the house desk

Selling circumstances

The right route depends less on the house than on what surrounds the sale: who can sign, who lives there, and what a buyer will find.

By Haroon Ali Updated 14 September 2026 Covers England and Wales, with Scotland and Northern Ireland noted in each guide

The short answer

Before price comes into it, your circumstances decide when a sale can legally complete and which buyers can proceed. An executor waits for the grant of probate. A landlord either sells to an investor with the tenant in place or gets vacant possession first. A structural history narrows the buyers whose lenders and insurers will say yes.

Guides by circumstance

An inherited house, a tenanted property and a separation each change who signs the sale or who can buy, and each has its own guide.

Selling an inherited property

For executors, administrators and beneficiaries. Who can sign, what you can do before the grant of probate and what you cannot, the tax deadlines that set the pace, and what to do when siblings disagree about selling.

Selling a tenanted property

For landlords. Whether to sell to an investor with the tenant in place, or end the tenancy first under the rules in force in England since May 2026. Wales and Scotland are set out separately, along with deposits, licences and the documents a buyer will ask for.

Selling a house after divorce or separation

For couples separating. Whether you can be made to sell, selling before or after the finances are agreed, who has to sign, and what happens to the mortgage and the tax.

How circumstances change the route

A circumstance changes what each route costs you in time and certainty, and rarely rules one out.

Before you list, work out who has to sign and whether your buyer will need the house empty. A grant not yet issued, a co-owner who has not agreed, or a tenancy that must end before an empty sale will hold up completion on any route, so start on those first.

Haroon Ali Author, The House Desk. Over 11 years in property and renovation

Authority. An executor, attorney or trustee has to prove their authority before any buyer can complete.¹ The speed of a cash buyer or an auction only helps once the paperwork is in hand.
Occupation. A tenant in the property limits viewings as well as narrowing the buyers. Ending the tenancy first in England takes at least four months' notice.²
Agreement. Separating co-owners both sign the sale.³ Selling after divorce or separation sets out what to settle before a buyer is found.
Condition. Anything a lender or insurer treats as a risk, such as structural movement, favours buyers who do not need a mortgage.
A sale that has already failed. Time pressure after a failed sale changes what price and terms you can accept.

Start from your situation

You are an executor or administrator What it changes first: Nothing completes until your authority is proved, whichever route you use. Selling an inherited property
A tenant lives in the property What it changes first: Buyers narrow to investors unless the tenancy ends first, which adds months. Selling a tenanted property
You are separating from a co-owner What it changes first: Both of you sign, so the price and the split of the money need agreeing first. Selling after divorce or separation
The house has structural movement What it changes first: Fewer mortgage buyers, and the sale rests on disclosure and evidence. Selling a house with subsidence
A sale has already fallen through What it changes first: Find the stage it reached before you change route. When a sale falls through

If the problem is the property

Some circumstances belong to the building rather than the owner. The subsidence guide separates suspected, active and repaired movement, because each needs different evidence before a buyer's lender will lend.

Selling a house with subsidence

What you must disclose on the property information form, the reports and insurance history buyers and lenders ask for, and which routes still work when mortgage buyers hesitate.

If the sale has stalled or collapsed

Sometimes the circumstance is the sale itself. A buyer has pulled out, or the house is not getting offers.

What to do when a house sale falls through

Your rights depend on how far the transaction got, and exchange of contracts is the dividing line.

Why is my house not selling?

Viewings without offers, offers without progress, or no interest at all each point to a different fix, and not every fix involves a price cut.

Before you choose a route

Whatever your circumstance, the trade-off between the three routes stays the same. An estate agent usually reaches the widest market and takes longest. An auction buyer is committed from the day of the sale, with completion 20 business days later under the standard auction conditions unless the contract sets another date.⁴ A house-buying company offers speed and certainty at a price. Read the guide for your situation first, then weigh the routes with its limits in mind.

Weigh the ways to sell

Selling for an estate? The probate to sale planner works out the grant waits and tax deadlines from the date of death, and sold prices near you gives a first look at value.

Sources

(4)

Numbers in the text link to these. Each was read on the date shown. How we research

Practice guide 6: devolution on the death of a registered proprietor HM Land Registry, GOV.UK. Government guidance. England and Wales. Read 14 September 2026.
Housing Act 1988, section 8 (notice of proceedings for possession), as amended legislation.gov.uk. Legislation. England. Read 14 September 2026.
Law of Property Act 1925, section 27: purchaser not to be concerned with the trusts legislation.gov.uk. Legislation. England and Wales. Read 25 September 2026.
Common Auction Conditions (5th edition), reproduced with the consent of RICS RICS, reproduced by Durrants. Trade or professional body. England and Wales. Read 14 September 2026.