Shankul Bhandare
House purchases experienced delays on Thursday due to issues with a critical payments system, the Bank of England reported.
The problem reportedly impacted numerous homebuyers and movers, leaving some “stuck waiting for the green light” with loaded removal vans in driveways. However, by 4:30 PM on Thursday, the Bank announced that the service had been restored.
Earlier, the Bank had cited a “global payments issue” affecting its automated Chaps payments system, which handles high-value and time-sensitive transactions worth approximately £350bn daily. The issue, which the Bank did not detail, delayed some payments, including house purchases.
Chaps is essential for solicitors and conveyancing firms to complete property transactions. It is also used for high-value purchases like cars or house deposits, and by financial institutions for large transactions.
The Bank later confirmed: “We are pleased to report that the third-party supplier has resolved their earlier issues, and Chaps payments are now settling as normal. We expect all payments received by the Bank today [Thursday] to be settled by the end of the day.”
The exact number of delayed house purchases and the extent of the impact were not specified.
Before the restoration announcement, Anthony Codling, a housing analyst at RBC Capital Markets, warned that the Chaps disruption could leave hundreds of homebuyers in limbo, noting that there are typically about 4,000 housing transactions daily.
This is not the first time Chaps has experienced technical difficulties: similar issues occurred in August 2023, and a nearly 10-hour outage in October 2014 prompted an apology from former Bank governor Mark Carney and an official investigation.
Jack Tutton, director at broker SJ Mortgages, remarked, “Typically, lenders send funds to solicitors the day before completion. Friday is the busiest day for transactions, so this couldn’t have happened at a worse time.”
Hannah Bashford, director at Model Financial Solutions, noted that individuals aiming to complete a house purchase today “may be left high and dry with nowhere to move if funds don’t pass through the system in time.”
Retail payment systems, including card payments, bank transfers, and cashpoints, were unaffected by the issue.
