Fall-through update

When to use it

• A buyer has withdrawn before exchange.
• A chain has collapsed and your vendor’s sale cannot proceed.
• A US contract has been cancelled and the listing should return to active only once the seller says so.

How to adapt it

1. Copy the template into a draft, not into a live send.
2. Replace every bracket with a fact from the file. If you do not have the fact, delete the sentence.
3. Read it once as the client. Take out anything you would not say on the phone.
4. Send it only after a person has approved the final text, from the right account.

Copy this draft

Subject: Sale of [address] — not proceeding

Hello [name],

[Buyer’s name, if appropriate] is not proceeding. The reason they gave me is: [what they said, or “they did not give a reason”]. [If a survey or a mortgage was mentioned, say that they mentioned it. Do not interpret the report.]

The property is not exchanged, so there is no binding contract to enforce from our side. I have told [whoever you have actually told].

Please confirm how you want to remarket:
- same asking price of [figure]
- a different figure, which you tell me
- pause

I will not change the portal until you reply.

[Your name]

Before you send it

• US: say the contract is cancelled if that is what the brokerage has confirmed, and ask before you flip the MLS status.
• Tell viewers who were turned away only after the owner agrees to remarket.
• Do not blame the solicitor in writing.

Questions