A star rating cannot tell you whether a cash house buyer will still be offering the same price on completion day, because a review is usually left long before that point. Read the one star reviews for the word “reduced”, then check the company itself.
Fake reviews have been banned under UK consumer law since 6 April 2025. That helps, but it does not make a high average score proof of anything.
Are cash house buyers legit?
Some are and some are not, and nobody regulates the sector, so the question is only ever about the firm in front of you.
What the OFT found
When the Office of Fair Trading studied the quick house sale market in 2013, it found firms trying to offer a good service alongside practices that might not comply with the law.
It then investigated four providers, who gave formal undertakings in December 2013. Those undertakings are listed on the CMA case page, and they included a promise “not to reduce conditional or final offer prices without a valid reason”.
Why the type of firm matters
Protection depends on what the business actually does. The OFT found that firms which broker sales, by introducing you to other buyers, are likely to be doing estate agency work, and must then follow estate agency law.
Firms that buy on their own account are not covered by that. Ask directly whether the company will be buying your home itself, or passing you to somebody else.
Why can a company with 4.8 stars still cut your price?
Because of when a review is written. People tend to review a quick sale company soon after the offer, and the price is most likely to change much later, after the survey.
The timing problem
A seller who is delighted by a fast, friendly offer often leaves a five star review that week. The survey, the legal checks and any reduction come weeks afterwards, and not everyone goes back to update what they wrote.
That is why a high average score and a pattern of late price cuts can sit side by side on one profile. The OFT saw it directly: in the complaints it received, offers fell after the survey by between 7% and 53%, averaging 22%.
What to search the reviews for
Sort by the lowest rating first, then read for how each sale ended rather than how it started.
- “Reduced”, “dropped”, “renegotiated”, “survey”. These are the words that describe what happened to the price.
- Completion, not contact. A review praising a quick callback says nothing about the final figure.
- The company’s replies. A firm that answers a specific complaint specifically tells you more than one with no criticism at all.
- Trading names. One business can operate under several brands, and each brand carries its own separate review profile.
- Sudden spikes. The CMA lists a burst of very positive or very negative reviews in a short period as a possible sign of fake reviews.
Our guide to gazundering covers what to do if a price is cut just before exchange.
What does each check actually prove?
Every check has a limit, and knowing the limit is what stops a badge on a website reassuring you more than it should.
The checks, and what they miss
| Check | What it proves | What it does not prove | Where |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trustpilot or Google reviews | How the experience felt, usually early on | What happened to the price at the end | The platform, sorted lowest first |
| The Property Ombudsman | The firm has signed up to a code and a complaints route | That anyone regulates it | tpos.co.uk |
| NAPB membership | The firm has joined a voluntary trade body | That it will not reduce an offer | napb.co.uk |
| Companies House | Who owns it, how old it is, previous names, insolvency | Anything about how it treats sellers | gov.uk |
| Proof of funds | That the money exists today | That the same money is there at completion | Ask the buyer |
| The offer in writing | What is promised, and what is conditional | That it cannot change before exchange | Ask the buyer |
The two that tell you most
Companies House is free and takes two minutes. Its Find and Update Company Information service shows the registered address, date of incorporation, current and resigned directors, previous company names, filed documents, charges and any insolvency.
A firm claiming decades of experience through a company formed last year, or a string of previous names, is worth asking about. Proof of funds is the other check that earns its place: the OFT’s view was blunt, that “a genuine cash buyer will be able to provide it”.
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Want to know what a cash buyer would offer?
Tell us about the property in 2 minutes. Vetted buyers, individuals and institutions, reply with offers.
Cash buyers usually offer less than full market value in return for speed and certainty. You are free to turn down any offer.
Is The Property Ombudsman a regulator?
No, and this is the most common misunderstanding in the sector. TPO says so itself.
What TPO can and cannot do
Its own website is explicit. The Ombudsman “is not a regulator and does not have the authority to take regulatory or legal action against an agent, impose fines or dictate the way agents conduct their business”.
It can consider an individual complaint and make a compensatory award. That is worth having, and it is not the same thing as oversight.
Membership does come with one useful obligation. Under the TPO code, members that buy homes directly must tell you in writing, when they make an offer, that they are members and follow the code.
What a trade body badge means
The National Association of Property Buyers is a voluntary membership body. Its register is still useful, because it is definitive in one direction: if a company is not listed there, it is not a member.
Treat both as questions to ask rather than answers. A buyer that belongs to neither is not automatically bad, and one that belongs to both is not automatically safe.
What does UK law say about fake reviews?
Since 6 April 2025, fake and concealed paid-for reviews have been banned practices under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024.
What is banned
- Fake reviews: reviews claiming to be based on genuine experience when they are not, positive or negative.
- Concealed incentivised reviews: reviews the writer was paid or rewarded for, without that being made clear.
- Publishing reviews misleadingly. The CMA’s guidance gives examples: suppressing genuine negative reviews, cherry-picking positive ones, or inviting only satisfied customers to review.
- Failing to take reasonable steps to prevent and remove fake reviews when you publish them.
The CMA can fine a business up to 10% of its global turnover for breaking consumer protection law.
What is not a fake review
The CMA’s guidance makes the point the other way too. A review is not fake just because the business disagrees with it, as long as it reflects the reviewer’s genuine experience.
Trustpilot or Google: which reviews should you trust?
Neither on its own, because they collect reviews differently, and a gap between the two scores is itself worth asking about.
How each one works
Trustpilot is an open platform: anyone with a genuine experience can post without being invited, and businesses can also invite customers. Trustpilot says invited reviews go through the same moderation, that its rules prohibit inviting only satisfied customers, and that nobody can pay to have reviews removed.
Google reviews appear on business profiles in search and Maps. In January 2025 the CMA secured legally binding undertakings from Google to put warning alerts on UK profiles where suspicious activity is detected, and to make reporting easier.
What to look at first
Check for a platform warning before you read a single review. Then compare the two scores, and make sure the profile belongs to the company you are dealing with rather than a similarly named business.
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What do cash buyers really pay?
Independent findings and company marketing do not agree, and that gap tells you how to read both.
The independent figure
The OFT found that sellers completing a quick house sale typically gave up between 10% and 25% of market value, and said it had seen higher discounts on occasion. It used 80% of market value as an example of a figure a buyer might work to.
Quick sale companies often publish higher percentages about themselves. Those are self-reported rather than independently audited, which is worth remembering when a page ranking the best companies turns out to be written by one of them.
What that means for reading reviews
A review mentioning a percentage is far more useful than one mentioning politeness. Our guide to what cash buyers pay sets out the arithmetic, including what the speed costs in pounds.
What should you check before you accept an offer?
Five things, in this order, before you sign anything rather than after.
The checklist
- Look the company up at Companies House. Age, directors, previous names, any insolvency.
- Ask who is buying. The firm itself, or somebody it introduces you to.
- Ask for proof of funds, and for the offer in writing with every condition named.
- Read the one star reviews for what happened to the price and the timetable.
- Check any tie-in. Long exclusivity or option agreements can stop you selling to anyone else for months.
Our guide to spotting rogue quick sale companies covers the warning signs in detail, and our checklist for judging cash house buyers pulls the whole process together.
If something has already gone wrong, you can report unfair trading to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service. In Scotland, Citizens Advice Scotland warns about the same risks: an offer cut at the last minute, and uncertainty over who is buying.
How does this apply to us?
Run these checks on us too. Sell My Property Online is an introducer, not a buyer, and we have an interest in you making an enquiry.
What we are
With your consent we pass your details to vetted cash buyers on our panel, who pay us for each introduction. You never pay us anything.
Our panel includes individual cash buyers and property investors, and institutions such as property companies and investment firms. Each passes identity checks and shows proof of funds before joining.
What we will not do
We do not rank cash buying companies, because we are not a neutral party in that question. If you do read a ranking elsewhere, check who published it before you trust the order.
If you would like to see what buyers offer, you can get offers for my home. There is no obligation, any offer will usually be below the open market price in return for speed and certainty, and you should run every buyer, including ours, through the checks on this page.
Common questions
Are cash house buyers any good?
Some are and some are not, and the sector is not regulated, so it depends entirely on the firm in front of you. Reviews are one piece of evidence, but they are usually written before the price can change, so check the company at Companies House and ask for proof of funds as well.
Who is the best cash house buyer?
There is no independent league table, and most of the rankings you will find online are published by cash buying companies that place themselves at or near the top. Judge each buyer against the same checks instead: who they are, whether they are buying or passing you on, what they will pay and what could change it.
Is it worth selling to a house buying company?
It can be when speed or certainty matters more than the last few thousand pounds, for example with a broken chain, an empty property or a looming deadline. It is usually not worth it if your home would sell on the open market and you have the time to wait.
Is it illegal for a company to post fake reviews?
Yes. Since 6 April 2025, submitting or commissioning fake reviews, and hiding the fact that a review was paid for or rewarded, have been banned practices under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act 2024. The Competition and Markets Authority can fine businesses up to 10% of their global turnover for breaking consumer protection law.
Can a company delete its bad reviews?
On its own website, suppressing genuine negative reviews while showing positive ones can amount to publishing reviews in a misleading way, which the CMA's guidance says may break the law. On Trustpilot, the platform says nobody can pay to have reviews removed; a business can report a review, and Trustpilot investigates.
Are reviews on a company's own website reliable?
Treat them with care. The company chooses what to show, and the CMA's guidance says cherry-picking positive reviews, or highlighting ones that do not reflect reviewers' experience overall, may be misleading. Compare them with reviews on independent platforms.
Does membership of a trade body mean a buyer is regulated?
No. The Property Ombudsman says plainly that it is not a regulator and cannot fine a business or dictate how it operates, and the National Association of Property Buyers is a voluntary trade body. Both are useful checks, but neither is regulation.
Where can I report a business I think is using fake reviews?
Report the review to the platform it appears on; Google, for example, has agreed with the CMA to make reporting easy. In England you can also report unfair trading to Trading Standards through the Citizens Advice consumer service, which has separate arrangements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Trading Standards will not resolve your individual dispute, but it uses reports to decide on action.
Related guides
- Best cash house buyers in the UK: how to judge who is best for you A 10-point checklist for judging any cash buyer, and the red flags.
- Are quick house sale companies legit? How to spot a rogue firm Warning signs, simple checks and how to complain.
- "We buy any house" companies: how they work, what they pay and how to check reviews How these firms work, what they pay, the pros and cons and Scotland.
- What is gazundering, and how can you protect yourself? Last-minute price cuts: why they are legal and how to guard against them.