Solicitors For Selling a House

The costs for selling a house will vary depending on the price of the house, your solicitor’s fees, the type of estate agent you use and whether any other additional costs are involved, such as obtaining EPC certificates, removal company costs or a mortgage exit fee.

It can take on average 14 to 18 weeks to transfer the deeds, exchange and complete, however the overall length of time it can take to sell your home can vary depending on several factors including whether the buyer is also selling a house, the efficiency of the buyer’s and seller’s solicitors, whether you’re stuck in a chain or how quickly an offer is made on your property.

If you are not in a chain, this can make the process quicker. It takes on average 8 weeks from accepting the offer to completing the sale if you’re selling a property with no chain.

You don’t normally need to pay tax when you sell a property, unless it is a second home or a buy-to-let property, in which case you need to pay Capital Gains Tax (CGT).

You might also have to pay Capital Gains Tax if you lease out part of the property or if your home is partly used as a business premises. Current Capital Gains Tax rates on property are 18% for basic-rate taxpayers and 28% for higher and additional-rate taxpayers.

You can work out the amount of gain or profit on the property by deducting the amount you paid for the property from the sales price.

You only pay stamp duty if you are buying a house, not when you are selling a property. If you are buying a property as well as selling a property, then you will pay stamp duty on the property you are purchasing.

Our fees for selling a freehold property range from £900 to £3000 including VAT, depending on how complex the transaction is. This fee includes conveyancing disbursements such as Land Registry Search fees and bank transfer fees.

For the sale of leasehold properties our fees range from £1300 to £3000 including VAT. Visit our Freehold Sale Fees page and our Leasehold Sales Fees page for more information on our fees for selling a property.

Yes, you can sell your house if you have equity release. However, if you have a lifetime mortgage or home reversion scheme through an equity release provider and you are looking to move to a new property, the equity release provider will have to deem the new property suitable.

If you are looking to downsize and move to a smaller property or a property that is worth less then you may need to pay off some of your equity release plan early, which could also result in early repayment fees. You may be able to avoid these fees by asking for a downsizing clause or downsizing protection to be included in your equity release plan.

You cannot legally sell a house that is under probate.

You can put a house up for sale under probate and conduct viewings and agree a sale price with a potential buyer. You can also carry out other preparatory work, and your buyer can apply for a mortgage in principle and arrange their survey. However, until probate is granted you cannot exchange contracts or complete.

If you decide to put the house up for sale before probate is granted you will need to tell estate agents, prospective buyers, and anyone else you communicate with during the process of selling the house that the sale cannot be completed until probate is granted.

If you need help with selling a house under probate, our Wills and Probate team can help you in applying for probate whilst our Conveyancing team check the legal documents for the property.

Yes, you can sell a house with a mortgage, but when you have sold your house, you will need to pay the mortgage back with some of the proceeds of the house sale.

Whilst you can apply for another mortgage if you’re also looking to buy a property, the mortgage lender will need to be aware that you already have a mortgage, even though you are paying it back.

Alternatively, you can transfer the mortgage you currently have, with the same rates, to a new property, which is known as ‘porting’.

Whilst you don’t legally need a solicitor to sell your home, it can be a lengthy and complex process and you will be responsible for carrying out a number of tasks including preparing, and distributing a contract for sale, organising final accounts and preparing a final settlement.

Also, some mortgage providers insist that a solicitor or licensed conveyancer is used to protect their interests, or if you are selling a leasehold, the owner of the freehold may request that a solicitor is used for the house sale.

The main fees involved when selling a house are:

• Estate agents’ fees-this could be charged as a fixed fee or charged at a percentage of the selling price; the fee quoted should include VAT
• Mortgage fees for porting or remortgaging-if you decide to remortgage there may be a mortgage exit fee on your old mortgage, and if you’re still in the fixed rate period you could face a hefty early repayment charge
• EPC fees-when selling your home, you will need to provide the buyer with an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) for the property, which usually cost in the range of £50-£120 and is valid for 10 years
• Conveyancing fees-this will be charged at a flat fee or a percentage of the value of the property; if you are also buying a property the same solicitor can deal with that transaction. There will also be administrative costs for electronic ID checks, money-laundering checks, and a bank transfer fee
• Removal company fees-Hiring a professional removal company can set you back anywhere between £200 to £1500 depending on the time of day/day of the week/time of the month that you require them, the size of van or lorry needed, the distance the removal company needs to travel to get from your old house to your new property, whether you are packing items or asking the removals company to pack them, and the amount of packing materials required

Whilst you can sell a property without the deeds, you still need to be able to prove that you own the property. If your property is registered with the Land Registry, then they will have a definitive record of ownership and will be able to provide the information required. You can also obtain a copy of the original deeds by viewing an electronic copy by searching the Land Registry’s property information listing or purchasing a copy of any filed deeds for £7.00 per document.

If you need to prove ownership but the property is not registered, try contacting the solicitor that you or the owner used to buy the property, as they might still have a copy of your deeds. Alternatively, the deeds could be with your mortgage provider if you took out a mortgage when you bought the property. If you still cannot find the deeds, then you will need to apply for the process of reconstructing the title with the help of an experienced solicitor.

The legal stages of the conveyancing process are usually as follows:

• Choose a solicitor to carry out your conveyancing before you receive any offers
• Sign and return the solicitor’s Letter of Engagement and provide them with proof of ID
• Complete the forms your solicitor sends you; these will be the Property Information Form, and Fittings and Contents Form (and a Leasehold Information Form if the property is leasehold)
• You or the solicitor will need to request the Management Information Pack from the freeholder or managing agent
• Send your solicitor copies of documents and certificates mentioned in the forms you have completed (e.g. guarantees, warranties, building regulations sign-off), plus any additional documents your solicitor requests
• Inform your mortgage lender that you are selling your property and find out how much is outstanding on the loan and whether you will need to pay an early redemption penalty
• Once you have accepted an offer on your property, your solicitor will draft up a contract using the information you have provided to send to the buyer for approval
• Ensure there is access to your property for the buyer’s surveyor to examine your property. If the survey flags up any expensive work that is needed the buyer might want to negotiate on price or request that you carry out repairs before you exchange
• Answer any questions that the buyer or their solicitor has arising from the survey or searches, as well as any queries which weren’t covered in the forms you completed
• Your solicitor will draft a final contract to read and sign and a completion date will be agreed between both parties
• Your solicitor and the buyer’s solicitor will exchange contracts and your solicitor will receive the buyer’s deposit
• Once you have exchanged you can pack, organise removals and inform people of your change of address before completing
• Your solicitor should receive the balance payment for the property from the buyer’s solicitor on the day of completion
• On the day of completion your solicitor will transfer legal documents proving ownership to the buyer’s solicitor; organise the redemption of your mortgage; pay estate agent fees and solicitor’s fees out of the proceeds; send a completion statement including all monies and ask you to pay any outstanding amounts owed
• Once you have completed you must vacate the property and hand the keys over to the estate agent