The cost of selling a property

You may be tentatively looking at moving or may have inherited a property and be looking at the current market and the best way to go about selling the property. One thing you may not have considered yet is the cost. There is no doubt about it, selling a house can be an expensive business, with the average cost of selling a house valued at £250,000 sitting at approximately £5000-£6000.

Of course, the total cost of selling will vary significantly depending on the price of the house, your choice of solicitor, whether you use a traditional or online estate agent (or even sell privately yourself) and whether you are liable for any other fees such as those for re-mortgaging, if your house requires a new EPC and if you require removal or house clearance services.

In this blog, we have broken down some of the main costs of selling a house to help you budget and consider where you might be able to make savings.

Estate Agent Fees
An estate agent will typically charge a homeowner a commission fee of between 0.5% and 3% (+ VAT) of the final sale price. As of June 2021, the average house price in the UK, according to Land Registry UK House Price Index, was £265,668. That means selling a property at this value would cost anything between £1,328 and £7,970. We should point out that paying a fee at 0.5% is pretty rare and most agents land somewhere in the middle around £1.2% which would equate to £3,188 + VAT.

Selling via an online agent may offer a cheaper commission fee, with many offering a fixed price rather than a percentage of the sale. However, it is important to note that you are usually required to pay this up front which means if you pull the property off the market, or the sale falls through and you decide to go with a different agent, you will already have paid the commission.

Conveyancing Solicitor Fees
All homeowners must instruct a solicitor or licenced conveyancer to manage the sale of their property. An approximate fee for selling a property based on the above value would be £1000. This amount will increase with the value of a property, reaching closer to £2,000 for a property priced at £1 million.

In addition to this fee, there will be several administrative costs to cover, including a fee to send the title deeds to the buyer (around £6), the cost of money-laundering checks (£8 per person) and a fee for transferring the final sale funds (around £40).

Re-mortgaging Fees
If you choose to end your current mortgage and move to a new provider, there may be exit fees to pay. These vary but are typically between £50 and £300. You can port your existing mortgage to a new property but that too is likely to come with fees depending on whether you are borrowing the same amount, increasing or decreasing the amount you borrow. Early repayment charges may also apply and these range from 1-5% of the total loan amount.

The Cost of an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC)
You must have an EPC by law when selling your home. These are valid for 10 years, so if you haven’t moved in a while there is a good chance that this will be out of date. The certificate provides a good indication on the property’s energy usage and where areas could be improved, either by you or future owners. An EPC will cost between £60 and £120.

Removal Costs
These can vary wildly depending on the size of your property, how far you need to transport your belongings and what level of service you require, such as if you require the company to pack and unpack your belongings for you. Some companies will charge a fixed fee for the entire job; others will set an hourly rate. Giving an accurate cost is very difficult for the above reasons but as a guide, the average cost for moving from a three-bedroom house is around £800 for 50 miles to around £900 up to 150 miles.

A house buying service such as WeBuyProperty can not only help homeowners to avoid some of the higher fees listed above which are associated with selling, such as estate agent commission, and avoid the stress and cost with a failed sale.