You’ve agreed on a sale price for your home. Brilliant! But here’s the question that catches many sellers off guard: how much of that money will you actually keep?
If you’re like most homeowners, you’ve probably focused on the headline figure – what your house will sell for. But the reality is, selling a property through a traditional estate agent comes with a lengthy list of costs that can eat away thousands from your final payout.
This guide breaks down every potential cost of selling a house with a traditional estate agent in the UK, so there are no nasty surprises. We’ll also show you how alternative selling methods can eliminate these fees entirely – putting more money in your pocket and completing the sale in days rather than months.
The Main Costs of Selling Your House
Let’s start with the explicit fees you’ll encounter when selling through an estate agent. These are the costs that will directly reduce the amount you receive from your sale.
Estate Agent Fees: The Biggest Bite
Estate agent fees are typically the largest single expense when selling your home. And they can be eye-watering.
Most traditional high street estate agents charge between 1% and 3% of your final sale price, plus 20% VAT. That might not sound like much as a percentage, but let’s put it in real terms.
The average UK house price sits at around £285,000.
If you’re paying a fairly standard 1.5% commission plus VAT, you’re looking at £5,130 going straight to your estate agent.
That’s over five thousand pounds.
And here’s the kicker: that fee comes out regardless of how much work your agent actually does. Whether your house sells in a week or sits on the market for six months, whether they conduct two viewings or twenty, the percentage remains the same.
You might be thinking about online or hybrid agents who offer cheaper fixed fees. Yes, they typically charge less – usually between £500 and £1,500. But there’s a catch. These fees are often payable upfront, whether your house sells or not. If your sale falls through, you don’t get that money back.
Legal Fees (Conveyancing): The Essential Expense
You can’t sell a house without a solicitor or licensed conveyancer to handle the legal transfer of ownership. It’s not optional – it’s a legal requirement.
Conveyancing costs typically range from £850 to £1,500 for a straightforward sale. But that word “straightforward” is doing a lot of heavy lifting. If you’re selling a leasehold property, dealing with boundary disputes, or have any complications with your title deeds, expect those costs to climb higher.
Most solicitors will also charge additional fees for things like bank transfers (usually £20-50 per transfer), dealing with your mortgage redemption, and various searches and checks. These “disbursements” can add another few hundred pounds to your bill.
If you’d like more details on the cost of conveyancing, then this guide will dive into this in a lot more detail, so you’ll get a much better idea of how much it will cost you for your property. We also have a guide here about cheap conveyancers.
Energy Performance Certificate (EPC): The Legal Requirement
Before you can even market your property, you need an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC). You can find all the official details on the government’s EPC guidance page.
An EPC typically costs between £60 and £120, depending on your property size and location. The certificate is valid for 10 years, so if you’ve had one done recently, you might be able to skip this cost. But for most sellers, it’s another expense to add to the list. You can check EPC certificates here.
Mortgage Exit and Early Repayment Fees: The Sting in the Tail
If you still have a mortgage on your property, your lender will want their pound of flesh when you pay it off.
First, there’s the mortgage exit fee, sometimes called an “account closing fee”. This typically ranges from £50 to £300.
But the real killer can be the Early Repayment Charge (ERC). If you’re still within a fixed-rate period, your lender may charge you a penalty for paying off your mortgage early. These charges can be brutal – typically 1% to 5% of your outstanding loan amount.
Let’s say you have £150,000 left on your mortgage and face a 3% ERC. That’s £4,500 gone, just like that.
If your mortgage lender has an online account, you should be able to log in and check the ERC rates for your mortgage. Otherwise you might need to go digging through old paperwork or give them a call to figure out exactly what the cost would be for you.
Removal Costs: The Final Expense
Once you’ve sold, you need to actually move out. Removal costs vary wildly, but a typical three-bedroom house move will cost between £600 and £2,000.
If you’re moving a long distance or need storage, these costs can easily double or triple.
We’ve written here extensively about the costs of moving house, so do go check that out.
The ‘Hidden’ Costs of a Slow Sale
Now we get to the costs that most sellers don’t consider – but they’re often the most painful.
The Problem: Time Is Money (Literally)
The average time to sell a property in the UK, from listing to completion, stretches beyond 20 weeks. That’s five months of your life in limbo.
And every single day your house sits on the market costs you money.
Running Costs: The Meter Keeps Ticking
While you wait for a buyer and the legal process to unfold, you’re still paying:
- Monthly mortgage payments
- Council Tax
- Gas and electricity bills
- Water rates
- Buildings and contents insurance
Let’s be conservative and say your monthly household bills total £1,500. Over a typical 5-month sale process, that’s £7,500 in holding costs alone.
That’s right. Seven and a half thousand pounds, just for the privilege of waiting.
You could argue that you’d have to live somewhere, and wherever that location is (new house or old), you’d be paying these bills either way. And of course you’d be right, unless of course the house you are selling is a second home, such as a rental property or inherited property.
Repairs and Staging: The Beauty Contest
Here’s an uncomfortable truth: buyers are picky. To attract them, you’ll likely need to spend money on redecorating, garden tidying, and minor repairs.
These costs can range from a few hundred pounds to several thousand. And there’s no guarantee these improvements will actually speed up your sale or get you a better price.
For major repairs, we have a whole section on our website that covers the cost for major repairs. Everything from changing a septic tank, to replacing all your windows, to removing a load bearing wall, and everything in between is covered in this array of guides. So, go and see the full list here.
The Cost of a Broken Chain: When It All Falls Apart
This is the nightmare scenario that keeps sellers awake at night. And it should.
Around 1 in 3 property sales fall through after an offer has been accepted. When this happens, it’s known as a broken house chain, if other property transactions depend on yours, and the consequences are severe for everyone involved.
The sale fallthrough often means you’ve wasted money. It could mean that you’ve wasted estate agent fees if using an online estate agent. Normally it means you’ve wasted legal fees since many conveyancers will often want to be paid regardless of sale success. And, if it’s a second property, you’ve wasted ‘holding fees’ i.e. bills associated with having a vacant property.
We’ve got a super in-depth guide on the cost of a broken property chain over here. I highly recommend you read it if you’re interested in diving deeper into that topic.
The Alternative: A Fast, No-Fee Sale
What if you could bypass all these costs and uncertainties?
This isn’t a pipe dream. It’s exactly what we do at Property Rescue.
As professional cash house buyers, we’ve stripped away everything that makes traditional selling expensive, stressful, and uncertain. No estate agents. No chains. No waiting. No fees.
The Direct Comparison: Traditional Sale vs Property Rescue
Let’s put the numbers side by side:
| Cost | Selling with an Estate Agent | Selling to Property Rescue |
| Estate Agent Fees | £5,000+ | £0 |
| Legal Fees | £850 – £1,500 | £0 (We pay them) |
| EPC Costs | £60 – £120 | £0 (We pay them) |
| Repair Costs | Often required | £0 (We buy in any condition) |
| Hidden ‘Waiting’ Costs | 5+ months of bills (£7,500+) | £0 (Sale completes in days) |
| Risk of Sale Falling Through | 33% chance | 0% (Guaranteed sale) |
| Total Typical Costs | £13,000 – £20,000+ | £0 |
Those aren’t typos. When you sell to Property Rescue, you pay nothing. Zero. Not a penny.
How Can We Do This?
It’s simple: we’re not middlemen like estate agents. We’re the actual buyers.
We don’t need to market your property and cross our fingers that you’ll get an offer, because we’re buying it ourselves with our own cash funds.
Speed: We can provide a formal cash offer within hours and complete the purchase in as little as 7 days if you need us to. We can exchange contracts in as little as 48 hours and give you a cash advance to tide you over if you need cash urgently.
Certainty: Our offer is guaranteed. As direct cash buyers, there’s no chain to break and no mortgage to be refused.
Simplicity: No viewings, no repairs, no stress. We genuinely buy houses in any condition.
Take Control Today
Selling your house doesn’t have to be expensive or uncertain. Our service is particularly valuable if you are:
- Facing financial difficulty: We can help you avoid house repossession by completing a sale faster than any bank deadline.
- Dealing with probate: If you need to sell an inherited property, we can provide a quick, compassionate, and hassle-free sale to help you settle the estate and wipe out any inheritance tax bills.
- Stuck with a broken chain: If your buyer has pulled out, we can step in and buy your property immediately, keeping your own purchase on track.
Why put yourself through the stress and expense of a traditional sale?
Ready to see how much you could get for your home without any of the fees or delays?
Enter your postcode on our secure online form to receive a free, no-obligation cash offer today. It only takes a minute.
No pressure. No obligation. Just honest advice and a genuine fast cash offer. If you don’t like the offer for any reason, you’re free to walk away.
