My buyer hasn't sold their own home. Should I accept?

A buyer who has not sold their own home is what agents call an unsold buyer, or a buyer sitting at the top of an incomplete chain. They can agree a price with you and instruct a solicitor. They cannot exchange contracts until their own sale is far enough along to fund the purchase. Everything else in the process can move. Completion cannot.

That distinction is the whole of this decision. You are not judging whether they want your house. You are judging whether they are in a position to buy it, and when.

Is an offer from an unsold buyer worth taking seriously?

Often, yes. A great many completed sales start exactly this way, and an unsold buyer with a realistic home in a moving market is a very different proposition from one whose property has sat unsold for six months. What matters is not their intent. It is the state of their sale.

• Not yet on the market: no meaningful timetable exists yet.
• On the market with no viewings: the timetable could run to months and may need a price reduction first.
• Viewings but no offers: the market is looking and not buying at that price.
• Offer agreed on their home: a real chain now exists and can be assessed link by link.
• Exchanged on their own sale: for your purposes they are effectively a funded buyer.

How much time does an unsold buyer add to my sale?

Rightmove reported on 31 July 2026 that a move in Great Britain takes 216 days on average from listing to completion, of which 62 days are spent finding a buyer and 154 come after the sale is agreed. If your buyer has not yet found their own buyer, the honest starting assumption is that you are adding something in the order of those 62 days before your own clock can properly start.

What actually causes these sales to fall apart?

Chains break, but they are not the biggest cause of failure. Quick Move Now's analysis of the second quarter of 2026 put mortgage and lending problems at 33% of collapsed sales, survey issues at 27%, and chain breaks, changes in a buyer's circumstances and legal issues at 13% each. Separately, TwentyEA put the national fall-through rate at 23.7% in the first quarter of 2026, down slightly from 24.0% the quarter before.

The useful read is that a chain adds a risk which is real, but smaller than the risks every sale carries anyway. It is a reason to manage the situation, not a reason to refuse it.

How do I judge whether this buyer is genuinely committed?

By what they have spent, not by what they have said. Money and instructions are evidence. Enthusiasm is not, and it costs nothing to give.

How do I protect myself if I accept?

1. 1. Ask exactly where their own sale is

   Ask your agent for the position in writing. Is their home listed, at what price, how long has it been on, and is an offer agreed. Ask for the name of their agent so the answer can be checked rather than taken on trust.

2. 2. Ask to see the chain below them

   Every link below your buyer is a link that can break. Ask how many parties are in it and whether anyone further down is still unsold.

3. 3. Keep marketing until they have proved it

   In England and Wales nothing is binding until exchange of contracts. Staying on the market, or agreeing a defined window before you come off, is a reasonable position rather than a hostile one.

4. 4. Set a review date rather than an ultimatum

   Agree with your agent that you will review the position in four to six weeks if their own sale has not been agreed by then. A date removes the awkwardness of an open-ended wait.

5. 5. Match your spending to theirs

   Instructing your own solicitor early is cheap and keeps momentum. The larger non-refundable costs, and the decision to come fully off the market, are better held until your buyer has money committed to their own sale.

6. 6. Keep any second-place buyer warm

   Ask your agent to keep interested viewers informed rather than closing them down. If the chain fails, that is the difference between relisting from scratch and simply moving across.

7. 7. Re-check the position before you commit to your onward purchase

   Before you exchange on the property you are buying, confirm that your buyer's own sale has exchanged or is exchanging. That single check prevents most of the worst outcomes in a chain.

Is it unfair to keep my house on the market?

No, and it is worth saying plainly. Roughly one in four agreed sales did not complete in the first quarter of 2026. Continuing to market while a buyer's own sale is unagreed is a proportionate response to a known risk, and a serious buyer will understand it.

What matters is that you are open about it. Tell them, through your agent, exactly what would take the house off the market and when. A clear condition is fair to everyone. A quiet one is not.

The offer is theirs to make. The timetable is yours to set.

You are allowed to take your time with this. Ask the direct questions, watch what they spend rather than what they promise, and keep your own options open until theirs are real.

ValuQ gives UK homeowners free, side-by-side property valuations from competing local estate agents. It is free for homeowners, always, and sellers stay anonymous until they decide which agent to speak to.