‘Selling your home’ – Which adjectives spring to mind? Exciting, nerve-wracking… and costly! Even for a relatively modest £250,000 properly, the cost of selling your house could range from £5,000 to £11,000.
But, where does all of that money go, and who (other than you) is benefiting from your house sale?
In this article, we take a look at the specific costs associated with selling your home, including:
- Estate agent fees
- Conveyancing or solicitor fees
- Stamp Duty or Land and Buildings Transaction Tax
- Home Report, for those of you in Scotland
- An Energy Performance Certificate
- Removals
Estate Agent Fees
Let’s start with the big one; estate agent fees.
Typically, estate agent fees can be around 1% to 3%, with many having a minimum price on properties below a certain amount. However, fees of 4% have been reported, and for very low value properties, the fee could end up being a lot higher due to that minimum charge.
Also, don’t forget to include VAT. At the moment, VAT is 20%, so a 1.5% fee could turn into a 1.8% fee if VAT is not included automatically.
So what do you get for this money?
In most cases, you should get:
- Photos
- An accurate valuation
- A floor plan
- Marketing blurb and listing on a couple of major websites (Rightmove, Zoopla, S1Homes, OnTheMarket and so on)
- Other marketing, such as mailers, flyers and emails
- Price negotiation
- Accompanied visits
So that’s quite a bit, but be aware that some agents charge extra for certain services, which can make the price go up substantially.
You can keep costs down by going with an online estate agent or hybrid estate agent. An online estate agent essentially is a listing service, so you essentially get charged £99 for a Zoopla and Rightmove listing for a certain amount of time. A hybrid online estate agent charges more, but because much more is centralised, it can offer lower prices for a virtually identical service to conventional high street estate agents. Check out our guide on online estate agents, and don’t forget that you can arrange a free valuation with Yopa.
Conveyancing
Conveyancing is the legal stage of buying a home. There are a couple of ways that you can arrange the conveyancing process:
- Through a solicitor
- Through a conveyancer
- By doing it yourself
Naturally, DIY conveyancing is the cheapest, although not every buyer will accept that. The reason for this is partly due to money-laundering regulations and due to the fact that you are not insured should anything be missed or go wrong from a legal perspective. This could add extra work for the buyer’s solicitor. So realistically, most people have to go through a solicitor or through a conveyancer.
Conveyancers tend to be cheaper, mainly because they specifically focus on the actual conveyancing aspect, but they are not qualified to offer legal advice on other matters. Those who have complicated tax regimes or need additional advice regarding family law may have to go through a solicitor, who will charge more but be able to give the right advice regarding other matters that could impact your finances and the sale. Have a look at our guide on whether you need a solicitor or conveyancer to sell your property.
To simply sell a property, it could cost you between £300 and £1,200 in conveyancing fees, and if you need legal advice regarding your financial situation, expect to add up to £2,000 on top, depending on where your solicitor is located and the complexity of your finances.
To find a conveyancer, take a look at the website of the Council for Licensed Conveyancers. To find a solicitor, check out the Law Society’s website.
Personal recommendations, however, are always valuable, so you may wish to ask friends and family who have recently sold a home. Estate agent-recommended conveyancers may have an existing referred commission agreement, so it’s worth asking if there’s any financial agreement in place before following their advice. They do not have to voluntarily disclose this information unless the conveyancer is a solicitor.
Buying a Property Is Also Pricey
If you are also buying a property, things get a little trickier. The legal fees often relate to the purchase price, due to the increased risk if something goes wrong. Expect to pay between £600 and £2,000 in addition to the selling charge for relatively standard conveyancing.
However, it’s important to note that this extra charge includes:
- Land Registry or Registers of Scotland fees
- Disbursements such as a bankruptcy search, local authority searches and environmental searches, among others
- Time and advice with regard to the transaction
The Land Registry fee ranges from £20 for properties under £80,000 to £455 for properties over £1 million, provided they are using the Business Gateway and that it affects the entire registered title. Other costs will be higher if it’s a first registration or if the transaction only affects part of the registered title.
Registers of Scotland fees run between £45 for properties below £50,000 and £5,625 for voluntary registrations of properties worth more than £5 million. This means that for large estates in Scotland, the conveyancing fees will be significantly higher.
Stamp Duty
A conveyancer or solicitor will also arrange the payment of Stamp Duty or Land and Buildings Transaction Tax. It’s a fee that’s usually only applicable if you buy a property over £125,000 in England and Wales or £145,000 in Scotland, as of October 2017, with the intent to live in it. If it’s intended as a second home or a buy-to-let rental property, the minimums are £40,000 for both. There are extra fees associated with second homes (add 3 percent of the total to almost all bands), and leaseholds and non-residential properties have slightly different rules.
| Stamp Duty | Land and Buildings Transaction Tax | ||
| Less than £125,000 | 0% | Less than £145,000 | 0% |
| £125,001 to £250,000 | 2% | £145,000 to £250,000 | 2% |
| £250,001 to £925,000 | 5% | £250,000 to £325,000 | 5% |
| £925,001 to £1.5 million | 10% | £325,000 to £750,000 | 10% |
| More than £1.5 million | 12% | More than £750,000 | 12% |
You only have to pay the amount that falls within each band, so if you are buying a property worth £300,000, it breaks down like this
| England and Wales | Scotland | ||
| Up to £125,000 | £0 | Up to £145,000 | £0 |
| Up to £250,000 | £2,500 | Up to £250,000 | £2,100 |
| Up to £300,000 | £2,500 | Up to £300,000 | £2,500 |
| Total | £5,000 | Total | £4,600 |
Home Reports (Scotland Only)
The home report is a major expense for Scottish sellers, as each property is required to have one unless it has been recently converted or is newly built. To put a property onto the market, the Home Report must be no more than 12 weeks old and must be completed by an RICS qualified surveyor. It must also include a mortgage valuation.
Home Reports should cost between £585 and £820 depending on the value of the property, according to the RICS, but much lower costs have been reported. It pays to shop around and get quotes, as most firms do not provide prices up front. There’s also a lot of variance even within the major cities.
Energy Performance Certificates
All homes being sold or rented in England and Wales need Energy Performance Certificates, and homes in Scotland that don’t require a Home Report also need an Energy Performance Certificate. These are often simply called EPCs.
EPCs essentially detail the amount of energy a property is expected to use, with a rating from A+ to G. Properties gain points for energy efficient measures such as extra insulation and double glazing, but, they lose points for factors that increase their carbon consumption, such as leaky doors or the use of oil.
Energy Performance Certificates are valid for 10 years, so if you bought your home within the last decade, you may not need one. However, it can be worth getting a new one if you have made substantial renovations, as significantly improved energy efficiency can be a selling point.
Prices range from £50 to £120, and they are usually charged on top of an estate agent’s fee.
Moving Home
If you need to move out of your home, you can, of course, do it yourself, but in most cases, this isn’t really feasible. Even DIY removals cost time, money and effort, with van rental being up to £50 a day for a good-sized Luton van, and you have to add the cost of fuel on top of that.
If you do go with a professional moving company, make sure it’s a member of the British Association of Removers, as this means it carries insurance and meets minimum standards when it comes to service and professionalism. Naturally, they charge a fee based on:
- How much you have to move
- The distance of the move
- The number of people you need
- Whether they pack it or not
For a short move, across to a nearby town of a one- or two-bedroom house and not including packaging, you might expect to pay between £300 and £400. For a longer-distance move with packaging included, you could pay up to £1,600 for a large house, and for a move of a five-bedroom house from Edinburgh to Exeter, we were quoted £2,160.
Don’t forget that most insurers only cover your contents if they are moved by a professional moving company, and some insurers only offer that as an optional extra. Rightmove has a tool that you can use to get an online quote for moving, make it easier to gauge your removal expenses.
