Consider home buyer's insurance in case the sale falls through

Updated: 5th Jul, 2024

1 in 3 house sales in the UK fall through. Sales can fall through after you’ve already spent money on legal fees, getting a survey, and paying for a mortgage valuation, leaving you out of pocket, to the tune of up to £1,500+.

There are 2 ways to mitigate this risk:

Buy home buyer’s insurance, which lets you claim back some of these fees if your sale falls through.
Choose a "no sale no fee" conveyancer to mitigate the legal fees only. Read more about this in the next step “choose a conveyancer”.

Home buyer’s insurance summary:

💰 Cost: £74+ as a one-off cost
📈 Maximum payout: ~£1,500+
⏰ Time to get it: Before you get a conveyancer/lawyer, submit your mortgage application, and have a survey done. The insurance generally only covers costs incurred after the policy starts. Some policies will cover the 14 days before they start in terms of mortgage application & conveyancer, but not survey.

🔎 Where to get home buyer's insurance

Rhino Home Protect are the market leaders for home buyer's insurance. Prices start from £74.*

* Fairy Godmover receives a referral fee from Rhino Home Protect if you sign up to one of their policies using the link above. This doesn't affect the price you pay for the insurance, and helps keep Fairy Godmover free for everyone.

Scenarios covered by home buyer's insurance

The insurance will not pay out if you decide not to buy the property, for example if you discover some problems with the home after a survey.

The insurance only covers:

The seller pulling out or accepting a different offer
The seller not legally owning the property
The home being subject to a compulsory purchase order by the local authority (eg they need the land for an infrastructure project)
The mortgage valuation coming back at less than 90% of your offer, or the mortgage lender requiring building work to be done
The property being majorly damaged, costing more than 10% of its value to repair, after the insurance policy started
You being made redundant (not by choice) or made to relocate for your full employment