Selling a House in
Need of Repairs

There is a wide range of problems that a house or flat can have which puts it in need of repairs, and the type and scale of the flaw could make it more difficult to get buyers interested in your home. This guide explains the possible complications involved with selling a property that needs repairs, as well as tips on the easiest way to attract a competitive and quick offer from a buyer.

1. Deciding to sell your property that needs repairs
2. Can a buyer get a mortgage with a home in need of repair?
3. Downsides of selling a home as is without fixing repairs
4. Should you make repairs to your house before selling it?
5. Four ways to find a buyer for a property needing repairs
6. Selling a house that needs repairs: frequently asked questions

Deciding to sell your property that needs repairs

No matter where in the UK your freehold or leasehold house, flat or other type of residential property is located, it’s possible that it might have some problem that is in need of repair.
Repairs needed at your property could be relatively small in size and either zero-cost or low-cost and minimal hassle to fix, as the website Real Homes says. This can include basic plumbing work, replacing missing roof tiles, fixing broken windows and other relatively straightforward tasks.
As explained in more detail later in this guide, you could choose to spend time, money and effort on fixing these relatively straightforward flaws before selling. Alternatively, there are ways to still get a fair and fast offer for your home without making any repairs – for example, you could get in touch with LDN Properties or another quick home buyer. These businesses are experts at making competitive and swift offers to purchase all types of houses and flats.
Or the repairs could be extensive and the result of one of many reasons, including damage from flooding, subsidence affecting all or part of the property, faulty wiring, dry rot, asbestos in the walls, high radon levels, an infestation, and many other problems that might even make the home uninhabitable.
When it comes to these more serious flaws, it will likely cost a lot of money and take potentially many months to fix them. That’s why many people who own this type of home needing repairs will just sell the property in its current condition, and contacting a quick property buying company is one solution for attracting a fair and fast offer even with the repairs unresolved.

What is a dilapidated house?

These are typically properties that are vacant for various reasons including the previous owners going bankrupt, legal battles over ownership, or something else. The fact that no-one is looking after the house means that it will start to suffer from weather and other damage that can have long-term negative impacts. For example, if a house has broken windows then rain could get inside and cause a host of problems including damp, rot and letting mice inside. Vandals or squatters could also gain entry inside such properties and cause further physical damage. The speed of dilapidation can be accelerated particularly if your house has subsidence problems since the structural integrity of the property may be at risk.

Physical damage to a dilapidated house can be visually off-putting to potential buyers, but a prospective purchaser will likely have even greater concerns about the structural integrity of the building and the costs to put things right. Many buyers are probably going to assess how much they would have to spend to restore the house and will ultimately discount this from whatever purchase price they offer. For the regular home buyer this might be far too much of an investment in repairs and work than they want.

Can a buyer get a mortgage with a home in need of repair?

Depending on the fault at your house or flat needs repairing, some home loan providers could view it as a problem property which they consider too risky to approve for a mortgage.
When a lender is deciding whether or not to approve a home loan, they will assess the property that the mortgage applicant wants to buy. The company will be looking to see whether there will be any hurdles involved with reselling the home at a later date. That’s because in a situation where the buyer defaults on their mortgage repayments, the lender can move to repossess the home and then sell it, with the goal of using the proceeds to recoup the outstanding debt.
If a mortgage lender believes that the repairs needed at your home are too extensive – for example, if the property is dilapidated – then it might reject a buyer’s application for a loan, because the company will fear that it will be impossible to resell the property if needed. That would then eliminate private buyers who need a mortgage first as an option for selling.
But that does not mean you need to worry about never being able to sell your property if you can’t fix the repairs before selling. You still have options for selling, including getting in touch with a quick home buying company like LDN Properties. These businesses are renowned for making fair and fast offers to purchase almost any type of leasehold or freehold property, and that includes homes that need significant repairs, for example widespread fire damage.
Further benefits include being able to complete the sale within a few short weeks and not having to pay and commission, and a later section of this guide explains the process in more detail.

Downsides of selling a home as is without fixing repairs

Beyond the initial hurdle of some buyers being unable to get a mortgage in order to fund the purchase of your home that needs repairs, there are some other possible challenges that you might encounter when attempting to sell this particular type of flat or house.
It can be helpful to learn about the potential downsides of selling a home “as is” in its current condition without first embarking on any repair projects for it. Knowing the possible complications involved with selling this type of property can help you to understand why it might not be attracting offers, and to consider other methods of selling that may be more appropriate.

• Fewer buyers: Prospective buyers might be reluctant to make an offer on a property that has any type of damage, because they will be concerned about the overall structural integrity of the home, the cost of pursuing repairs as the next owner and more. These worries can mean that there are fewer overall buyers interested in your flat or house.
• Lower offers: If someone is considering making an offer on your property and you have no plans to pursue needed repairs before selling, it is likely that the potential buyer will calculate the expense of making the fixes as the home’s new owner, and then reduce their purchase price offer by at least this amount and possibly more.
• Damage stigma: This downside might be less common than the other issues with selling a home that needs repairs, but depending on the type of property damage, some buyers might consider this to give the house or flat a negative stigma – even if the issue is fixed before the own it, and there’s little you can do to change such buyers’ minds.

One hassle-free solution for selling a home as is without first pursuing repairs is to get in touch with LDN Properties or another quick home buying company. That’s because these businesses make fair and fast offers to purchase properties of any type, regardless of their age, condition, location, shape, size or type – and even if they are in need of costly, extensive repairs.

Should you make repairs to your house before selling it?

One decision that you will need to make when selling your home that needs repairs is whether you want to fix the issues with the house or flat before trying to attract offers for it.
The type of repairs needed at your property will be specific to your home, as discussed on the website Checkatrade. Repairs needed at your property could range from under £1,000 and possibly be many hundreds or thousands of pounds more.
At the lower end of the cost scale, repairing a damaged fence or replacing a small electrical appliance could have a price tag of under £100. But large-scale or significant problems can easily cost several hundred pounds and often a few thousand pounds to fix, and this can include repairing a boiler, addressing extensive dry rot, installing a new ceiling and more.
The potential benefits of repairing a property instead of selling as is might be outweighed significantly by the time, money and effort needed for such a project, as the website Ready Steady Sell notes. That’s particularly true if you’re aiming to sell fast and keep your costs low.
Some homeowners worry that it will be impossible to sell a property in need of repairs without first correcting the issue – but that’s far from the truth, as noted earlier in this guide.
There are solutions available, such as selling to a quick home buyer like LDN Properties. As explained in greater detail in the next section of this guide, these companies make speedy and competitive offers to buy all categories of houses and flats, including those needing major repairs. They’ll never charge you any commission when purchasing your property, and they can usually exchange contracts and pay the seller the full proceeds all within a few short weeks.

Four ways to find a buyer for a dilapidated property needing repairs

When trying to sell any type of property, including one that needs repairs, there are typically four methods to choose from for finding a buyer. These are selling to a quick home buying company such as LDN Properties, selling through a property auction, selling with an estate agent or selling without any help.
The full details of all four options are below and you’ll see that there are clear advantages with some choices, like being able to complete the sale of your property within a handful of weeks if you opt for selling to a quick buyer. Other strategies have notable disadvantages, for example it might be more than a year before you secure a buyer when selling on your own.
One useful strategy can be to write down your main goals with the sale of your house of flat, including your preferred sale price, whether you are open to paying any commission, and how long you can wait before selling. Then compare these facts against the details of the four methods and this should assist with highlighting the one that best suits your scenario.

Selling to a quick home buying company

Often the most rapid way to sell a home that needs repairs is by getting in contact with a quick home buyer like such as LDN Properties. These companies can usually exchange contracts and pay a seller the full proceeds when buying their property, all within a few short weeks.
The reason that quick buyers are able to move so speedily is that already have the funds in place to afford purchasing homes, without having to first wait for many weeks or even months to get initial approval for a mortgage that would cover the cost of the transaction.
These companies are also renowned for making fair and competitive offers to purchase almost any type of leasehold or freehold house, flat and other type of property. And they won’t reduce the price just because of a home’s age, condition, location, shape, size or type, nor if you’re attempting to sell a property as is with the need of significant repairs that will not be doing.
You can also avoid paying any commission when you sell your home to a legitimate no-fee quick buyer like LDN Properties, which assist with lowering your overall selling costs. That compares well to selling via an estate agent or auctioneer, because those two approaches will charge you commission that will add to your expenses as it’s deducted from the sale proceeds.
The process of selling a home to a quick buyer is streamlined, no-stress and hassle-free. It begins when you contact them about selling your property and within the first hour of talking you should be given an initial price offer for the house or flat. There is zero pressure to make an immediate decision because you will usually have at least a week to consider the offer.
Should you decide to accept the initial offer, the quick buyer will then have one of its staff members visit your home so that they can assess the interior and exterior, including the damage in need of repairs, before the company makes a final offer. This is the only such viewing you will have to accept, compared to possibly dozens of viewings when selling via other methods.
And if you accept the quick buyer’s final offer, the last step is when they work speedily with your solicitor or other legal representative to complete all of the necessary legal paperwork for purchasing your house or flat. The entire timeline from the beginning through to the exchange of contracts and paying you the full proceeds should only be a handful of weeks at most, again making selling to a quick buyer by far often the swiftest way to sell any type of home.

Selling through a property auction

It can take at least a few months to sell a home needing repairs through an auction, as there is some lengthy waiting involved, including many weeks or even months between when you decide to sell your property this way and when the auction actually takes place.
Should your home manage to sell at the auction, the top bidder and buyer of your property will then have an average of a month to sign all the required legal papers and finish their other tasks necessary to finalise the purchase. This will add even more time to the selling process, and beware that some auctioneers might give buyers far longer than a month for these steps.
But you will not have much work to do when selling this way because the auctioneer handles most of the tasks. This starts with putting together a listing that describes the property and features photographs of the interior and exterior, advertising it, and hosting the auction.
For putting in all of this effort, the typical auctioneer will charge a homeowner commission if their property sells at the auction. This fee is usually around 2.5 percent of the final sale price, although it can be higher or lower depending on the auctioneer. The commission will add to your expenses because the fee is taken immediately out of the eventual auction proceeds. If you are trying to reduce costs when selling then you should review the zero-commission options.

Selling with an estate agent

One of the slower choices for selling a home that needs repairs is using an estate agent because it might be more than a full year before you are able to find a buyer. For those homeowners wanting to sell as fast as possible, you should consider other options.
Note also that you can get an honest offer when selling this way but the potential buyer can then change their mind and rescind the offer, causing the sale to fall apart – and they can do this without the risk of any penalties, if contracts are not yet exchanged. This will then add much more time to the selling process because you will have to begin again with seeking a buyer.
If an estate agent succeeds in selling your home, they will charge you commission to pay for their work in finding a buyer for the property, as the website Strike explains. The range within this fee may be charged can be between 1.15 percent and 1.40 percent of the final sale price you get for your home, and this will increase your expenses because it’s taken out of the proceeds immediately.
The effort that an estate agent puts in for selling a home includes creating a listing, advertising it, organising viewings of your property and then hearing serious offers from buyers, hopefully being able to take one of these offers through to the final exchange of contracts.

Selling without any help

Selling on your own means no assistance from a fee-charging estate agent or auctioneer. This makes you solely responsible for every step, starting with creating and marketing a listing, taking care of viewings, hearing offers and guiding one to the exchange of contracts.
It will not be something that you can just do in your spare time and for that reason selling on your own is only recommended for people who have experience with successfully selling properties, or who have a qualified friend or family member who can help them at no charge.
It can be a very slow and stressful process and you should not be surprised if it takes more than a full year to attract a buyer. Remember also that someone can make an offer but then change their mind and cancel it, which will cause the sale to collapse – and they can do this without facing any penalties if you have not already exchanged contracts. This will also delay a sale much longer because you will need to start over with attempting to find a buyer.
Possibly the only benefit of selling without any help is that you will not be required to pay fees, as you would if you used an estate agent or auctioneer and they sold your home. But the money that you will need to spend on advertising your listing and other tasks involved with attracting buyers could quickly eliminate any saving that you might have made by not paying commission.
If you want to avoid paying commission when selling your home, consider instead selling your property to a zero-fee quick home buyer like LDN Properties. Not only would you get the same advantage of not being charged any fees but you will also get a much faster sale, as these companies often take just a handful of weeks to complete all of the necessary tasks involved with purchasing a property in need of repairs, including the exchange of contracts.

No matter the condition of your house, if you’re ready to sell and want to receive a hassle-free offer for your property you should get in touch with the experts at LDN Properties.

Sell your home to LDN Properties – even if it needs repairs

Ready to sell your home, even though it needs repairs? Then call the professionals at LDN Properties and we can guide you through our simple and quick cash offer process.

Use the Request Offer button below for a quote or call us at 020 7183 3022 to receive a no-cost, no-obligation estimate for buying your property.