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Instant Cash Valuationwww.thepropertybuyingcompany.co.uk
The Property Buying Company is a home buying company that operates from West Yorkshire, UK. The organisation was incorporated and registered with Companies House in 2012, and its operations base is listed as 4 Deighton Close, Wetherby, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom, LS22 7GZ.
However, the company’s website lists various office locations across the country, including in Bolton, Doncaster, Durham, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham and Sheffield.
In addition to their bases in the North of England, the company claims to offer their services in the East Midlands, East England, London, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South East England, South West England, Wales and the West Midlands.
On their site, The Property Buying Company says that they can buy a client’s house in “as little as seven days”, but that “average purchase times are around 2-3 weeks by customer request”.
How much do the Property Buying Company pay? As part of a typical transaction, the organisation pays around 80% of the market value of the property being purchased. In some cases, they claim to be able to offer 85%. It is unclear how common it is that they are able to offer this amount.
Their website explains that they are not able to offer 100% market value - and that fast home buying companies who claim to be able to do so are usually “over-promising”, as if they were really able to buy for that amount, they would not be in business.
The Property Buying Company presents itself as “honest and transparent” and “upfront” about its services. The organisation also claims to be able to “buy any property, in any condition, in any location”.
It appears as if the significant majority of users of this company’s services would rate their experience highly.
The Property Buying Company reviews are extremely positive on the whole - and, with more than 2,000 reviews across multiple platforms, there is a sufficiently large sample size to provide a good level of accuracy.
Trustworthiness is a major selling point for this particular fast home buying company - and, to that end, they are outspoken about their membership of:
The organisation also offers the following benefits:
Sale times / exchange dates tailored to their clients requirements wherever possible
All fees covered - including expenses relating to valuation and conveyancing
Additional assistance provided where requested - for example, according to some reviews, The Property Buying Company can even put clients in touch with removals specialists or communicate with rental agencies on behalf of clients requiring short term accommodation during the sale process
The team members at The Property Buying Company are contactable 24/7 via their freephone number
Negative aspects of using The Property Buying Company include:
No leeway when it comes to the conveyancing specialist assigned to you if their fees are to be covered. You are permitted to choose your own solicitor, but this would be at your own expense
An unclear source of funds used to buy your property. The Property Buying Company say that if they are “unable to help” a client - i.e. if they cannot purchase the property themselves, then they “have a network of investors who are also property cash buyers and can complete the sale quickly and efficiently”. This suggests that the funds to complete a purchase are not always readily available, and do not necessarily always come from the company itself
There are very few negative reviews for The Property Buying Company online. However, of those few, a number suggest that the 80-85% figure suggested as being the typical offer on the company’s website may be a little more generous than the real-life amounts quoted to the average client
Reviews for The Property Buying Company are displayed on the following platforms:
The Property Buying Company regularly offers 80% - 85% of a property’s market value.
While this appears to be true in many cases, a significant proportion of the company’s negative reviews (of which, in fairness, there are very few), cite a far lower offer than expected.
While the company is transparent about the way it turns a profit - i.e. purchasing property below market value, then selling on the open market - some past clients have felt that the final sum received was too low.
In a few cases cited in reviews, The Property Buying Company appears to have lowered their offer as the sales process progressed. However, as these are all write-ups on publicly-accessible online platforms, we cannot fully verify their accuracy.
The Property Buying Company will buy “any house, in any condition & any location!”
Again, it appears as if this claim is generally correct according to online reviews.
We have found only one case wherein the company turned down a property on the basis that it was the wrong “type”, and another where the company appeared to have attempted to get a third party “investor” involved in the sale, which then fell through.
It does not appear that The Property Buying Company has any parent or sister companies. However, according to Companies House the organisation appears to have been named Alliance Home Buyers Limited before the change to its current branding, which took place in 2013.
The Property Buying Company is highly active on social media, with accounts on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, TikTok and Instagram. Most are updated with good regularity and provide a range of content for an impressive number of followers.
We’ll analyse this further in our “In-Depth Company Summary” below.
Read on for a close examination of The Property Buying Company’s fees, practices and processes in the form of an “in-depth company summary”.
Here, we’ll explore some of the finer details of the company’s approaches and processes, and will hopefully answer your more specific questions about the organisation in order to help you decide on the best way forward.
You can also use our “Help and Support” service or visit the “Contact Us” section of this site to find out more about selling a house fast.
So, what can you expect from The Property Buying Company’s cash buying process?
The following step-by-step guide should make their methods a little clearer.
In order to start the process, the seller - or “vendor” - is prompted to enter their postcode into the “Get an Offer” box at the top of the company’s website. After this, they are required to add a phone number and email address
The vendor will then receive a confirmation email - and a representative of the company will call them shortly afterwards to glean more details about the property and to make an initial offer
At this point, the vendor will be able to confirm whether or not they wish to proceed
One of The Property Buying Company’s “Acquisition Managers” will then arrange a visit to the vendor’s property at a suitable time in order to view it in person
During this visit, the vendor will be able to discuss their requirements with the company’s representative to determine whether The Property Buying Company’s services are likely to be suitable for their particular needs
A final valuation and “formal offer” will then be provided and, if this is acceptable to the vendor, a RICS survey will be arranged at a convenient time
The Property Buying Company will then instruct a solicitor of their choosing to act on behalf of the vendor at the organisation’s expense. If the vendor wishes to choose their own solicitor, the associated fees will not be covered
From here, The Property Buying Company will transfer the agreed cash sum to the vendor “in a matter of weeks” - with the specific timescale based on any agreement made at the start of the process
The final step will involve the exchange of contracts and sale completion - as with any typical property sale
The Property Buying Company’s most recent accounts accessible via Companies House are made up to 31 March 2021.
The document reveals that the organisation’s gross profit for the year was £3,044,305 - a reduction of £869,330 when compared with the previous year. This is a drop of approximately 25%.
It is worth noting, however, that the company’s profits had previously increased slightly during the year 2019-20, from £3,869,935 to £3,913, 635.
Another interesting development is the termination of the appointment of the company’s previous director, David John Slater, who was removed from the position towards the end of February 2022. It will be interesting to see what difference these changes are likely to make to the company’s performance in the near future.
As mentioned earlier, there are some references on the company’s website to the use of a pool of third-party investors, so vendors should always check where the capital is likely to be coming from before agreeing to a sale.
Whether or not The Property Buying Company will cover the legal fees associated with a sale depends on the vendor’s willingness to use a conveyancer appointed by the company on their behalf.
If this is acceptable to them, there will be no solicitors’ fees to pay. Otherwise, they will need to cover the cost of representation out of their own budget.
Every property sale - and, indeed, every instance wherein the title of a property changes hands - requires the involvement of a solicitor or a conveyancing specialist. With the exception of extremely rare occasions, these interactions will always incur fees.
The amounts are charged in order to pay for a range of duties undertaken by the chosen legal specialists, including:
However, as mentioned, the conveyancing duties managed by a solicitor appointed by The Property Buying Company on behalf of the vendor will be paid for by the company itself. Charges will only be incurred if the vendor uses their own legal specialist.
On their website, The Property Buying Company also explains that their formal valuation - undertaken by RICS-qualified surveyors - is also free of charge to the vendor, with any costs covered by the company.
Valuation fees are charged in order to remunerate surveyors and other property specialists for the following duties and activities:
Vendors will not be required to pay Estate Agency fees when selling through The Property Buying Company.
The fees charged by estate agencies generally include remuneration for the following processes:
Because The Property Buying Company’s process usually involves a direct cash sale to the company itself - with no third-party involvement - there should be no reliance on viewings and no waiting for chains to complete.
However, at least two visits to the property in question should be expected. The first will be made by an Acquisition Manager (note - on the Sell My Flat Fast section of the site, the individual visiting is referred to as a “Regional Manager”).
At this time, the property will be viewed in-person, all relevant details will be discussed and the vendor will be able to decide whether to move forward with the process.
The second will be made by a RICS qualified surveyor, who will undertake a formal valuation of the property.
The Property Buying Company offers a range of additional services - some of which are directly connected to their “sell house fast” process, and others that are more specialised.
On their “Our Services” dropdown menu, they advertise the following options:
Upon closer inspection, the site could maybe do with a little more clarification - as these fields do not all seem to represent separate services.
Their first link offers guidance on free online property valuations, and, of course, encourages users to utilise The Property Buying Company’s own free valuation service which is connected to their “sell house fast” process.
The “Sell My Flat Fast” page also seems to offer a service that is indistinguishable from their “sell house fast” process, with a slight adjustment to their key words and terms.
The “Sell My House for Cash” section simply contains a more in-depth description of the same “Sell House Fast” service.
There is a little additional information about their company’s more “niche” practices via their “Selling UK Property from Abroad” section - although this process is again extremely similar to their “Sell House Fast” methods. At the same time, it’s useful to know that they are able to manage sales from overseas vendors.
The section on “Selling House Without Spousal Consent” is fundamentally a guide on how the process would work in these circumstances, and, again, ends with the vendor being encouraged to utilise the company’s “Sell House Fast” service.
The “How We Compare” page is simply a selection of reviews of other fast sale companies and a discussion on The Property Buying Company’s performance compared to that of their rivals. The “House Selling Situations” page includes a series of links to articles exploring the process of selling property.
So, despite all of this content, it appears as though The Property Buying Company really only offers one service.
In order to avoid confusion, the site could perhaps benefit from a little streamlining to this effect - as many would-be vendors are no doubt seeking a company that does one thing well: selling property fast for cash.
There does not appear to be any data online referencing a particular fall-through rate connected with The Property Buying Company.
While some reviews make reference to unsuccessful engagements with the company, these are usually as a result of potential clients failing to understand that offers are likely to be below market value, or due to a perceived failing in customer service leading to the client pulling out.
It’s worth noting that instances of this kind are rare according to the company’s online write-ups.
While it does not appear as though The Property Buying Company has received any awards relating to their process or customer service, a gold badge on their “Sell My House for Cash” page announces that they have 50 years’ worth of combined experience as a team.
This badge was likely produced in-house using a stock template, so does not count as an award from any registered body.
The Property Buying Company has numerous reviews across a range of platforms. The largest quantity - some 1,415 at the time of writing - can be found on Trustpilot. Of these, 83% rate the company as “Excellent”, 11% as “Great”, 2% as “Average”, less than 1% as “Poor” and 3% as “Bad”.
They also have 150 Google Reviews, 117 of which rate them 5 stars at the time of writing, 11 of which rate them 4 stars, 5 3 stars, no 2 stars and 17 1 star.
However, of the 536 responses on their Reviews.co.uk profile, 11 provide a 1 star rating, 3 offer 2 stars, 5 give 3 stars, 54 rate the company 4 stars and approximately 463 have left 5 star reviews.
The Property Buying Company is highly active across almost all of its numerous social media accounts.
Their Facebook page has 2,897 likes at the time of writing, and the company usually posts at least once per week.
They also post with a similar regularity on Twitter - though sometimes they are still more active via this platform, occasionally posting multiple times per day. They have 2,214 Twitter followers.
On LinkedIn, The Property Buying Company has 768 followers and posts multiple times per month, though, at the time of writing, the number of posts has dropped from 12 in April-May to 7 in May-June, then to just one in July 2022.
The company has a YouTube account, though this has only 9 subscribers and, as of August 2022, no new videos have been posted for seven months.
Unusually for a company of this kind, The Property Buying Company also has a TikTok account. This appears to be fairly new, and is titled “The Property Buying Guys”. It seems to be run and hosted by two employees offering top tips, and the plan appears to be that they will upload videos weekly.
Despite the account being in its infancy, it already has 40 likes.
Finally, The Property Buying Company has an Instagram account, with 845 followers. As with their Facebook, they seem to typically post once per week, though there has been some variation over time.
While their website offers plenty of content, much of it points back to exactly the same product: their “sell house fast” service. At its core, The Property Buying Company offers just one option to vendors - and appears to deliver this very well.
While reviews from Goodmove and the Open Property Group back up the claim on The Property Buying Company’s website that they are able to assist sellers with practical aspects such as arranging removals and finding temporary rental accommodation, there is little detail available regarding these elements.
This is, therefore, another aspect that is worth a potential vendor checking when entering into discussions with the company.
We hope you have found the above information useful when choosing a fast home sale company.
This Company Review and in-depth Summary have been created to provide users with a clear understanding of the organisation’s specialisms, processes and practices.
The company’s official website
The Companies House website
Relevant review sites, including allAgents, Feefo, Google, Reviews.com and Trustpilot
Relevant social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn
The websites of regulatory bodies such as the National Association of Property Buyers, the
Information Commissioner’s Office and The Property Ombudsman
The websites of relevant rewarding bodies (from which the company claims to have received accolades)
Independent reviews of the company found via Google’s search engine
If you wish to double check any of the information provided in this summary, you can refer to these same sources.
The entirety of the information we have included in this review was correct at the time of writing. We will continue to fact-check and update the review at regular intervals in order to achieve the highest possible levels of accuracy.
We highly recommend that you undertake your own research into any home buying organisation you may be considering, as we understand that you may have unique requirements or specific queries that are not covered on this page.
You can learn more about our company comparison techniques and approaches in the “About Us” page of this site.
You’ll find a selection of handy guides in our “Resources” section. These articles may provide you with valuable information regarding selling your property fast, for the best possible price.
Alternatively, if you require a fast valuation to get a clear idea of the amount you should be offered for your property, please tap the “Valuation Tool” button below. For further information, to make any enquiries or to request advice, please tap the “Help and Support” button.
0800 046 1949
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