

Not quite the same thing I think.
My understanding of “no contingency” is more to do with inspections, certifications etc. I.e. an offer has been made that isn’t going to be cancelled if the structural survey comes back with a load of issues to fix.
“Chains” in UK real estate lingo are about whether your sale is tied to other sales. For example, if you’re buying a house from an owner-occupier who won’t move out (and give you your new house) until the new house that they’re buying is ready- that’s an onward chain. A chain in the other direction would be someone who says that they’ll buy a house, but will only have the money to make the purchase once they’ve got a sale locked in for their current house. Selling a house with “no onward chain” is telling the buyer that they can have it as soon as they’ve got the money, and that the seller isn’t waiting for anything.
Chains can get very messy and complicated, as you can end up with s dozen house sales all tied up with each other waiting for one house in the chain to be ready to go before any of the others can go.
Good advice in general; even contractual fuckery aside, you can’t guarantee a company will even still exist this time next year.