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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To offer on a house as a no chain buyer but then try to sell my house first?

38 replies

Housequestionsss · 16/04/2026 18:14

Our house is currently on the market. We’ve seen a property that we’d like to put an offer in on. The sellers of this property need to sell in order to buy their next property.

We have the affordability to buy this property without selling ours (with the use of a bridging loan). However we don’t actually want to do this due to the high interest rates that we would incur.

AIBU to use this mortgage in principle to get the vendor to remove their house from the market, but then get our own estate agents to sell our house ASAP (by listing it at a really good price for a fast sale)? The reduction in price for a fast sale would cost us less than the interest on the bridging loan.

I would try to sell our house within 4 weeks and if it’s not sold, then to go ahead with the new mortgage and bridging loan.

OP posts:
AdjacentPossible · 16/04/2026 18:32

Estate agents do specifically ask if you’re chain-free though, and then your conveyancer also has to understand your situation as well.

Original poster
Housequestionsss · 16/04/2026 18:30

ScaredOfFlying · 16/04/2026 18:28

Sorry, you were planning on lying?!

Show quote history

No, but I wasn’t aware that the sellers estate agent needed to know all of the ins and outs. Surely they just need to know that I would be purchasing with a mortgage and have an agreement in principle?

OP posts:
AdjacentPossible · 16/04/2026 18:29

I’d be concerned that introducing this level of opaque behaviour to a long and complex process that is based on trust to a certain degree won’t go well.

Just be open about your plan and see if they go for it.

ScaredOfFlying · 16/04/2026 18:28

Housequestionsss · 16/04/2026 18:23

I suppose the seller wouldn’t know we are using a bridging loan unless we told them.

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Sorry, you were planning on lying?!

Original poster
Housequestionsss · 16/04/2026 18:25

AdjacentPossible · 16/04/2026 18:24

And even if you found a buyer for your house first, everything might fall through.

Yeah it could do.

OP posts:
AdjacentPossible · 16/04/2026 18:24

And even if you found a buyer for your house first, everything might fall through.

Original poster
Housequestionsss · 16/04/2026 18:23

ScaredOfFlying · 16/04/2026 18:20

Surely if you buy a property using a bridging loan it’s self-evident that you are going to be trying to sell asap -that’s why they are called bridging loans.

As the seller, my concern would be you pulling out if your house didn’t sell. But I’d know that was a risk when I agreed to your offer.

I suppose the seller wouldn’t know we are using a bridging loan unless we told them.

OP posts:
AdjacentPossible · 16/04/2026 18:22

I think this sounds really dodgy - if you have an offer accepted then take 4 weeks to sell yours, you’d still be behind where you would be if you were truly chain-free.

Original poster
Housequestionsss · 16/04/2026 18:22

scarpa · 16/04/2026 18:20

I think if you're actually willing to go ahead with the bridging loan regardless, then you may as well tell them that's what you're doing (i.e. you don't need to 'use' the bridging loan to get them off the market - you'll be using a bridging loan, unless you manage, in some absolute miracle, to get your house sale entirely done in time, which is deeply unlikely tbh).

If your plan is actually to sell, and then once you've got a buyer and your sale is well underway, to rug pull your sellers and say "okay we need to push back a bit our circumstances have changed" and then become a buyer with a chain despite having represented yourselves otherwise, just to save yourselves money, then yes YABU. But if you're not planning to do that and will actually use the bridging loan regardless then I don't see any issue with being upfront about it - they might even be willing to wait IF somehow your house sale is actually only a week or two away from completing, if they knew about it beforehand.

We’d be doing the second really.

We can take out the second mortgage but don’t really want to due to the high costs. I would desperately try to sell our house within say 2-3 weeks and then go ahead as a chain buyer.

Only if this didn’t work out would we then go ahead with the bridging loan.

OP posts:
ScaredOfFlying · 16/04/2026 18:20

Surely if you buy a property using a bridging loan it’s self-evident that you are going to be trying to sell asap -that’s why they are called bridging loans.

As the seller, my concern would be you pulling out if your house didn’t sell. But I’d know that was a risk when I agreed to your offer.

scarpa · 16/04/2026 18:20

I think if you're actually willing to go ahead with the bridging loan regardless, then you may as well tell them that's what you're doing (i.e. you don't need to 'use' the bridging loan to get them off the market - you'll be using a bridging loan, unless you manage, in some absolute miracle, to get your house sale entirely done in time, which is deeply unlikely tbh).

If your plan is actually to sell, and then once you've got a buyer and your sale is well underway, to rug pull your sellers and say "okay we need to push back a bit our circumstances have changed" and then become a buyer with a chain despite having represented yourselves otherwise, just to save yourselves money, then yes YABU. But if you're not planning to do that and will actually use the bridging loan regardless then I don't see any issue with being upfront about it - they might even be willing to wait IF somehow your house sale is actually only a week or two away from completing, if they knew about it beforehand.

Original poster
Housequestionsss · 16/04/2026 18:20

Charliede1182 · 16/04/2026 18:18

If you have the ability and intention to 100% honour the purchase irrespective of whether your house sells or not then go for it.

However if you are just winging it and would have to pull out without a sale then you should be honest about this.

There may also be penalties if you sign a legally binding purchase agreement and then back out.

I would still go ahead without the sale of ours. However I’d really like ours to sell and would much prefer to just transfer this existing mortgage across rather than take out a second one.

OP posts:
Charliede1182 · 16/04/2026 18:18

If you have the ability and intention to 100% honour the purchase irrespective of whether your house sells or not then go for it.

However if you are just winging it and would have to pull out without a sale then you should be honest about this.

There may also be penalties if you sign a legally binding purchase agreement and then back out.