What are property structural issues?
In general terms, a structural problem with a home is one that affects its physical, or structural, integrity. These issues can be man-made due to the use of cheap or non-standard construction materials, bad building design, or cheap and inadequate construction work – such as poor wiring. They can also be naturally occurring, meaning they weren’t caused by anything builders did.
Structural problems at homes can come in many different forms, including but not limited to issues such as subsidence that threatens the foundations of the building, the risk of being flooded because of its design and location, the fact asbestos was used in building the house, and many more.
This guide is designed for people who own properties that might have a structural problem, but they are hoping to sell it quickly for whatever reason – whether that’s preparing to relocate elsewhere in the UK or overseas, needing to raise funds to settle a financial problem, wanting to downsize, or anything else.
In the following sections you will get useful advice about the potential hurdles that you might encounter with trying to sell a house or flat in its current condition without first fixing the structural issue. You’ll also get advice on whether it might be a good idea to think about investing time, money and effort in resolving the problem before trying to sell your home.
And there’s also extensive information on your four typical options available for selling a property “as is” with its structural flaws still in place, including advice on what to expect from these different strategies in terms of how long they take, whether they charge fees, and more.
Do not worry that you will never be able to sell your home with structural issues, because there are always solutions available that should help you achieve a speedy sale at a fair price.
Can I sell my house if it has structural issues?
Having structural problems at your home does not mean you cannot sell it, but you need to understand upfront that these issues could deter many buyers.
Some prospective owners will be concerned about the time and money that they might have to spend correcting the problems if they were to buy your home, on top of the price that they’d be paying for the house. Other buyers might not even want to go on a viewing if they believe that the structural issues would be more than they want to deal with as owners.
Before selling you need to consider whether you have the time and money to fix a structural issue, or whether you simply want to try selling the house "as is" without fixing the problem.
Properties that have structural issues that remain unresolved often sell for between 10 percent and 20 percent below the typical market price for similar homes, according to Ready Steady Sell. That means you might need to be prepared for having to sell your property at a reduced price, which in turn could lower the amount of profit that you might make from the sale.
But if you find that you do not have the financial resources, time or energy necessary to repair structural issues with your home before selling it, getting a sale is still possible.
One solution – outlined in more detail later in this guide – is to get in touch with a quick home buying company like LDN Properties, because they are experts at making speedy and fair offers to buy practically any home, even those that have ongoing structural flaws. You could complete the sale of your property within just a few short weeks, and that includes the vital last steps of exchanging contracts and receiving the sale proceeds. And you will also benefit from the fact that legitimate quick buyers will never charge you any commission to purchase your home.
Fixing structural problems before selling
One possible approach to structural problems at your home is to fix them before you attempt to sell. Depending on the work involved, this could be done quickly and cheaply or it might require you to spend a lot of time and money. The larger the problem, the more you will have to spend.
For those homeowners looking to move in a hurry, or who want to make the most possible profit from selling their property, investing in fixing structural issues first isn’t a great choice. Even though you might make the house more inviting to potential buyers, the time and cost outlay required upfront could offset any increase in property value that the work could achieve.
If you take this approach it could potentially increase your options for how to sell, because an estate agent might be more willing to take on a property where you’ve fixed the issue. But the downside of selling this way is that you’ll have to pay an estate agent potentially significant fees for selling your home, which will result in you losing out on even more money.
Trying to sell without fixing structural problems
The alternative to fixing your home’s structural problems before selling is to attempt to find a buyer without making any changes to the property. This approach will save you considerable time and money from not having to invest in doing any work to correct the issues.
However, you should expect that leaving the problems in place and attempting to sell will reduce the total number of buyers that might be interested in purchasing your home.
For that reason, selling through an estate agent might be difficult as they could be concerned it’ll be hard to find a buyer. And they’ll still charge you fees for selling. Unless you can find an estate agent that specialises in selling such homes, you should consider selling via another method.
Auctioning your property could be an option, with the auctioneer setting a date for when people can bid on the home as is. A final bid is a legally binding purchase. But auctioneers try to get homeowners to set very low opening bids for properties. They do this to get people interested in the house so that they hopefully competitively outbid each other on the auction day. Yet there’s no guarantee that this will happen, and even less so if the home has lingering structural issues. And the auctioneer will also charge you fees for selling this way, although some auction special conditions allow the seller shift the burden of paying those fees to the winning bidder. Often auctioneers are members of NAVA – a professional self-regulating body for auctioneers.
A third way you can sell a home with structural issues is to contact a trustworthy quick property buying company. Their focus is on buying all types of houses and flats on an accelerated schedule, giving homeowners a generous cash pay-out – even for homes with structural problems. It can be a way to sell your home fast and without having to pay any fees.
If you have a preference for a specific one of the selling strategies above but you are nervous that choosing it might reduce the number of potential buyers, keep reading this guide – the next section expands on the various pros and cons associated with the different options that you have for selling your property with structural issues, such as fees, time taken and more.
Pros and cons with your options for selling a home with structural issues
If you have decided to proceed with the sale of your property “as is” without correcting whatever structural issue it has, you will then need to choose from the four typical methods to find a buyer. These are selling to a quick home buyer, selling with an estate agent, selling at a property auction or attempting to sell the house or flat without any assistance.
You will discover that there are specific advantages and disadvantages with all four of the choices in terms of important factors such as whether they charge fees, how long they take, and other issues. For example, you will have to pay potentially costly commission when selling at an auction or with an estate agent, but you’ll pay no fees when selling to a quick home buyer.
Below you’ll find out the main highlights of all your selling methods, and it can be useful to compare the details about all four against your top aims with the sale, such as the price that you would like to get for your property, whether or not you are open to paying any fees, and how fast you want to sell. This should help with showing you the best option for your particular needs.
Selling to a quick home buyer
Quick home buyers can be a good choice for selling a property that has structural issues that you do not fix before selling. That is because these companies are well known for making competitive and fast offers to buy almost any home regardless of whether or not it has any structural problems, and no matter the property’s age, condition, location, shape, size or type.
LDN Properties, for examples, has bought and made offers for many homes with structural issues throughout the UK since launching in 2003, including flats with a leaking roof, houses that have storm damage, properties with subsidence, homes with elevated levels of radon, flats with faulty wiring, houses that have a damp problem, properties with dry rot, homes that have been flooded, and more.
You can also get a very fast sale with this option because the process should only take a few short weeks, and that includes exchanging contracts and you receiving the full sale proceeds. If you are trying to sell your home as fast as possible then this can be a suitable choice.
A further advantage of selling this way is that the honest quick home buyers will not charge you any commission when purchasing your property. That can make a quick buyer a good selection for those owners that want to reduce their overall expenses when selling their home.
Selling with an estate agent
If you are thinking about selling your home using the series of an estate agent then you should ask individual companies about whether they have managed to sell a home with structural issues like yours in the past. There are many estate agents that will never have sold such a property, and this suggests they could struggle to get buyers interested in your home.
Another drawback of selling via this method is that it can take a very long time, as it might be more than a full year before you are able to find a buyer. Even then, someone could make an offer but later change their mind and cancel it, causing the sale to fall apart. This would require you to start over with seeking a buyer, delaying the selling timeline even further. And you can’t penalise the person with scrapping the offer if you have not yet exchanged contracts.
Remember you will also have to pay the estate agent commission if they manage to sell your home, and this will increase your costs because the fee will be subtracted from the eventual sale proceeds. Many estate agents charge commission within a range from 1.15 percent to 1.45 percent of a home’s final sale price, although the exact fee can be as low as 0.5 percent or as high as 3.5 percent or more, according to House Wow Services.
This fee pays for the work that an estate agent does in selling a property, starting with creating a listing that describes the home and features photographs of the interior and exterior. They’ll advertise this listing online and in their office and local newspapers to get buyers interested, then schedule viewings to give people tours of the house or flat. Finally, they will hear offers from prospective buyers and try to guide one of them to the exchange of contracts.
Selling at a property auction
Another way to sell a home is through an auction, where people will place bids of increasing value on the property, with the top bid at the end of the auction being named the winner and person buying the house or flat. But this can be a difficult option for selling a property that has significant structural issues that you either cannot or do not want to fix before selling.
You should inquire with individual auction houses about their current and prior successes with selling homes that have structural issues, particularly those with the same problem as your home. Avoid using the services of an auctioneer that has never managed to sell this type of property because it strongly implies that they will find it hard to sell your home as well.
Auctioneers do most of the work needed to sell a home; they will create a listing, advertise it, host the auction and oversee the competition of a successful sale. But in exchange for saving you from having to put in this effort, the auctioneer will charge you fees if your home sells.
Usually you can expect an estate agent to set this commission at about 2.5 percent of your property’s final sale price, although the exact rate may be above or below this amount. This will cause your costs to rise because the fee will be deducted from the eventual sale process.
Some auctioneers might be open to either reducing how much commission they charge you, or having the buyer pay a share of your expenses, so it can be worth asking about these options.
An auction can also be quite a slow way to sell your home with plenty of waiting involved, including many weeks or even months between when you opt for selling using this approach and when the auction is held. If your home manages to sell, the buyer then has an average of 28 days to finish their tasks needed to complete the sale, such as signing the legal documents.
Selling without any assistance
Perhaps the most stressful way to try selling your flat or house with structural problems is doing so on your own, because you will have to handle every step of the process. You will need to put together a listing, organise viewings, hear offers and try to get one to exchanging contracts.
This is a huge amount of work and it will take up a lot of your time, so you should only think about it if you have previously managed to sell a home that has structural issues, or if you have a suitably qualified friend or family member that can help with the sale at no charge. Regardless, it might take more than a year before you able to secure a buyer.
Not also that someone could make an honest offer on your home but then for whatever reason they decide to rescind it – and they can do this without any penalties so long as you have not yet exchanged contracts. This would prompt the sale to collapse and require that you start again with trying to find another buyer, likely adding much more time to the selling process.
The only clear benefit of selling without any help is that you would not need to pay commission to an estate agent or an auctioneer for finding a buyer for the property, which will help reduce your costs. But you could discover that any saving you make this way is cancelled out by the money that you would need to spend on the selling process, such as marketing your listing.
As an alternative, consider selling to a no-fee quick buyer like LDN Properties, because you would achieve the same goal of preventing having to pay any commission, but with the extra bonus of being able to complete the entire selling process within a few short weeks. It makes quick buyers a viable strategy for people wanting to sell speedily whilst also cutting their costs.
Seven questions and answers all about selling homes with structural issues
We’ve truly seen it all with buying homes of all types, including those with major structural issues. If you’re looking to sell, review these top questions about what’s involved:
Because buyers will realise that they will have to spend a lot of time and money to correct the structural problems, or many potential homeowners will be turned off by the idea of having to do all that work after they have bought the property.
No. In fact you have the choice between either investing money and time in fixing the issues before trying to sell, or simply trying to sell the property as is and finding a buyer who is willing to fix the problems once they purchase your house.
Check with The Property Ombudsman (TPO) to see if the company is a registered member. If so, they must follow rules set by TPO for quick buying companies and can generally be considered reputable.
Does your home have structural issues? We can make you an offer to buy it
We’ve bought houses and flats with structural issues many times, and we’re ready to chat with you about making a competitive and quick cash offer on your home through a very simple and zero-stress process. And you’ll never pay any fees if you sell to us.
If you’d like to chat with our team of friendly experts, you can reach us by calling 020 7183 3022 or by clicking on the "Request Offer" button below.
