How much is my house worth?
What homes near you actually sold for, from HM Land Registry, and the three kinds of valuation with what each costs.
Selling a house or flat
How a sale works, what you need to start, and where to go next.
The short answer
To sell a house in England and Wales you choose how to sell, get an Energy Performance Certificate, instruct a solicitor or conveyancer, accept an offer, then exchange contracts and complete. GOV.UK says the whole process takes about 5 months on average, and longer in a chain.1
How does selling a house work?
Selling a house starts with the route, which is an estate agent, an auction or an offer from a house-buying company. That choice sets most of what follows, from the fees to when the buyer is committed. The legal steps in England and Wales stay the same whichever you pick.
Choose the route on two things you already know, your deadline and the state of the house, before any firm starts pitching to you. If your date falls sooner than the five months or so GOV.UK gives for an average sale, the choice of route has already narrowed.
Haroon Ali Author, The House Desk. Over 11 years in property and renovation - Prepare. Check what you owe on the mortgage and whether your deal carries a charge for repaying early. You need an Energy Performance Certificate before the property is marketed.2
- Market and accept an offer. An agent must give buyers the material information that affects their decision, from council tax band and tenure to flood risk and building safety.4
- Legal work. Your conveyancer drafts the contract and answers the buyer's enquiries. Until contracts are exchanged, either side can still pull out.
- Exchange and complete. At exchange both sides sign and swap contracts, and the agreement becomes legally binding. On completion the buyer's money arrives, your conveyancer repays the mortgage and fees, and you receive the balance.3 Exchange and completion goes through both days.
What do I need to sell my house?
An Energy Performance Certificate before the property is marketed, a solicitor or conveyancer, your mortgage figures and the material information your agent must give buyers.
Guides to selling a house
Value, cost and timing are usually the next questions after the route, and each guide answers one in full, with the figures sourced and dated.
The cost of selling a house or flat
Agent, conveyancing, EPC, leasehold packs, mortgage charges, removals and tax, each on its own line, with a calculator for your own quotes.
Solicitor fees for selling a house
What a conveyancer charges a seller, the extras and disbursements, the prices every firm must publish, and when the bill falls due.
How long it takes to sell a house
Dated figures for each of the four stages of a sale, and what lengthens them, chains and leasehold above all.
Exchange and completion
What binds you at exchange, and completion day step by step.
The best time to sell a house
The months when sales complete and asking prices move, from official and portal figures, and the dates of your own that matter more.
House prices by region, month by month
The House Desk Tracker: sold prices across the UK, homes for sale, days to a buyer and what selling costs, updated monthly.
Selling a house quickly
How many days each route takes in practice, set against what it advertises, and what each week saved costs you in price.
When your house is not selling
Why a property has not found a buyer, and what to change first.
When a house sale falls through
Find the stage where the transaction stopped. That stage decides what you can still recover.
Ways to sell your home
There are three ways to sell your home. You can list it with an estate agent, enter it into an auction, or sell it directly to a company that buys property. If you have not chosen yet, read the route pages before the guides. Each asks its route the same questions, so the answers line up side by side. Selling during a separation or divorce, or selling a house with subsidence, each has its own guide to choosing a route.
The three ways to sell
Each route weighed against the other two.
Estate agents
How agency contracts and fees are structured. For a choice between online and high street agents, see online and high street agents.
Selling at auction
A buyer who commits far sooner, in exchange for less control over the price.
House-buying companies
Checked against the HMRC register, with what to ask before accepting an offer.
Prefer to work it out? Plan backwards from your moving date with the sale timeline planner, see what you would keep with the cost of selling calculator, or find where a stalled sale is stuck with the house not selling check. Every tool is on tools for selling your home.
Find the route that fits you
Three questions, about 30 seconds. Your answers stay in your browser.
Question 1 of 3
Your best fit
What you give up:
Why this route
Close second: Property auction.
Selling in Scotland works differently, with a Home Report and offers over a closing date. The guides note where Scottish rules differ.
Get help with your sale
Leave your details and tell us how you would like to sell.
While you wait, the guide covers what to check before you agree to anything.
Sources
(5)
Numbers in the text link to these. Each was read on the date shown. How we research