Selling a home
Moving house isn't a cheap exercise, so before you put your house on the market, it's important to do your homework and work out exactly how much it's going to cost to sell. More than likely you will be buying a new property as well as selling your existing one, so don't miss our guide to Buying your new home that covers the financial costs of buying a property, as well as other practical advice.
Use this table (below) to give you an approximate idea of the costs of buying and moving home. Select the relevant figures for legal, mortgage and removals costs and then add together for the total cost. If you are using an estate agent to sell your property, take the value of your property and multiply it by 1.8 per cent to gain an idea of the fee you are likely to have to pay to an estate agent.
Estate agent fee
If you are using an estate agent to sell your home, you will be charged a fee for their services. This will usually vary between 1.5 and 3% of your property's sale price plus VAT and will be at the upper end if you sign up to a multi-agent contract. So if your house sells for say £250,000, you will pay them anything from £3,750-7,500 in commission plus VAT. Fees can be negotiated up front, and even reduced after a period of time if your agent is slow to sell your property.
HIPs
Compulsory Home Information Packs (HIPs) are designed to make buying and selling more clear and straightforward. Sellers must have a ready prepared HIP available to buyers when marketing their homes for sale that will include things like Title Deeds, Local Authority Searches and an Energy Performance Certificate. It may also include optional information such as a Home Condition Report.
A HIP is likely to cost around £300, or double that if it includes an optional Home Condition Report. They will charge their professional fee upfront and collect the balance as a disbursement. HIPs may sound expensive, however, most of the cost can be offset against what you would normally be paying for work carried out during the legal process, therefore reducing conveyancing fees.