Why it feels like there is no release from these chains

YOU may never have heard of Edmund Gunter but in the 17th century he invented the measurement of “the chain.”

Divided into 100 links and now largely unused by surveyors, it remains the standard length of a cricket pitch between the two wickets – 22 yards.

In America, it is still used in surveying, particularly by railway engineers.

With the adoption of the imperial system of units in 1824, the chain quietly slipped out of usage.

We are today surrounded by other types of chains: in motors, agricultural equipment, little ones for keys and necklaces and heavy ones with anchors attached. We may take most chains for granted but there is one type that is guaranteed to cause great stress and anxiety and that’s the property chain.

For anyone buying a property, the awkwardness of the chain can leave you high and dry, having forked out for a survey, legal costs and possibly removal charges and not because you have changed your mind but the seller has, due to the vendor encountering a hiccup somewhere lower down the links in the chain.

This is not to mention the emotional pain and all the time taken in the property search and financial arrangements.

Similarly sellers can suddenly find their sale disappearing because their buyer’s sale collapses.

With the common arrangement for a sale to have a simultaneous exchange of contracts and completion, the stress factors increase exponentially.

Until the day of moving, neither buyer nor seller can be assured that the transaction will go through.

So how on earth do you prepare?

If you pack up your belongings into a van in preparation for life in your new home, you can be badly caught out if a buyer or seller breaks a link in the chain and all the transactions grind to a halt.

There have been cases of furniture removal vans parked outside a property waiting for solicitors to advise that a purchase has been completed, funds have been transferred etc.

Should this take place on a Friday when bank transfers close, everyone can be left high and dry over the weekend .

Even if you are a cash buyer you are still vulnerable if the sellers cannot finalise their own moves lower down the chain.

With the return to more normal market conditions and uncertainties caused by interest rate and cost-of-living rises, the chances of chains breaking down is on the rise and it can come as a shock to learn how many parties there are in a long chain. So what can be done to ameliorate this predicament?

Firstly, close examination of the financial position of any prospective purchaser and whether they need to sell a property or have a mortgage offer “in principal” and monitoring whether a seller is also a buyer and are they getting on with providing information for a transaction to be completed.

Secondly, keep your professional advisers informed so they can make any additional inquiries.

Also keep your own buyers or sellers in the loop before large costs are incurred and keep your fingers crossed – and there’s a chance that everything will go to plan.