Cost of Selling a House

What does it cost to sell a house in the UK?

For the sale on its own, budget 2% to 3% of the sale price. On a £350,000 sale that is about £8,500, and the estate agent is well over half of it. Selling is the cheap half of moving: buying again adds stamp duty, a second set of legal fees, a survey and usually a lender fee, which on a £400,000 purchase comes to around £13,000.

That split is why so many people underestimate a move. The costs of selling are proportional and predictable. The costs of buying are dominated by a tax that jumps in bands, and it has to be paid in cash on completion.

Which costs fall on the seller?

• Estate agent commission. Quoted as a percentage, and the quote may or may not include VAT at 20%. A "1%" fee is really 1.2%, which is £700 of difference on a £350,000 sale. Sole agency is cheaper than multi-agency. This is the largest cost you have any real influence over, and plenty of agents will negotiate the rate, so it is worth asking before you sign.
• Conveyancing on the sale. The legal fee plus disbursements: bank transfer fees, Land Registry documents, and the leasehold pack if the property is leasehold. Ask for a quote that includes disbursements rather than the headline fee alone.
• The EPC. You cannot legally market a property without a valid Energy Performance Certificate, and they last ten years, so check before paying for another.
• The leasehold management pack. Usually flats only, ordered from the freeholder or managing agent, and both the price and the wait vary enormously. It is a common cause of delay as well as cost.
• Mortgage exit or deeds release fee. A small administrative charge for closing the loan, separate from any early repayment charge.
• An early repayment charge, if you are inside a fixed term. Typically a few percent of the balance outstanding. Porting the mortgage to the new property usually avoids it.
• Removals. More with the amount you are moving, more with distance, more again if the completion dates do not line up and you need storage.
• Getting the house ready, and filling gaps in the paperwork. A clean before the photographs, whatever repairs you judge worth doing, and an indemnity policy if the buyer's solicitor finds consent missing for old work.

Do I pay stamp duty when I sell my house?

No. Stamp duty is paid by the buyer. You pay nothing on the sale, and you pay it on whatever you buy next. This causes a lot of confusion around selling costs, and the figure is large enough that it will change your calculations completely if you cost it on the wrong side.

How much is stamp duty when I move?

It depends on the price, on where in the UK you are buying, and on whether you will own more than one property afterwards. All three taxes are charged on slices: each rate applies only to the part of the price inside its band, not to the whole price. England and Northern Ireland charge Stamp Duty Land Tax, Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax, and Wales charges Land Transaction Tax, with different bands in each.

First-time buyers

In England and Northern Ireland relief gives you nothing to pay up to £300,000 and 5% from £300,000 to £500,000. Above £500,000 the relief disappears entirely rather than tapering: at exactly £500,000 a first-time buyer pays £10,000, and at £500,001 they pay £15,000. That £5,000 cliff for one extra pound is worth knowing before you make an offer near the threshold.

Scotland raises the nil-rate band from £145,000 to £175,000 instead, which is worth at most £600. Wales has no first-time buyer relief at all.

Second homes and buy to let

If you will own more than one residential property at completion, a surcharge applies, and each nation does it differently. England and Northern Ireland add five percentage points to every band, including the nil-rate band, so tax starts from the first pound. Scotland adds the Additional Dwelling Supplement at 8% of the whole purchase price once the price reaches £40,000. Wales uses a separate, higher set of bands starting at 5%.

If you are replacing your main residence but have not yet sold it, you may have to pay the surcharge and reclaim it when the old home sells. Check the deadline for your nation, as it is strict.

What does it cost to sell and buy at the same time?

Here is the default scenario on this page in full: a £350,000 sale and a £400,000 purchase in England, replacing a main residence.

£8,490 of that is the sale, which is 2.4% of the sale price. The other £13,000 is the purchase, and £10,000 of it is one tax bill. The whole move costs 6.1% of what the house sold for.

The house sale what-if calculator works the same example from the other end: it takes these costs and your outstanding mortgage and tells you what is left for the deposit. The button above carries every figure across, so you do not have to type them twice.

Which of these can I actually reduce?

In rough order of how much room there is to move:

• The estate agent fee. Negotiable, and on a £350,000 sale each 0.2% is £840 with VAT. Get three valuations and compare the fee, the tie-in period and whether it is sole agency.
• Conveyancing. Quotes vary by several hundred pounds for the same work. Compare total figures including disbursements; the cheapest headline fee is often not the cheapest total.
• The mortgage product fee. Often avoidable by taking a slightly higher rate, which is worth comparing properly rather than assuming the fee-free deal is better. On a large loan the rate usually wins; on a small one the fee usually does.
• The early repayment charge. Usually avoidable by porting the mortgage rather than redeeming it, or by timing the move for the end of the fixed period.
• Stamp duty. Essentially fixed, but it is banded, so the price you agree matters more than it looks near a threshold. Negotiating £405,000 down to £400,000 near a band edge can save more than the £5,000 itself.

Common questions

Are estate agent fees negotiable?

Usually, and it is the largest cost you have any influence over. Ask whether the quoted percentage includes VAT before comparing it with anything, and ask what happens if you withdraw or switch agent. A longer tie-in is worth something to the agent and should be worth a lower rate to you.

When do I pay the costs of selling a house?

Most come out of the sale proceeds on completion, so you never write a cheque for them: the estate agent and both sets of legal fees are settled by your conveyancer from the money coming in. Stamp duty is due within 14 days of completion in England and Northern Ireland, and 30 days in Scotland and Wales. A survey, the EPC and any mortgage product fee are usually paid up front, which means they are the ones that need cash in hand before the sale has produced any.

What if the sale falls through?

Costs already incurred are generally not recoverable. The EPC survives for the next attempt, and a conveyancer will usually charge a reduced abortive fee rather than the full amount, but a survey on a purchase that collapses is money gone. This is the main argument for not paying for a survey until the chain looks solid.

There are insurance policies that cover some of the risk of a transaction falling through, sold as home buyer or seller protection. Read the terms closely before buying one: what they pay out on, what they exclude and how long you have to claim all vary, and whether the premium is worth it depends on how exposed your own chain is.

Do I pay capital gains tax on the sale?

Usually not, on your own home. Private Residence Relief covers a property that has been your only or main residence throughout the period you owned it. Second homes, buy to let and property that was let out for part of the time are a different matter. The what-if calculator has more on this. Always seek proper financial advice before making any decisions: everything here is an illustration and a rough estimate.

Fee figures on this page are typical starting points, not quotes, and the tax bands were checked against the official sources on 18 October 2026. Rates change at Budgets. This is general information rather than advice: confirm any figure that matters with your conveyancer, your lender or a qualified adviser.