What Is a Guaranteed House Sale?

Plain-English definition

“Guaranteed” is a marketing term, not a legal or regulated one. In cash-buying marketing, a guaranteed sale is usually meant to suggest that the company (or its purchasing vehicle) will buy at an agreed price and complete on an agreed timeline, subject to standard legal checks, not subject to finding you a third-party buyer later. Whether that is actually true depends entirely on the contract.

What it is not

It is not a promise you will achieve full market value; guaranteed-sale offers typically sit well below it. It is not a magic waiver of conveyancing. It is not automatically safer if the “guarantee” is really an agreement to market your home to investors. Nothing on this site is a guarantee of any sale.

Where a guaranteed sale sits among the routes

Before you accept anything labelled guaranteed, see how the other routes work, and which body oversees each in six ways to sell fast. Selling fast for market value sets the open market, a cash buyer and an auction side by side, using GOV.UK and The Property Ombudsman.

FAQ

Is a guaranteed sale the same as part-exchange?

No. Part-exchange is typically offered by developers buying your current home so you can purchase theirs. A cash house buyer purchases your property without requiring you to buy anything from them.