Property chains aren't complicated because any one transaction is particularly difficult. They're complicated because you've suddenly got several transactions, several agents, several solicitors and several sets of buyers and sellers all trying to reach the same point at roughly the same time.
Your own sale might be flying. Searches are back, the mortgage offer is in and enquiries are nearly satisfied. None of that gets you to exchange if somebody two properties further up the chain instructed their solicitor three weeks late.
That's the frustrating thing about chains. You're progressing your sale, but you're also relying on a number of other sales that you don't control and often can't see.
Managing one well is mostly about making sure that you can see them.
Start by actually mapping the chain
As soon as the sale is agreed, establish what sits above and below it.
You want to know each property in the chain, the agent dealing with it and where that transaction currently stands. If somebody says they're chain-free, establish what that actually means. Are they selling to a first-time buyer? Is the seller moving into rented accommodation? Is there genuinely nothing above them?
You don't necessarily need every solicitor's details for every transaction in somebody else's chain. In practice, the other agents are usually your route into those files. What you do need is a reliable contact at each agency and enough information to understand whether their transaction is roughly keeping pace with yours.
At a basic level, we'd want to know:
- the properties in the chain and their order;
- the agent and contact dealing with each sale;
- whether the bottom and top of the chain have been established;
- roughly where each transaction has reached; and
- anything already known that could affect timescales.
The important part is getting this information early. Trying to work out the shape of a chain for the first time when somebody starts talking about completion dates is far harder than keeping an existing chain record up to date.
Keep speaking to the other agents
Once you've mapped the chain, keep in contact with it.
There doesn't need to be a ceremonial "chain call" every Friday at exactly 3pm. What matters is that somebody is regularly checking in with the agents above and below and updating the picture.
A useful chain conversation isn't simply, "Any news?"
You want to understand where their transaction has actually reached. Have searches been ordered and, if so, are they back? Have enquiries been raised? Is the mortgage offer in? Is anybody waiting for something that could become a problem?
You're not trying to progress another agent's sale for them. You're trying to establish whether their transaction is moving at roughly the same pace as yours.
This becomes particularly useful when your own buyers and sellers ask the inevitable question: "How is the rest of the chain looking?"
Instead of giving them a vague answer, you actually know.
Work out what's holding everyone up
At some point, almost every chain develops a slow link.
It might be a management pack that hasn't arrived, searches outstanding on one property, a mortgage application taking longer than expected or enquiries that haven't been answered. Sometimes it's simply one transaction that started later than everybody else.
The useful question isn't really, "Is our sale ready?"
It's "What needs to happen before this chain can exchange?"
If your own file is ready but the transaction above is still waiting for searches, that's where the chain is. Continually chasing your own buyer's solicitor isn't going to make any difference.
Likewise, if one solicitor has been waiting for information from their client for a week, that's useful to know. The relevant agent can speak to their client and hopefully get things moving again.
Good chain progression is largely about directing attention towards the thing that's actually holding everybody up.
Don't treat every delay as a crisis
Chains do move at different speeds.
One transaction might have searches back while another is still waiting for them. One buyer might already have their mortgage offer while another is waiting for the lender's valuation. That doesn't necessarily mean the chain is in trouble.
What matters is whether those differences are understood and whether anything has genuinely stopped moving.
This is where regular communication between agents helps. If everybody knows that one set of searches is due back next Thursday, there's little value in six people chasing them on Monday.
Equally, if Thursday passes and nobody has heard anything, that's when somebody needs to pick it up.
There is a big difference between waiting for something with a known timescale and waiting because nobody knows what's happening.
Completion dates need the whole chain
Completion dates are where good chain information becomes particularly important.
A buyer and seller agreeing that they'd both like to complete on the 14th doesn't mean the chain can complete on the 14th. That date needs to work for everyone whose transaction depends on another.
Before dates start being treated as firm, check the chain.
Are enquiries satisfied throughout? Are mortgage offers in? Does everybody have signed paperwork where required? Are there any transactions still waiting for something substantial? Does the proposed date work for the top and bottom?
The solicitors will deal with the formalities of exchange and completion, but agents can save a lot of unnecessary back-and-forth by making sure the chain is broadly aligned before everybody starts planning removals.
It's also worth being careful with the language used with clients at this stage. Proposed completion dates are exactly that until contracts are exchanged.
The chain shouldn't live in someone's head
This is probably the biggest practical problem we see with chain management.
An experienced negotiator can hold an impressive amount of information in their head. They'll know that number 14 is waiting for searches, the agent at number 27 is calling their seller this afternoon and the top of the chain should be ready by the end of the month.
Then they go on annual leave.
Or they're out on valuations all day. Or somebody else needs to pick up the file. Suddenly everyone is trying to reconstruct the chain from notes, emails and conversations they weren't part of.
Chain information needs to belong to the transaction rather than the person progressing it.
That means recording the chain somewhere everybody who needs it can see it and updating it as things change. It doesn't need to be complicated. It just needs to be current.
This gets harder as the number of chains grows, which is why we've built chain tracking into TSP. The point isn't to replace the conversations between agents. It's simply to make sure the current chain doesn't disappear into somebody's notebook, inbox or memory.
Map it early, keep it current and know which transaction is setting the pace. You can't control every sale in the chain, but you can make sure you know what's happening in them.