The Intermediary – November 2025 - Flipbook - Page 102
B RO K E R B U S I N E S S
Opinion
It’s OK not
to be OK
F
ailed residential property
transactions are a
significant and costly
issue in England and
Wales, with research
commissioned by
Santander estimating that around
530,000 transactions collapse
each year.
Santander’s report, ‘Fixing the
Broken Chain’, is one of the more
comprehensive papers I’ve seen on
the impact that the stress of buying
a home has on people. According to
the report, nearly one in four adults
aempting to buy a home experiences
a failed purchase, resulting in £1.5bn
in losses to consumers and the
broader economy.
The effects extend beyond these
immediate losses. Many potential
buyers and sellers delay or abandon
moving altogether, with 28% of
consumers saying they are less likely
to move again following a negative
property experience – a figure that
rises with age.
For borrowers, the property buying
process is oen lengthy, complex, and
stressful. The housing market in the
UK is antiquated in some quarters –
conveyancing and valuations oen
cause hold-ups due to being underresourced industries reliant on a
technology stack that is not fit for
purpose in today’s world.
It’s having a material impact on
transactions. Santander’s report
suggests that nearly a quarter of
buyers have considered abandoning
their purchase due to the complexity
of the process. Only one in 10 buyers
anticipated it taking longer than six
months from offer to completion, yet
17% experienced delays beyond that
timeframe.
The emotional impacts are
pronounced. While 46% of buyers felt
excited or hopeful during the process,
54% reported feeling consistently
stressed. Failed transactions amplify
these challenges, with 57% of affected
96
The Intermediary | November 2025
buyers reporting increased anxiety,
49% experiencing disrupted sleep,
and 26% noting strain on personal
relationships.
The financial consequences add
to the anxiety, and actually put a
figure on it. Approximately 85% of
people who experienced a transaction
collapsing reported some sort of
financial loss. On average, they lost
£1,240 each time a purchase fell flat,
but one in five people reported losses
in excess of £2,000.
There is a tangible personal impact
that our creaking system has on
clients. But that stress goes further.
It also impacts on advisers, who nine
times out of 10 are the ones dealing
with that stress, anxiety and even
anger born of intense frustration at
something that should, surely, not be
this complicated.
At TMA, and more broadly in the
LSL parent group, we have worked
hard to provide the support that our
network and club members and our
own employees need.
Under the support of our executive
sponsor, LSL chief risk officer Saad
Hussanuddin, our Communities
Forum is responsible for enabling
the group’s colleagues to have a
sustained and positive influence on the
communities we work in.
In 2024, the forum focused its
programme around four seasonal
charity campaigns and launched a
group-wide paid Communities Day
initiative. This allows up to a day
that all colleagues can request to
take off from their normal duties,
enabling them to participate in a local
charitable or community benefit
initiative, either an individual basis or
with a group of colleagues.
Last year, the training team in our
Financial Services Division offered
their support to Oasis Mental Health
Support. They helped to garden
a 3.5 acre field in Knowle which
is available to those seeking help
from the charity. This builds on the
ROB MCCOY
is senior product and business
manager at TMA
work we’ve done over several years,
including recruiting and training 25
Mental Health First Aiders within
our surveying and valuation division
in 2022 – a programme that has been
expanded across the wider group.
Our own LSL Group chief
distribution officer Emma
Hollingworth has championed the
importance of being open about
mental health and wellbeing,
opening up last year about her own
personal experiences in the Mortgage
Industry Mental Health Charter
interview series.
She put it brilliantly in a recent
post on LinkedIn: “I’ve always been a
huge advocate for mental health not
just because it maers, but because
like many, I have lived with it over
the years. In our industry, fast-paced,
high-pressure, and oen built on
performance, it’s easy to forget that
we’re all human. Behind every target,
every success, every smile in the
office or at an event, there’s a story.
Sometimes, there’s pain.
“What’s made the biggest difference
for me is connection. A conversation
that starts with, ‘You OK?’ A
colleague who listens, really listens.
A friend who doesn’t judge, but
simply shows up.
“We talk so much about resilience
and strength, but vulnerability is
strength too. The courage to talk. To
reach out. To admit when things aren’t
OK. That’s where real leadership and
real friendship begins.
“So let’s keep talking. Let’s check in
on each other. Let’s build an industry
that leads with heart as well as
ambition.”
I couldn’t agree more. In such a
busy, high stress environment, I’d
encourage all our members to take the
time to look aer one another, and
yourself, a bit more. ●
