Are British Home Buyers Any Good? Comprehensive Review 2023
British Home Buyers: Comprehensive Review 2023
British Home Buyers was launched in 2012 with the goal of overhauling the reputation of the cash house buying industry.
The company saw that finding a cash house buyer was an important option for many homeowners who were looking to sell, but who don't have the time or resources to sell through traditional channels.
Today, British House Buyers claims to have helped thousands of UK homeowners find quick sales, and that a whopping 99% of their past customers recommend them based on customer service and the final sales price of their homes.
They also claim to provide "the most transparent, reliable, and friendly service out there."
But do these claims hold any water? Are British Home Buyers any different than all of the other cash buyers out there?
In the following review, our goal is to explore everything there is to know about British Home Buyers, to help you determine whether or not they're worth dealing with when selling your home.
Launched in 2012, British Home Buyers was created to provide UK homeowners with an efficient, straightforward, and simple way to help people sell house fast.
Run by a team of property professionals, British Home Buyers knows the ins and outs of the industry, allowing them to offer one of the best alternatives for selling a home, no matter where it's located in the United Kingdom.
What you'll find in this article
Updated: October 2023
In this article, we've compiled the most comprehensive online review of British Home Buyers.
Below is a listing of all the information you'll find in our review so you can easily navigate the page quickly and pick which section you want to read.
British Home Buyers - Main Details
British Home Buyers is a UK-based company that buys property specializing in helping individuals and families sell residential properties located in England and Wales.
The company offers a range of services related to the UK estate market, which include property valuations, cash offers, and confidential home sales, all with no fees at all to the seller.
British Home Buyers understands that many homeowners are out of their element when it comes to selling on the open market.
Therefore, they place increased attention to detail on the process, ensuring that what they do is a safe, reliable, and as transparent as possible.
They also understand that many homeowners have heard bad things about the cash house buying industry, which is why they do not try to hook customers with unfair sales agreements.
Instead, they re-assure homeowners that they're under no obligation to sell, which ensures there's less stress and no time wasted throughout the process.
Alongside the home selling services they provide, the company also provides its website users with a series of informational content, including home selling guides and comparisons between other home buying companies.
And to back up all their claims, British Home Buyers even has an abundance of customer reviews on prominent websites, including Google, Feefo, Reviews.io, and Trustpilot, which we'll take a look at a bit later on in this review.
But for now, let's take a look at some of the other facts surrounding the business.
British Home Buyers Factsheet
*Data updated and correct as of 09/26/2023
Fact Check
- Number of employees?
- What is their aim to buy time-frame?
- How many sales have they agreed?
- Number TrustPilot reviews?
- Number of Review.io reviews?
- When were they incorporated?
- What are their Opening times?
- Which Locations do they buy in?
- Is a house inspection needed?
- What is their website?
British Home Buyers
- 10
- 7-30 Days
- 1,000+
- 388
- 415
- 2012
- Mon-Sat 9am to 4-6pm, Closed Sun
- England and Wales
- Not required
- britishhomebuyers.co.uk
What Services British Home Buyers Offer?
The main services offered by British Home Buyers are free home valuations, formal cash offers, and sales transactions. But there are a number of additional services that can be lumped together into their service offering, including:
- No obligation property valuations - Even if you're not interested in following through with the sale of your home, you can speak to British Home Buyers to get a better idea of what your property is worth.
- No fee sales - When selling a property, homeowners are often surprised by the hidden fees and extra costs that go along with it. British Home Buyers, fortunately, does not charge any valuation fees, survey fees, legal fees, or estate agent fees. In other words, their services are offered with no hidden costs!
- Chain-free sales - Because the company is a cash buyer, there are no complicated chains that can allow for the deal to fall through. Once an offer is accepted by the homeowner, it's guaranteed to go through.
- Free information - Through their website, you can also find a variety of home selling guides to help you understand the best tips and tricks for getting the best possible price for your home. There are also a number of free cash buyer comparison guides, just like this one, that can help you choose the best partner for selling your home.
Are British Home Buyers Legit?
Yes, British Home Buyers is a legit company with a team of employees based in the United Kingdom.
Having been launched in 2012, the company buys properties in England and Wales, and has thousands of satisfied customers, which can be seen through the many positive customer reviews found on prominent review sites like Google and Trustpilot.
How British Home Buyers Works
To ensure that their service is as simple and straightforward as possible, British Home Buyers has a quick and easy 3 step process.
- Free Valuation - As with any type of cash buying service, the very first step is to register your and your property's details with the company. During this step, the company will collect a few important details about your home, allowing them to value your property in its current state. This step also ensures that British Home Buyers can understand your goals and needs, so they can provide you with the best advice for moving forward with the sale of your home.
- Formal Offer - Once they've gathered the necessary details about your home, British Home Buyers will make a formal cash offer for your property. At this point, there is no obligation to follow through with the sale of your home if you're not satisfied with the offer. However, if you decide the accept the offer, the next step will be to choose a completion date and time, which can be in as little as a matter of days.
- Complete The Sale - After the offer is accepted, the legal process will begin. But once the details are worked out between solicitors, the funds for the sale will be transferred directly into your bank account, and you won't pay a penny in terms of legal fees. Afterward, all you'll need to do is move on with your life and put the sale of your home in the past.
The Pros And Cons Of Working With British Home Buyers
As with all cash house buyers, there are both advantages and disadvantages to working with British Home Buyers.
So on that note, let's review some of the pros and cons of working with this company:
The Pros
- UK-based company - British Home Buyers is based and operates in the UK, primarily in England and Wales. Therefore, they know the ins and outs of the property market in these regions much better than international property buying companies.
- Regulatory oversight - To ensure a high standard of service, British Home Buyers is registered with The Property Ombudsman, the Competition & Markets Authority, the Information Commissioner's Office, Reference Line, and Approved Code, which are all listed at the bottom of the company's website.
- Any house, any condition - When selling to British Home Buyers, there's no need for costly renovations or home inspections. The company claims they'll buy any house in any condition, ensuring the process is as simple and as fast as possible.
- No fees - British Home Buyers does not charge any hidden fees, which means no valuations fees, no legal fees, no survey fees, and no fees paid to an estate agent. In other words, more of the proceeds from the sale go directly into the seller's pocket.
- Custom timescales - The company offers custom timescales to suit the needs of its customers. This means that whether you need to sell your property as soon as possible, or you need time to find yourself a future residence, British Home Buyers will accommodate your request.
- No chains - Because they're a cash buyer, there's no complicated sales chains that can fall through. Once an offer is accepted by the homeowner and documents are signed, the sale guaranteed to move forward.
- Confidentiality - Selling your home is already stressful enough. That's why British Home Buyers places an emphasis on confidentiality, which means no public advertising, no sale boards, and no viewings from nosy neighbors.
- Friendly team - The team behind British Home Buyers understands that every homeowner is different. That's why they take a friendly and personable approach to each sale, ensuring they get to know the needs of their customers before providing any advice or guidance on placing a property for sale.
- Lots of reviews - British Home Buyers has reviews on a variety of prominent review websites, including Google, Trustpilot, Feefo, and Reviews.io, which we'll explore a bit further on below in this article.
- Free and helpful content - In addition to their quick sales services, British Home Buyers also provides a range of helpful content on their website for free.
The Cons
- Not an international company - British Home Buyers operates in England and Wales, which means that if you're a homeowner in Northern Ireland or Scotland, you'll need to look for a different cash buyer to help you sell your home fast.
- Limited team information - Although they do list a number of employees on their website, there's limited information about who these people are and what they do for the company.
British Home Buyers Vs. Other UK House Buying Companies
Below, we’ve highlighted some of British Home Buyers' ratings, reviews, and customer testimonials compared to other UK house buyers, such as National Homebuyers, Ready Steady Sell, Springbok Properties, or We Buy Now.
Quick Sale Firms
- Takes 6-9 months to find a buyer
- Some firms charge hidden fees
- Won't always buy any type of home
- Can take months if not true cash buyers
- Some firms do not offer complete confidentiality
- Not all quick sale firms offer a cash advance service
British Home Buyers
- Custom timescales
- No fees at all
- Any home, any condition
- Guaranteed cash sale
- Claims to provide confidential service
- N/A
British Home Buyers Customer Reviews And Testimonials
| TrustPilot Reviews | Google Reviews | Review.io |
|---|---|---|
| 389 reviews | 266 reviews | 415 reviews |
| 4.8 score | 4.9 | 4.9 score |
*Reviews are updated and correct as of 09/27/2023
One of the most notable things we've noticed about this company is that they don't only have a handful of reviews. They actually hundreds of reviews on multiple review websites.
On Trustpilot, likely one of the most prominent review websites, the company is ever noted to be a verified company. And on Reviews.io, the company currently boasts of 98% rating for customers who would recommend their service.
Additionally, on the Trustpilot website, a whopping 90% of the company's reviews are 5-stars, with less than 2% of all reviews being 2-stars or less.
And on another note, even just at first glance, many of the reviews for the company appear to be a bit lengthier, which may speak to their authenticity since it's not as if people are just writing short 5-10 word reviews, which are a lot easier to falsify.
So all these signs point to British Home Buyers being a truly reliable and exceptional company to work with.
But as we all know, it's impossible to keep all customers happy all the time.
How is the customer service at British Home Buyers? And do people recommend selling their homes with the company?
When we took a look at Trustpilot, the first three reviews we found showed that these customers were indeed satisfied with the customer service at British Home Buyers.
Let's see what they had to say.
British Homebuyers worked really well for us. It has been a difficult time in the market but the company didn’t force us to make quick decisions to lower the price and continually fed back on trends and hits on the site. Alex Clendon did a great job and kept us informed of prat all times. The sales process worked really well and was completely stress free. They liaised between ourselves and the buyers without any issues. I can highly recommend British Homebuyers.
Elsewhere, according to Alison Boyes, she can't thank the company enough!
Can’t thank the team at BHS enough for the fantastic service and support we were given when we were selling our home. I would like to thank Charles Gale, Alex Clendon and Robert Love for their regular updates and calming me down when I was stressing too much. I would definitely recommend BHS to anyone thinking of using an online agent they are a great team. Thank you BHS!
And in yet another stunning 5-star review, Mrs. SJD states the company helped her out where two other companies had failed.
Alex and Charles of BHS were absolutely the best of the best estate agent team I have dealt with and I am speaking from experience.
*No question was not to be asked.
*If they did not answer the phone, there was shortly a
return response call.
*Every week I had a ‘check-up’ call to see if I was
happy with how things were going.
* Reassurance was given
*I was given the opportunity to off load, never did I feel
rushed and I’m sure they are busy
* Highly recommend this company.
*BHS sold my house where 2 companies failed there it is in a nutshell and that at the end of the day is why we need them 10 out of 10 for care ,compassion and professional performance
Even on the other review sites, most of the reviews we've found in regards to the company's customer service were very positive.
In another 5-star review from Reviews.io, Julian Russell explains that the level of service and communication provided by British Home Buyers was exception.
Although initially apprehensive at the decision to sell with a non local estate agent, we can honestly say that the service and communication from the start of the process to the quick and easy sale of our property could not be faulted. We are delighted with everyone who has been involved in the sale of our house and would highly recommend to anyone wishing to sell their property.
Did anyone have anything negative to say about the company's customer service?
While most reviews are genuinely positive about the company's customer service, we did find a few reviews from people who did not have anything positive to say about working with the company.
For instance, Faye Jones gave a 1-star review on Google, stating that she actually had a "terrible experience" working with British Home Buyers.
Terrible experience with British home sellers. After the promise off 'our pool of investors' the 2 people that viewed my property were normal buyers who had seen it on rightmove. Every week I was told the post was getting a lot of online views and this should turn into viewings next week but it never happened. When speaking to local agents they all commented that you can tell straight away the photos are not professional and the rightmove listing was not a premium listing. After been on the market with British home sellers for 2 months I only got 2 viewings. With my local agent in less than a week I have had professional photos taken, have a premium listing and already had 4 viewings.
Matthew Benson also did not enjoy his experience working with British Home Buyers, leaving them a 2-star review on Trustpilot
The initial set up seemed fantastic and the guidance I got was great but once I was set up and you love to another team it went really poor. Communication was really disappointing as it was very difficult get hold of anyone[...]
Matthew goes on to explain what happened throughout his experience with the company and ends by stating that he's tried multiple times to have the company's page removed from Trustpilot.
I have had 3 attempts of Authentication (which I have done) by this company to remove it from this review site, I'm glad I have kept hold of all my proof of communication because this would like be removed if I hadn't.
I hope this shows you what type of company this is.
Does British Home Buyers help homeowners find and negotiate the best price for their homes?
While it's expected that cash offers will generally be slightly below market value, it's expected that cash home buyers do their best to find the best possible price for the sake of its customers.
So how does British Home Buyers stack up when it comes to helping customers obtain the best price?
In one less-than-thrilling 2-star review, Justin (Trustpilot) claims that British Home Buyers uses a "dubious marketing approach."
Received a letter from this company after putting my home up for sale for £450k (a price based on 3 valuations) offering to buy my house directly for 89% of market value (Option 1 - £400k), or find a buyer for between 95 & 100% (Option 2 - 450k). After discussion, turned out the offer to buy directly was actually less than 79% of market value (£355k), although they continued to claim they could find a buyer for its full value. Given the dubious offer under their 'Option 1' there was no chance of wasting time on their 'Option 2'. It seems the figures they throw out to begin with are simply to draw you in.
Unfortunately, that's not the only review we've found stating that the customer was not happy with the firm's cash offer.
In another 1-star review on Google, Davie Langley claims that British Home Buyers started with a fair and competitive price, but then changed their offer by the end of the same week,
Started off offering a competitive price, days later suggested that it may be approximately 20-30thousand pound less than initial offer. By the end of the week they called back and confirmed an offer would be made but would be over 50000 off initial estimate to then pull out on the offer entirely. This has meant we have had to pull out of purchasing our dream home. Absolute joke of a company. Would not recommend.
And to make matters worse, we've found another review from Colin Harrod that states the company is preying on people who need a quick sale.
This company targets people who need a quick sale and offer a paltry 85% of list price. For me, a shameful practice.
Are there any positive reviews that talk about the company helping sellers find a good price for their homes?
Yes, actually!
While we did find a few reviews with unsatisfied sellers, there were a number of reviews stating that British Home Buyers did actually help the seller find a buyer who offered full asking price for the property in question.
Tired of delays that had occurred with my existing sell and worried that my new purchase would fall I contacted British Homebuyers with my predicament and received a responsive customer focused experience. With a couple of days of marketing my property they found me a buyer who offered full asking price! The team are great in particular Charles who went above and beyond to support my sale completing as soon as possible. I would highly recommend this service.
And in another 5-star review, Jamie Brunt states that the company followed through on their word, finding him a cash buyer within 4 weeks, who also offered full asking price.
I needed a quick sale and ideally a cash buyer, as I was selling a flat which had cladding on it and a lot of banks were refusing mortgages for potential buyers on properties with cladding. British Home Buyers promised they'd find a buyer for my property within 4 weeks and also said they had a good chance of finding a cash buyer. I was skeptical but thought there's no harm in trying as they wouldn't take a fee if they didn't sell the property. True to their word they found a buyer within 2 weeks who offered the asking price and the sale went through with no issues. Their fee is significantly more than other companies I looked into but they were clearly stated from the onset, and they delivered on their promises so I got what I paid for. Would definitely use again if I was in similar circumstances.
So clearly, some people are happy with the prices found by the company, while others aren't.
And while it might be easy to look past the good towards the bad, we should note that the vast majority of reviews on Trustpilot, Google, Reviews.io, and Feefo were positive.
Does British Home Buyers have any awards, or have they been featured on prominent websites?
Unfortunately, we cannot find any prominent websites that have featured the company in blog posts, new stories, or other types of publications.
That being said, we recommend checking out their reviews on Trustpilot, Google, Reviews.io, and Feefo to explore what other customers have had to say about the company.
Additionally, British Home Buyers does appear to be active on social media. They have links to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube pages posted at the bottom of their website but many have not bene updated for over a year.
British Home Buyers - Our Final Verdict
Overall, British Home Buyers appears to be a very good company to work with if you're looking to sell your home for cash in England or Wales.
From what we can gather, the company appears to stand by their claims of offering a fair, reliable, and transparent service.
And despite the fact that we covered a few negative reviews above, we've found numerous positive reviews on a number of trusted review sites, including Google, Trustpilot, and Reviews.io.
Many of the company reviews we've seen confirm that the company offers solid customer service and genuinely seems to care about their customers.
On the other hand, many of the negative reviews were regarding the cash offer or the final sales price.
Therefore, it's possible that homeowners may have better luck selling their home for a higher price with other UK cash buyers.
But for anyone who isn't focused on obtaining the best price, British Home Buyers does appear to hold some merit in terms of what they offer to their customers.
In the end, we still recommend that you check out their customer reviews for yourself. Browse the company's website and read about what they are offering.
And ultimately, whenever you're dealing with a cash house buyer, it's important to proceed with caution and always keep your expectations in check.
British Home Buyers Factsheet - (Free Download)
You can now access all the key information about British Home Buyers in the Factsheet infographic we have created below.
Simply click on the image or the link that appears after the factsheet, and it will automatically download it to your device!
