National Homebuyers Reviews 

I am writing this review to provide transparency for those looking to invest time and money working with this unethical company.

My elderly in laws were looking to move closer to myself and my husband due to my mother in laws increasingly frail condition with Lupus. Their house had been on the market a while and they were approached by National Homebuyers with an exciting proposition via post, although hesitant at first this may be a scam their desperation to move (as with other reviewers) motivated them to peruse this opportunity.

After a valuation and survey on the house (conducted by National Homebuyers themselves) they were given a figure of much lower than market value as expected.

They understood their offer would sit lower than the initial valuation by the Estate Agents on the open market, but felt this opportunity would be offset due to the expedited process, upfront agreement of price and most importantly the trust that they would not retract their offer last minute allowing them to avoid an unpredictable chain buyer. Just as suggested by the National Homebuyers in some of the responses I have seen to reviews, this is the nature of their business model so you have to appreciate that going forward. So at this point the agreement felt mutually beneficial. Until this point the company seemed legitimate and our initial concerns were alleviated.

With this in mind they commenced the purchase of a house near to us within a much smaller budget. During this time, whilst maintaining communication with the National Homebuyers, they spent money on lawyers and were to believe that all had been agreed to continue. The closer to the date of completion the slower the communication became. Once avoidance tactics became apparent my in laws finally got through to a representative to be provided with a further reduction of £30k, this came as a shock as the survey had already been conducted and offer accepted. With a shortfall of £60k on the initial market price they could not afford to move at all.

Given the assurances by National Homebuyers initially they had proceeded to donate a large proportion of their furniture (just as a previous reviewer has mentioned) and have very little left.
They are also financially damaged by legal fees and are struggling to finance their next attempt at moving on a retirement salary. Upon reading further reviews this seems to be a pricing strategy often utilised by the National Homebuyers which is really upsetting given the ‘family atmosphere’ they promote on their website.

All of the above is what brings me here today. Suspicious of their conduct and wanting to forewarn anyone else from trusting this company with their time, money and hopes. When asked if there would be any support for this expenditure the very candid response was ‘good luck with that’.

I am also disappointed to see the indignant attitude within the replies provided to similar distraught reviews. I think the blatant disregard for the impact they are having on people’s lives speaks volumes about their conduct.

Upon further inspection of their website it appears unclear if they are part of any regulating bodies such as redness schemes (e.g. The National Association of Property Buyers (NAPB)) etc. which is also suspicious. Although they are not specifically regulated these bodies are advertised on some of their competitors sites through voluntary registration, so I suggest you look for one of their more ethical market operators instead. I wonder if the change in company secretary recently will have any impact, I guess time will tell.

Reply to below:
I had written a response to explain and challenge each of the points below but this service does not allow for me to reply fully and I suspect it’s a character limit of some nature. All I can say is that I would have provided a detailed response on behalf of my in laws that does not agree with the points below and asks for more information to enable me to understand their perspective.

Given the nature of NHB reply in the first instance and the contrast in tone in the updated one below I suspect you will still feel the injustice is against NHB so we will never agree and therefore I shall not be commenting further online. Our thanks to TrustPilot for concluding in my favour when you tried to remove our initial review for defamation, rather than try to amicably discuss the review offline as should you have reached out to discuss I would have removed it.

Guy was very open in answering my questions and understanding my concerns I had considering using a company for selling my house.
Whenever I called before, also spoken to Ben, I felt comfortable and not pushed into a decision.

I got a call from Ben today regarding my property that I have been having problems selling. Really enlightening call in which he was completely realistic about what national homebuyers could feasibly do for me. Very honest from the very beginning which is sometimes hard to come by in this field. Now booked in to speak to a manager next week to hopefully get my property sold at last. Very hopeful to see where this could go it seems as though the process could all be done as fast as 4 weeks. Definitely worth giving the company a call to see what they can offer

Terrible company, see my Google review for this company. Rip offs, sending misleading letters to random houses. Avoid at all costs they’ll waste your time.

Called in and spoke to Jess who was very helpful and transparent from the start about what to expect from their service. Explained their process in detail and got booked in to receive a figure the same day.

Spoke to Ben who was really good: knowledgeable, concise and really friendly. He explained how the company works and managed expectations from the outset that offers will be lower than current estate agent valuation. Only to be expected but good that Ben was so transparent about this. Speaking to a manager tomorrow about a more detailed offer but was really impressed with the company and with Ben’s interaction with me.

Seems very strange. Received a letter stating what my property is listed for and would like to make an offer "hoping to achieve the price you require" and then proceeds to offer at about 80% of what it is currently listed for.

They clearly already have a formula for their offers, so I'd encourage them to put that offer in the letter to avoid anyones time being wasted. They probably know no one would call them if they did that though.

Called in off the back of a letter, came through to property acquisition team Malo. I’m pleased with the service I have received as of yet, I was offered a competitive estimate followed on by a fair formal offer from Meg the Manager. My review doesn’t go any further as this was more so an option but I would recommend offers of my experience.

Jess who spoke with me was amazing, very informative and very understanding of my situation

Malo, was very helpful and patient. Explained the process in detail without over complicating it

They refuse to accept their own surveyors' valuation and instead spent months making various unreasonable demands. I accepted an offer of £600,000 from NHB for a quick sale last July 2024 and their surveyor's valuation is £632000 in the circumstance. This was around £100,000 below the market price for a quick sale to be completed within several months.
Elizabeth Corkill contacted me almost weekly updating me on her side, which seemed to be positive initially. She then informed me that all was ready for completion in December 24, which was then changed into one or two extra items her conveyancer needed in November 24. My conveyancer tried to accommodate her, but that was just the start.
After I spent money and time getting ready to complete, including booking the storage, NHB suddenly came up with various ruses to cut the price down further, including asking their own surveyor to confirm his valuation because of a long established hedge around my property. NHB was aware of the existence of the hedge from the start, but NHB at very late stage raised the issue of the hedge and its alleged negative impact on the price. Their surveyor reaffirmed his valuation of £632000. NHB then came up with their unwarranted concerns about site clearance. There is various email communication in this regard.
I spent hundreds in legal fees and a lot of time dealing with them. I finally realised that NHB was holding me at ransom for a SLOW sale at bottom price. I wouldn't take their story of reimbursing £1000 of legal fees either. They attempted to knock the price down significantly last minute and get me to agree to the provision of £1000 for them to clear the site. There is email communication between the conveyancers in this regard too.
I had to abandon it all. Waste of money and time. A terrible experience.

Please see my last email in the matter.
To:
purchasing

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 at 17:40

Hi Elizabeth,

Ms Standing may have some update. We can't give her what she is looking for.

I am no longer actively involved in the matter. Sorry that I can't help anymore.

Sincerely,
Celia

Further, NHB kept on flagging my honest review with their malicious allegations, for instance defamation, harmful or illegal contents. Utter nonsense. Truth hurts. Be smart and stay clear to save yourselves from wasted costs and stress.

In response to NHB's reply:
1. The housing market in 2022 is very different from today's market. NHB should know.
2. NHB claimed that I don't have 'DS1 from your ex husband as you have correctly said in your own email!'. I am baffled by NHB's allegation here!
Also, without paying a penny, NHB wants full title registration papers!! This warrants a full investigation.
3. In my last email quoted, I told Elisabeth at NHB that I couldn't help her with her request of £1000 for site clearance. It was so clear to me that NHB had been stringing me along for months, at my expenses. It was agreed at £600,000 for a quick sale and their surveyor's is £632000. NHB can disclose their surveyor's valuation to prove me wrong. The same valuer confirmed the figure after NHB attempted to cut the price further last minute citing my hedge NHB has been aware of since day 1.
4. NHB states that 'they would still be delighted to buy the property if the legal paperwork was forthcoming and in a timely manner'. Nah. Not for a SLOW sale at a quick sale price with NHB. I will now sell at market price to a legitimate party.
5. Be smart and stay clear from a SLOW sale at a Quick sale price with NHB.
6. I won't bother to respond to NHB anymore. Good luck!

Odd company if you ask me. They sent me a letter stating they were aware my property was on the market and that the selling price was 400k. Then when I spoke to them on the phone they asked for the postcode of the property, whether it was on the market and how much it was on for??? All the info they had put in their own letter. I asked why they weren’t contacting the estate agent as they were a buyer and got some lame excuse about wanting to reach out direct or something. After that I was asked what was the lowest I’d go on the property so I told him the absolute lowest was 375, then he said they were planning to offer below 350. I thanked him for his time and ended the call. Can’t imagine who sells to this company - desperate people I suppose. Sad really.

I sold my gran’s house to national homebuyers this week, they used local agents and got a RICS surveyor out, gave me a fair cash price and completed in 5 weeks, thank you to all the team at National Homebuyers for a seamless service

Guy was great, answered all questions clearly.

What a truly shocking and awful experience I had with this company today. After receiving a letter through the post advertising that they could purchase my house, I requested a scheduled call back which to be fair they carried out.

Today, during an initial call, they wanted to purchase my house £40,000 lower than the asking price, and they hadn’t even been out to look at it let along inspect it. I was advised that a specialist member of the team would contact me.

During a subsequent call from a specialist member of the team, they stated that they would purchase the house £45,000 lower than the asking price !!! Apparently the lower figure was to cover National Homebuyers business costs such as stamp duty, solicitors fees, marketing, and “holding onto the house.” The house has previously been valued by an estate agent at £260,000 so there is no way on earth it’s going to cost £45,000 to sell it. I’ll continue to sell the house through the estate agent and it’ll only cost me £6000 in total.

Never been so outraged or disappointed at unethical business practices as I have now.

I guess the bottom line is I will never use this company or any other sell quick company and I would strongly advise others to do the same. Nothing short of a rip off.

Mail drop, phoned up. House on the market at £450000, initial rough offer between £360-382000. First offer was £373000 reserved a new build, less than 24hrs later national home buyers dropped it to £342000 even before a survey etc. Avoid avoid avoid. Even Turpin wore a mask. Do not use these at any cost, better idea is to throw your money in the river and enjoy watching it float away as it’ll give you more joy then doing giving it to these.

The process has started very quickly as from first call i was given an estimate amount of their offer. i will leave comprehensive review at the end, as well..

Guy phoned me and was super helpful and informative. He put me at ease and gave me all the information for me to go away and make an informative decision. Highly recommend Guy and the team.

First experience with Guy was extremely helpful and informative then to have a call the following day with an offer around the figure we discussed was really good service.

I was phoned as a response to an email. Guy was knowledgeable and efficient. I await further discussions but seem very professional so far.