Disclosure
Read this first. My Homebuyers buys houses directly. That makes us a competitor to almost every company this guide will help you check — including, if you apply these checks properly, a reason to scrutinise us too. So we’ve written this so that you never have to take our word for anything. Every check below uses a public record you can look at yourself, for free or for a few pounds. Where a check would reflect badly on us, we’ve included it anyway. If you think anything here is wrong, tell us and we’ll correct it.
The short answer
There is no legal definition of a “cash buyer” in England and Wales, and the quick house sale sector is not regulated. Any company can advertise itself as a cash buyer regardless of whether it has money, intends to buy your house itself, or has ever completed a purchase.
Seven checks will tell you what you are actually dealing with, and all of them are free or cost a few pounds:
- Is the company registered with The Property Ombudsman, and is it an NAPB member?
- Do its Companies House accounts show it holds property and has capital?
- Does HM Land Registry show it has actually bought houses?
- Will it provide dated proof of funds?
- Will it confirm in writing that it will complete in its own company name?
- Is the offer conditional on anything or anyone else?
- Does the contract tie you in, charge fees, or allow the price to change?
A genuine buyer will pass all seven without hesitating. The checks take about an hour. Selling your home to the wrong company can cost you tens of thousands of pounds and several months.
Why this matters: the three business models
When you fill in a form on a “we buy any house” website, you are dealing with one of three quite different businesses. The websites often look identical. The outcomes are not.
The principal buyer. The company buys your house itself, using its own money or its own borrowing. It becomes the registered owner at HM Land Registry. Its name is on the title. If it lets you down, you know exactly who to pursue, and it has assets you could pursue.
The lead generator. The company does not buy houses. It collects your details and sells them to a panel of buyers or investors — commonly for somewhere between £50 and £300 per enquiry. You may then be contacted by several companies, or by one you have never heard of. The company you contacted has no obligation to you and no money at risk. Some are upfront about this. Many are not.
The contract assigner. The company agrees to buy your house, gets you to sign, and then finds someone else to actually complete the purchase — assigning its contract to a third party, often at a markup. It never owns the property and never uses its own money. If it cannot find a buyer in time, the sale falls through, usually late, usually after you have committed to your onward purchase.
None of these models is illegal. Lead generation is a legitimate business. The problem is that the second and third are frequently presented as the first, and the difference only becomes visible when something goes wrong.
There is also a fourth situation worth understanding: a genuine principal buyer that uses bridging finance or an investor facility rather than cash sitting in an account. This is common and it is not inherently a problem — plenty of well-run buyers work this way, and we would rather explain it than pretend otherwise. What matters is whether the funding is committed or whether it is conditional on a lender’s decision that has not been made yet. Ask.
Check 1: The Property Ombudsman and the NAPB
Time: 5 minutes. Cost: free.
The quick house sale sector has no statutory regulator. The nearest thing to oversight is voluntary, and it comes in two parts.
The Property Ombudsman (TPO) operates a Code of Practice for Residential Property Buying Companies and provides a free, independent redress scheme. If a registered company treats you unfairly, you can complain to TPO and it can award compensation. If a company is not registered, your only route is the courts.
The National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB) is a trade body formed in 2013 following an Office of Fair Trading market study into the sector. Two things about it are worth knowing. First, NAPB membership is open only to companies that buy directly themselves — which makes it a direct filter against the lead generator and contract assigner models. Second, NAPB requires all members to register with TPO.
The NAPB is not a regulator and is not itself a redress scheme. Membership does not guarantee you a good outcome or a good price. What it does mean is that the company has accepted a code of conduct and submitted to independent complaint handling, and that it buys in its own name.
How to check: Go to the NAPB membership list at napb.co.uk and search for the company. Separately, search The Property Ombudsman’s own register at tpos.co.uk. Do not rely on a logo displayed on the company’s website — check both registers directly. Logos are images, and images can be copied.
What it means if they’re not listed: Not automatically a red flag. Membership is voluntary and some legitimate buyers have chosen not to join, including at least one large national operator. But it raises the bar on the other six checks considerably, and you should ask directly why they haven’t joined.
Check 2: Companies House
Time: 15 minutes. Cost: free.
Search the company at find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk. Five things are worth your attention.
Incorporation date. A company buying houses since 2014 has a track record. A company incorporated four months ago does not. Check also whether the directors have run previous companies in the same sector that were dissolved or went into liquidation — the “personal appointments” link on each director’s name shows this.
The accounts. Most small companies file micro-entity or abridged accounts, which contain very little. But the balance sheet still tells you two things.
Look for stock or inventory. A company that buys houses to resell holds them as stock. If a company claims to have bought dozens of properties and its balance sheet shows no stock and no fixed assets, it is not holding property. Something does not add up.
Look at net assets (sometimes shown as shareholders’ funds or total equity). A company that buys houses with its own money needs capital. If a company advertising nationally for houses shows net assets of a few hundred pounds, it is not buying them with its own money. That does not necessarily mean it is a broker — it might be using finance — but it means you need to ask where the money is coming from.
Filing history. Overdue accounts, a proposal to strike off, or repeated late filings tell you about how the business is run. A company that cannot file on time is not a company you want holding your sale together.
The charges register. This shows secured lending — debentures, fixed and floating charges. Charges are normal for a property business. What is useful is knowing they exist, because it tells you the purchase is likely to depend on a lender, which is a different risk profile from cash.
Previous names. Companies House shows former company names. A business that has changed its trading name several times in a short period is worth a second look, particularly if the old names return complaints when searched.
Check 3: Has the company actually bought any houses?
Time: 30 minutes. Cost: free.
This is the single most useful check, and almost nobody does it, because almost nobody knows the data exists.
HM Land Registry publishes a free dataset listing every property in England and Wales registered to a UK company. It was previously called Commercial and Corporate Ownership Data (CCOD) and is now published as “UK companies that own property in England and Wales.” It contains several million rows and includes the company name, company registration number, title number, address and price paid.
If a company genuinely buys houses in its own name, it will appear in this dataset, repeatedly. If it appears nowhere, it has not registered ownership of a single property in England or Wales.
How to check: Register for a free account at use-land-property-data.service.gov.uk. Registration requires identity verification and takes a day or so to approve — HM Land Registry does this to guard against misuse of the data. Download the CSV and search for the company name or, more reliably, the company registration number you found at Companies House.
A quicker route if you don’t want to wait: ask the company for the addresses of three properties it has bought in the last twelve months. Then look each one up on HM Land Registry’s “Find a property” service and buy the title register for £3. The register names the current registered proprietor. If the company that told you it bought the house is not the name on the title, you have your answer.
A genuine buyer will hand over those addresses without a fuss. Hesitation here is itself informative.
Two limitations to be aware of. The dataset covers England and Wales only — for Scotland you would need Registers of Scotland, and Northern Ireland has its own system. And there is a lag between completion and registration, so very recent purchases may not appear yet. Neither limitation affects the basic test: a company that has been buying houses for years should appear many times over.
Check 4: Proof of funds
Time: however long they take to send it. Cost: free.
Ask for written proof that the money exists. This is a normal request. Estate agents ask it of buyers every day.
What is acceptable:
- A bank statement in the company’s name, dated within the last 30 days, showing cleared funds. Account numbers can be redacted; the name, date and balance cannot.
- A letter from the company’s solicitor confirming funds are held or available.
- A formal facility letter from a lender confirming committed funding, not an indicative offer.
What is not acceptable:
- A screenshot with no name or date on it.
- A statement in a different company’s name, or an individual’s name, without an explanation of the relationship.
- “We have funds available” in an email, with nothing attached.
- A document dated eighteen months ago.
- A refusal on the grounds that it is confidential. You are being asked to hand over your home. The balance of confidentiality is not in their favour.
The question that follows. If the proof of funds is a lending facility rather than cash, ask whether drawdown for your purchase has been approved or whether it still requires the lender’s sign-off, a valuation, or a survey. “We have a £5m facility” and “our lender has agreed to fund this specific purchase” are very different statements.
Check 5: Will they complete in their own name?
Time: one email. Cost: free.
Ask this exact question, in writing:
“Will the company named on my contract be the registered proprietor at HM Land Registry after completion, or do you intend to assign the contract to a third party?”
Keep the reply. There are three possible answers.
“Yes, we will complete in our own name.” Good. You now have that in writing, and your solicitor can insist the contract prohibits assignment.
“We may assign the contract.” Now you know. This is the contract assigner model. It is not necessarily fatal, but you should understand that the company you are dealing with may not be the company that ends up buying, that the eventual buyer’s ability to complete is not something you have verified, and that if no assignee is found the sale collapses.
A vague or evasive answer. Treat this as a no. Ask again, more directly. If you still don’t get a straight answer, walk.
Tell your solicitor. Ask them to include a clause prohibiting assignment of the contract without your written consent. A genuine principal buyer has no reason to object. A company that objects strongly has just told you what its business model is.
Check 6: Is the offer conditional?
Time: one conversation. Cost: free.
A cash offer that depends on someone else is not a cash offer. Ask directly:
- Is this offer subject to your investor, funder or partner approving it?
- Is it subject to a survey, valuation or structural report?
- Is it subject to you finding a buyer for the contract?
- Under what circumstances would this figure change between now and completion?
That last question matters more than the others. Price reduction close to exchange — the practice sometimes called “chipping” — is the most common serious complaint in this sector. The pattern is well established: a strong opening offer, weeks of process, then a reduction shortly before exchange when you are committed, have given notice, or have an onward purchase depending on it.
Ask the company how many of its purchases in the last twelve months completed at a lower price than originally offered, and what the average reduction was. It is a fair question. How they respond to it will tell you a lot, whether or not they give you a number.
Check 7: What are you actually signing?
Time: read it properly. Cost: your solicitor’s time, which is worth it.
Use your own solicitor. Not one recommended by the buyer, not one on their panel, not one whose fees they are paying. If a company pushes hard for you to use a specific firm, that is a reason to use a different one.
Things to look for and question:
Exclusivity, lock-out or option agreements. These prevent you from selling to anyone else for a fixed period, sometimes months, sometimes with a penalty if you do. A buyer who intends to complete quickly does not need to lock you out for six months.
Upfront fees. A genuine buyer purchasing your house does not charge you to buy it. Valuation fees, admin fees, or “commitment” fees paid by you are a warning sign.
Who is paying legal costs, and what happens if the sale falls through. Some companies offer to pay your legal fees, then reclaim them if you withdraw. Understand the trigger.
The completion date mechanism. “Up to 28 days” and “28 days” are different promises. Look for what happens if they miss it — is there any consequence for them at all?
Whether the price is fixed. Look for any clause permitting variation after survey, valuation or “further information.”
Red flags, in order of seriousness
- Refusing to name the company that will be the registered owner
- Refusing or delaying proof of funds
- No entry in the Land Registry corporate ownership dataset despite claiming years of purchases
- Pressure to sign an exclusivity agreement before you’ve had legal advice
- Pressure to use their recommended solicitor
- Upfront fees of any kind
- Accounts showing no assets or stock alongside claims of high volume
- An offer notably higher than everyone else’s — this is often the opening move of a chipping strategy, not generosity
- Not registered with The Property Ombudsman
- Reluctance to put anything in writing
None of these on its own proves bad faith. Three or more together is a pattern.
The questions to send, in writing
Copy and paste this. A genuine buyer will answer all of it within a day or two.
- What is the full registered name and company number of the entity that will purchase my property?
- Will that company be the registered proprietor at HM Land Registry after completion? Do you intend to assign the contract?
- Please provide dated proof of funds in that company’s name.
- Are you registered with The Property Ombudsman? Are you an NAPB member?
- Please provide the addresses of three properties your company has purchased in the last twelve months.
- Is this offer conditional on anything — funder approval, survey, valuation, or finding a third party?
- In what circumstances would the offer change before exchange?
- Of your purchases in the last twelve months, what proportion completed below the original offer, and by what average amount?
- Are there any fees payable by me at any stage?
- Will I be asked to sign any exclusivity, lock-out or option agreement?
Ask for answers by email, not on the phone. Not because anyone is necessarily being dishonest, but because written answers are answers you still have in three months.
If it has already gone wrong
If you have sold, or are mid-sale, and something has gone wrong:
If the company is TPO-registered, complain to the company first in writing, then escalate to The Property Ombudsman if the response is unsatisfactory. TPO can award compensation. The service is free.
If the company is an NAPB member, raise it with the NAPB as well.
If neither applies, your routes are Trading Standards via the Citizens Advice consumer helpline, and — for anything involving a signed contract — a solicitor. Do not sign anything further, including any variation, before taking advice.
Keep everything. Emails, texts, the original offer, marketing material, call notes with dates. If the offer was reduced, the original written offer is the single most important document you have.
Frequently asked questions
Is “cash buyer” a legally protected term?
No. There is no statutory definition of a cash buyer in England and Wales and the quick house sale sector is not regulated by a statutory body. Any company may describe itself this way. This is precisely why the checks in this guide are necessary.
Does NAPB membership guarantee I’ll get a fair price?
No. NAPB membership means the company buys directly rather than passing you on, has accepted a code of conduct, and is registered with The Property Ombudsman so you have a free route to redress. It says nothing about the offer you will receive. Compare offers separately.
How much below market value do cash buyers typically offer?
Genuine cash buyers generally offer meaningfully below open-market value, because they are taking on the risk, the cost of holding, and the work of resale, in exchange for speed and certainty. Be sceptical of any company implying otherwise. If an offer looks close to full market value, ask what happens if the survey comes back with anything at all.
Should I avoid companies that use bridging finance?
Not necessarily. Many well-run buyers use finance, and a funded buyer who completes reliably is better than a cash buyer who doesn’t. What matters is whether the funding for your specific purchase is committed or still subject to approval. Ask, and get the answer in writing.
Can I check a company myself, or do I need a solicitor?
Checks 1 to 6 you can do yourself in about an hour. Check 7 — the contract — should be done by your own solicitor, and it is not worth economising on.
Does this apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland?
The principles apply everywhere. The specific registries do not: the Land Registry dataset in Check 3 covers England and Wales only. In Scotland, Registers of Scotland holds the equivalent records. Northern Ireland has a separate system.
About the author
Kelvin Elliott is a director of Elliott & Cooper (Holdings) Ltd and runs My Homebuyers, which buys residential property directly in England and Wales. He has worked in the quick house sale sector since 2016 and the company has purchased [number] properties, all registered in its own name at HM Land Registry.
Everything in this guide is a check we are happy for you to run on us. Our company number is 10191428. Our Land Registry entries are public. Our proof of funds is available on request within one working day.
Corrections and right of reply
We aim for this page to be accurate and fair. If you believe anything here is wrong or misleading — including any company that considers itself unfairly characterised by it — email [address] and we will review it and correct it where warranted. We will note the date and nature of any correction at the foot of this page.
Corrections log: none to date.
Last reviewed: 4th August 2026. This guide is general information, not legal advice. Take advice from your own solicitor before signing anything relating to the sale of your property.