Why a third of sales fall through, and which of those searches would have prevented

Fall-through is a timing problem, not a discovery problem

Very few transactions collapse because something unknowable emerged. They collapse because something knowable emerged eleven weeks in, by which point one party has lost patience, lost their onward purchase, or lost confidence in the property.

The information was available at week one. Nobody had ordered it.

What surfaces late, and where it could have surfaced early

Unadopted roads

Discovered in the CON29, usually well after the offer. The liability for maintenance and future adoption costs is real money, and buyers renegotiate or walk. Available in the local authority search.

Flood risk and insurability

Typically discovered when the buyer tries to arrange buildings insurance, which is often after the survey. A flood report answers it at the outset, including whether Flood Re applies.

Planning and building regulation breaches

An extension without building regulation sign-off, a conversion without permission. These are solvable — indemnity, regularisation, retrospective consent — but only if there is time. Found at week ten, they cause a renegotiation or a collapse.

Ground and mining issues

A mine entry near the boundary or a high shrink-swell rating can affect lending. Both are quick to obtain.

Lease terms

Short leases, escalating ground rents, service charge arrears and building safety issues. Part of upfront information, and none of it requires waiting for the management pack to establish the headline position.

The counter-argument, fairly put

Ordering searches before an offer costs money that is wasted if the property does not sell. That is a genuine objection and it is why upfront packs have taken time to gain traction.

The answer is that the cost is small relative to the cost of a failed transaction — the wasted legal work, the lost onward chain, the property returning to the market with a question mark over it — and that in a reformed market the seller will be expected to bear it anyway.

What to do about it now

If you are an agent, get the data-based material information at the point of instruction. If you are a conveyancer, order the whole bundle on day one rather than sequentially — waiting for the local authority search before ordering the environmental report adds weeks for no benefit.

Published 23 April 2026. This article is general information about conveyancing practice and property regulation. It is not legal advice, and the regulatory position changes — check the current position before relying on it.