months

Auction~6–10 weeks

We buy any house7–28 days

For a seller against the clock — a court date, a probate deadline, a job move, a chain about to break — that compression is the entire value of the model, and it’s why the discount can be worth paying.

The genuine advantages

Used with a reputable company, the benefits are substantial and real:

• Speed. Completion in 7–28 days, sometimes as little as 7, versus months on the open market.
• Certainty. A funded buyer with no chain and no mortgage can’t be derailed by a lender saying no or a chain collapsing — the leading causes of failed sales.
• Any condition. They buy homes most buyers won’t touch: fire or flood damage, subsidence, short leases, non-standard construction, hoarded or probate properties, even with tenants in situ.
• No fees. No estate-agent commission (which would be ~1–1.5% + VAT), and your legal fees are often covered.
• No viewings or marketing. No strangers traipsing through your home, no photos online, no open houses — valuable if you want privacy or the home shows poorly.
• A flexible, chosen completion date. You can usually pick the date, fast or delayed to fit a purchase or a move.
• Discretion. A direct sale is private — useful in divorce, financial difficulty or a sensitive estate.

The real drawbacks — and why the discount exists

There are two honest downsides. The first is price: you’ll be offered below market value. The second is the unregulated industry we’ve described, which is where the risks live. It helps to understand why the discount exists, because a transparent buyer can explain it and a dishonest one hides it behind an inflated headline. The gap between your home’s market value and the offer covers the company’s costs and risk:

You receive ≈ 75–85% Their costs & margin

• You receive 75–85% — fast, certain, fee-free
• Their slice — refurbishment, months of holding costs, legal & selling costs on resale, and the risk the market moves against them

That discount is the legitimate price of speed and certainty. The problem is only when a company pretends it doesn’t exist — promising 95–100% to win your trust, then quietly clawing it back near the end. Knowing your real value, and that a fair figure is 75–85%, is your protection against that.

How much will you actually be offered?

Genuine cash buyers pay roughly 75–85% of market value. Where you land in that range depends on your property’s condition (work needed comes off the offer), location and demand (how easily they can resell), the property type (flats and unusual homes attract bigger discounts), and how quickly you need to complete. The crucial first step is knowing your real market value from genuine sold comparables, so you can judge any offer as a percentage rather than in isolation.

It’s also worth comparing the net outcome, not just the headline percentage. Here’s a worked example on a £250,000 home:

On a £250,000 home	Open-market sale	Cash buyer (~83%)
Sale price / offer	£250,000	£207,500
Estate-agent fee (~1.25% + VAT)	−£3,750	£0
~5 months of mortgage, bills, insurance	−£3,000–£6,000	£0 (you’re out in weeks)
Risk of fall-through (~1 in 4)	Real	None
Net, roughly	~£240,000 in 5–6 months	£207,500 in 2–4 weeks

The gap is real, but smaller than the headline “17% less” suggests once fees, months of holding costs and fall-through risk are counted — and for many sellers the certainty and speed close the rest of it. See our full breakdown of how far below market value buyers really pay.

When does selling this way make sense?

A “we buy any house” sale isn’t for everyone — if you have time and a straightforward home, an estate agent will get you more. But for the right situation it’s the obvious answer, usually where certainty and speed are worth more than the last few percent:

The 5 biggest scams — and exactly how each one works

Because the sector is unregulated, a handful of tricks recur in almost every complaint. Tap each to see how it works and how to defend against it:

The option-agreement trap — explained

This one deserves its own section because it’s the most damaging and the least understood. An option agreement is not a sale. You sign a contract giving a company the option (but not the obligation) to buy your home — or to find someone else who will — within a set period, while you’re locked out of selling to anyone else. The company then tries to find a buyer who’ll pay more than the figure they agreed with you, and keeps the difference. If they can’t, they simply walk away and you’ve lost weeks or months.

The result is the worst of both worlds: you’ve accepted a below-market price and taken on a slow, uncertain sale with no guarantee at the end — sometimes with extra fees bolted on. A genuine cash buyer using its own funds has no reason to ask for an option agreement; it just buys the house. So if a company puts an option or lock-out clause in front of you, that is your cue to stop. (This is different from a legitimate, fully-explained lease option you enter knowingly with advice — the scam is when it’s dressed up as a straight cash sale.)

NAPB and TPO: your only real protection

With no regulator, these two voluntary schemes are the closest thing to a safety net — so understanding them matters:

You can verify membership directly on the NAPB and TPO websites — don’t just take a logo on a homepage at face value. A genuine, confident buyer will hold both and won’t mind you checking.

Is this buyer genuine? The safety checklist

Run any “we buy any house” company through this before you commit anything. Tick what they can actually demonstrate — the score updates live:

Two more rules that apply to every one of them: use your own solicitor, and never pay an upfront fee — a genuine buyer charges you nothing, so any request for a “valuation”, “survey” or “admin” fee up front is a sign to walk away.

What to do if you feel pressured — or the offer drops

High-pressure selling is itself a warning sign. If a company demands you sign immediately, says you’ll “miss out”, or won’t put things in writing, slow everything down — a genuine buyer is happy to give you time and advice. If an agreed offer is reduced near completion with no good reason, you are entitled to refuse and walk away (nothing binds until exchange), and you should: caving in is exactly what the tactic relies on.

If you’ve been treated unfairly by a member firm, you can complain to The Property Ombudsman for independent redress, and report misleading adverts or practices to Trading Standards. And if you’re selling under financial pressure or to stop repossession, get free, independent advice first from StepChange, Citizens Advice or Shelter — they’ll help you weigh whether selling is the right move and make sure you’re not rushed into a bad deal.

“We buy any house” vs every other way to sell

It’s one of several routes, each with a different balance of price, speed, fees and certainty:

Route	Price	Speed	Fees	Certainty
Estate agent	95–100%	5–6 months	1–1.5% + VAT	Chain & mortgage risk
Online / hybrid agent	95–100%	Months	Low fixed fee	No guaranteed sale
Auction	75–90%	6–10 weeks	Auction fees	High once gavel falls
Part exchange (new build)	90–95%	5–10 weeks	£0	High, but new build only
We buy any house	75–85%	7–28 days	£0	High (if genuinely funded)
Ready Steady Sell	Best of several offers	7–28 days	£0	Highest — funding vetted

Drag your estimated value to see the typical figures for your home:

How to get the best — and safest — offer

If a quick cash sale is right for you, four steps protect both your price and your peace of mind. One: establish your real market value first from sold comparables, so you can judge offers. Two: get several offers, never just one — comparison is what stops a lowball and keeps every company honest. Three: run each through the checklist above (funds, NAPB, TPO, no tie-in, firm written offer). Four: use your own solicitor and push for an early exchange.