A Guide to Selling Your Home

Selling your home presents a unique combination of demands, from understanding the legal and administrative hurdles which have to be cleared to knowing how to make your front door more appealing.

If you’ve done it before then you’ll have a basic idea of what’s involved, although there’s a good chance that the market will have moved on massively since the last time you sold your home, so it’s probably worth brushing up on the details. On the other hand, if you’ve never sold a property then you might find the prospect more than a little daunting.

But whatever your situation, if you are planning on selling your home, then this guide is designed to provide you with a handy checklist that should make the whole process feel a little more manageable.

Getting started

The first thing you need to do is establish a firm understanding of your current finances. One of the more finely nuanced aspects of selling your home involves understanding exactly how much money you need the sale of your home to bring in if you are to afford the costs associated with selling up and moving into your dream new home. If you still owe on your existing mortgage then you’ll need enough money to pay off that debt as a minimum, and you’ll also need to factor in the following expenses:

• Any outstanding debts which are secured against the property
• The fees you’ll need to pay to an estate agent (if you use one)
• The cost of getting an Energy Performance Certificate, unless a valid certificate is already in place or the property is exempt
• The legal fees you’ll need to pay
• Any land registry fees
• The cost of moving from your old home to your new home
• If the home is not your primary home or includes a lot of land, you may need to pay Capital Gains Tax on the proceeds from the sale
• The cost of bringing your home to the best possible condition – from essential repairs to cosmetic improvements – to make a sale more likely

At this stage in the process, many of the figures included in the list above will be estimates rather than precise amounts, but a ballpark figure of the overall expenses will be useful as a yardstick to use when deciding on an asking price.

One of the key factors at this stage is your existing mortgage deal. You need to look through the paperwork relating to your deal to see whether you’ll have to pay any early repayment charges if you switch your mortgage to another lender. Alternatively, you may be able to ‘port’ the mortgage, a phrase which means shifting an existing mortgage to a new property. In general, if you’re paying the standard variable rate charged by your lender – the rate which applies at the end of any fixed rate or tracker period – then there are unlikely to be any penalty fees to pay. If you’re still on a more appealing introductory rate then you should ask if the mortgage is portable. If it is in principle, then the lender needs to approve the new property and the price being paid for it, and you need to pass affordability tests, in order for the mortgage to move with you at no extra cost.

If the mortgage can’t be ported and you’re currently still paying the introductory rate then there’s a good chance you’ll be charged an early repayment charge when you move. In most cases, this will be between 1% and 5% of the amount of mortgage which still remains to be paid. This can amount to quite a large amount of money, as the following examples demonstrate:

• A 2% early repayment charge due on £275,000 remaining on a mortgage would be £5,550
• A 3% early repayment charge due on £275,000 remaining on a mortgage would be £8,250
• A 5% early repayment charge due on £275,000 remaining on a mortgage would be £13,750

These are all substantial sums of money, and in some cases, the fees charged for moving from one mortgage to another will be so high that they are enough to dissuade people from making the move.  

There is the chance that you’re selling your home and shifting to renting, of course, or moving in with someone else, in which case the question of a new mortgage won’t arise.

Gather your paperwork

Some of the paperwork and documentation you’re likely to need when selling your home could date back to when you actually bought it. Digging it out may not be simple, but providing people such as prospective buyers, your estate agent and legal representatives with the information they need as soon as they need it will prevent damaging and frustrating delays further down the line. Amongst the paperwork, you will need is the following:

• Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) – Having an EPC in place is a legal requirement. It is a rating of the energy efficiency of the property, ranging from A at best to G at worst. Once issued, an EPC is valid for 10 years, unless you have done something to the property which is likely to affect the rating given, and if you’re not sure if your home is still covered by one you can check the online EPC register. Houses which are listed or located in a conservation area sometimes don’t need an EPC, but if your home does and one is not registered, you will need to purchase a new one, which usually costs between £40 and £120. You can ask an energy assessor or pay your estate agent to deal with it. An EPC will enable you to demonstrate that your home is energy efficient, and in these days of ever-rising prices, this could make it more appealing to would-be purchasers.
• HM Land Registry title documents
• Documentation relating to gas checks carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer
• Documentation relating to electrical checks – an Electrical Installation Condition Report (EICR) or a NAPIT or NICEIC certificate/report from a registered electrical engineer
• FENSA or CERTAS certificates for windows
• Details of the planning permission for any major work carried out on the house
• Documents such as building regulation completion certificates and builder’s guarantee certificates for any alterations or additions to the building
• Warranties or guarantees relating to subsidence
• Warranties or guarantees relating to damp
• Party wall guarantees if they are relevant
• If your home is a listed building, you’ll need to find all consents for interior and exterior work
• If your home is in a conservation area, you’ll need to find conservation area consents for any work carried out
• Any Japanese knotweed management plans needed
• Any relevant specialist asbestos surveys
• Any title insurance policies taken out to solve title defects

At some point in the process, your legal representative will ask you to complete a ‘Property Information Form’, also known as a TA6 form. You can visit the Law Society’s website to take a look at a sample of the form and familiarise yourself with the level of detail needed.

The information required will usually include specifics on the boundaries to the property, details of any disputes or complaints regarding the property, whether solar panels have been installed (and if so when), and whether the property has even been flooded.

The safest course of action is to ask your legal representative to make checks of this kind to avoid any mistakes being made.   

ID checks

People such as mortgage lenders, legal representatives and estate agents have a legal duty to check your identity to guard against money laundering. This means that when you’re pulling together all of the documentation relating to your home you also need to gather proof of identity documents in the form of a photo ID (eg, a passport or driving licence) and proof of address documentation such as a driving licence, bank statement or utility bill from the previous 3 months.

Getting the right price

The price you will receive for your property will be determined by a range of factors, from prevailing market conditions to the urgency with which the buyer wants to complete the purchase. Many of these factors will be out of your control.

You’ll need to pull together different bits of information, usually including expert input from estate agents, to establish what you think your home should fetch.

It should be noted that this is not necessarily the same as what you think your home is worth. If you’re very fortunate, then a rising market, a buyer in a hurry or local factors such as nearby schools could massively boost the price your home fetches compared to a similar property under different market conditions.

You can get a rough idea as to how much your home could sell for by looking at what sales of similar properties in the same area made. Researching this is as simple as checking out property websites or estate agent windows, although you can also log onto HM Land Registry to research the agreed purchase price for properties.

You should also ask as many as three estate agents to value your property. While these will not be formal valuations of the kind you’d get from a surveyor or qualified property valuer, they will act as a guide as to the worth of your property, particularly if you ask them to explain their valuations and bring along some examples of sold prices locally.

It’s probably useful to seek valuations from different types of estate agents, i.e. a small bespoke local agent, a well-known high street chain and an online agent; as they will each have their own perspective on property prices. Asking an estate agent to value your property doesn’t represent a commitment to using them for your sale.

The wisest approach is to take the average price of the valuations as being the most realistic figure. In general terms, it probably pays not to set the price too high as this will deter people from making an offer. Setting the price a little lower, on the other hand, could lead to there being several interested buyers which – as they compete to make the purchase – should drive the price higher.

To a certain extent, the ideal asking price will be dictated by your circumstances. If you need to sell quickly then you could speed the process by dropping the price to 90% of the perceived market value, for example.

Other factors dictating how much your house is likely to fetch, over and above physical aspects like the number of bedrooms, the overall floor space and the location, include factors as fundamental as the time of year.

The property market slows in the run-up to Christmas and during the summer holidays, for example, and picks up at the start of the year and in the spring or early autumn.

Similarly, external events can impact the housing market, such as when COVID-19 pandemic restrictions on movement drove a spike in demand for properties with larger gardens. Amazingly, those ‘in the know’ even talk about a phenomenon known as ‘The Waitrose Effect’, whereby homes close to a Waitrose receive a boost in value. Perhaps less surprisingly the same can apply to homes close to transport links, or within the catchment area of well-regarded schools.

Estate agent…or not?

When it comes to deciding whether to use an estate agent and how to choose one if you do, there are three main options; do it yourself, choose an online business or chose a high street estate agent.

DIY

The DIY option is far and away the least expensive but also involves the most work. Unless you have a buyer already lined up then you’ll have to advertise your property, and if you choose to handle the sale yourself then you won’t be able to advertise on platforms such as PrimeLocation, Zoopla and Rightmove.

The alternatives include posting ads in your local press or on noticeboards, using social media such as local neighbourhood Facebook pages, and advertising on online marketplaces like HouseWeb and TheHouseShop. If you do opt to go it alone you’ll have to host your own viewings, source or make your own ‘For Sale’ sign and source your own photography for marketing purposes.

Online Estate Agent

Using an online estate agent to sell your home represents the middle ground from a cost perspective. An online estate agent will do some of the work of selling your home for you in return for an upfront fee rather than a commission on the sale. This fee will be much less than the commission would have been, but exactly how much depends upon the level of service you opt for. Most online estate agents offer different packages at different prices, meaning that, depending on the package you choose, they either do or don’t provide things such as:

• Professional photographs of your home
• Floor plans
• A new Energy Performance Certificate if needed
• Hosted viewings

Check the reviews before making a choice, and ask yourself how many aspects of the sale of your home you’re willing to handle on your own to save money, before choosing the service package that suits you. Some of the bigger names in the online estate agent field include Purplebricks, Doorsteps, Strike and Yopa

High Street Estate Agents

If you decide you’d rather put everything in the hands of the experts and avoid as much of the drudge work of selling your home as possible, then you should opt for a high street estate agent.

They will include services such as hosted viewings and Energy Performance Certificates, and will provide a more personalised service across the board, acting as a conduit between you and any prospective buyers.

In return for this level of service, you can expect to pay fees which typically amount to anything from 0.75% and 3%of the agreed sale price. Although if the property fails to sell, you pay nothing.

When selecting a high street estate agent, be sure to check their credentials beforehand, looking at their existing listings and online reviews, and ask them about the number of properties they’ve managed to sell in your location recently, as well as how much they charge.

Other things to look out for are whether they are a member of a body such as the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA) or the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS). Membership will mean they have signed up to a code of practice or membership rules.

One matter to be cautious of when you sign a contract with your estate agent is agreeing to give them ‘sole contract rights’. This means that even if you find your own buyer during the agreed period of the contract, the estate agent will still receive their commission.

You should also enquire what will happen if the property hasn’t sold in 3 to 6 months, and in particular, whether you can engage another estate agent without paying penalties, or if this could mean you end up having to pay commission to both estate agents in the event of a sale.  

Getting your home ready to sell

Before you start inviting people in to look around your home with a view to buying, you have to take the time to ensure that it is looking its very best. You may opt to carry out a facelift on the property before asking an estate agent to value it, but you should definitely do so before prospective buyers start looking around, and certainly before you take any photographs to advertise your home.

You need to begin where anyone seeing your home for the first time will begin, which is to say with the outside of the property and the creation of some genuine kerb appeal.

Not all of the following tips will apply to all properties (if you haven’t got a garden then you won’t be worrying about the state of the lawn, for example), but the general principle is to take a step back and look at your home the way a stranger would.

You may think the cracked paving stones in the path and the broken door knocker are charmingly quirky, but to someone looking for their next home they could signal a degree of neglect. Your job at this stage is to ensure that everything a prospective buyer sees looks as clean and well-maintained as possible.

Paths

Use a pressure washer to clean up any larger areas of concrete or paving stones such as a garden path or patio space. If you’ve got a smaller path and a simple front doorstep then get down there with a scrubbing brush and warm water. In both cases, use a detergent expressly designed for outdoor paving, as this will not only get the surfaces clean but also help to prevent mould growth.

Repairs

You know those repairs you’ve been putting off? Now’s the time to stop procrastinating and get them done. If there’s a broken fence panel in your garden or a twisted bolt on the garden gate then you need to mend or replace it. Things which you and your family may have stopped even noticing over time will stick out like a sore thumb to any prospective buyers.

Treat your lawn

A patchy, weed-ridden or overgrown lawn can dilute the impact of the rest of your garden and create a feeling of negligence. It may just be a question of keeping your lawn neatly mown regularly, or treating it to kill off moss, but if you’re not sure what to do, consult the lawn care section of the Royal Horticultural Society website or if you’re really stumped, call in a professional.  

Clear a space

Getting your home ready for viewing is all about creating a blank canvas inside and out, onto which any prospective buyers will hopefully project themselves and their family. When it comes to the garden, this means shifting bulkier items such as lawnmowers and barbecues, although, when it comes to garden furniture, a carefully chosen table and set of chairs in a south-facing garden could work as a selling point.

Add some colour to your space

If your garden's in full bloom, it's guaranteed to impress anyone who comes to look at your home. So, if your outdoor space doesn't have a lot of colour already, planting some shrubs and flowers is a great idea. If you’re naturally green-fingered then this will probably happen by itself, of course, but if you’re not then you can create a pleasing vista by visiting your local garden centre and purchasing a selection of the following:

• Sweetpeas
• Marigolds
• Lavender
• Daylilies
• Aquilegias

While you’re out planting them, take the time to cut back any vegetation, such as tree branches or bushes, which may be overhanging paths, doors and windows.

Doors and porches

It’s easy to take your front door for granted, but it's’ going to be the first part of your home that a prospective buyer comes into close contact with. For that reason, it’s well worth smartening up. If the door is uPVC then you can purchase specialist cleaning products. If the door is wooden you could rejuvenate it with a new coat of paint. Choose a colour which complements the style of the building or forms a neat but not too garish contrast, and, if you’ve got a garage door or front gate, then co-ordinate the new colour palette across all three.

Once you’ve painted the door, the hardware – such as numbers, letter boxes and door knockers – will probably look a little worn and shabby in comparison. In most cases, you could simply fit new versions, but if the originals are period features, then just give them a good polish. If your doorbell isn’t as effective as it once was then this is the perfect opportunity to treat your home to a new, hi-tech, wireless version, most of which can be fitted in seconds without the need to be trailing wires anywhere.

If you’ve got the space, then placing potted plants on either side of the door could help to create a stylish and appealing entrance to your home. Evergreen plants offer year-round class, as long as you make sure you choose pots that can handle the elements and still look good.

Windows

One of the downsides of starting to clean up one part of the outside of your home is that you start to notice all the other parts that could do with some TLC. For example, old windows, when contrasted with your newly made-over door, could look out of place.

Cleaning the glass of your windows is an obvious place to start, but you could also give the frames the same treatment as the front door – cleaning uPVC versions with specialist cleaner and repainting the wooden ones.   

Things you do on the inside could also impact the appearance of the windows from the outside, so ask yourself if they’d look better with new blinds, curtains or shutters.

Inside the house 

The first rule of getting the inside of your home ready to be viewed by prospective buyers is to rent a self-storage space for the period over which you’re trying to sell it. People are famously deterred from buying properties if they feel the space is too cluttered, so you could shift everything which you can manage without into storage, opening up the space in your home, de-personalising it for viewers and allowing you to show off the space and the potential it offers to the best effect.  

You could clear out your loft, thus highlighting storage space or the potential for a conversion. The same could be said of an empty shed, while a garage cleared of junk will be somewhere prospective buyers could imagine parking their car.

This has the added advantage of letting you make a start on the grand clear-out that’s going to be needed when you do eventually sell your home. People will open cupboards and wardrobes as they look around your home, so make sure that they aren’t hit by an avalanche of items, and also that spaces such as shelves or even the tops of wardrobes are kept clutter-free.

It may hurt to do it, but you’re going to have to hide away (i.e. put into storage) any personal items around your home. This includes pictures of your children, your wedding photographs, award certificates etc. It may seem harsh, but prospective buyers don’t care about your life, they just want to find out if they could imagine themselves living in your home. The less evidence of you and your family they’re given to look at, the easier this leap of imagination will be.  

Snag list

As anyone in the building trade will know, a snag list is a list of those small jobs that need doing when a project has otherwise been finished, such as a cracked kitchen tile that needs replacing, or a mark on the wall that has to be painted over. You need to make the same kind of list walking around your own home, perhaps asking a friend you can trust to be honest to walk around with you and point out those things you might have stopped noticing.  

It could be anything from a loose door handle to a leaking tap, a stained carpet or a light bulb that needs replacing. Once you’ve made your snag list, fix the items noted one by one and tick them off.

Clean

Cleaning should begin with cleaning the grout on all the tiles in the house because this can easily become grey and worn looking over time, and is often overlooked. You will then need to work through all other areas, including walls, floors and ceilings, window ledges, door handles, the inside and outside of the cooker, fridge and freezer, the inside of the windows and everything else you can see when you walk into each room (plus all those things you can’t see unless you go looking, as prospective buyers almost certainly will).

Furniture

Once you’ve cleaned everything to a dazzling gleam, you need to rearrange your furniture in a way that ensures there are easy through lines in and out of each room, with spaces between the items of furniture and between the furniture and the walls. If you have a larger piece of furniture in a room, use it as a focal point by placing it along the longest wall.

Lighting

Make sure that the lighting in each room is as clear as possible to show off the size and potential of the room, and to stop it from looking as though you have something to hide. The best light of all is natural light, so make sure that blinds and curtains are open. If natural daylight isn’t available due to the time of day then make sure that all lamps and light fittings have the right bulbs in and use clear but not intrusive lamps to spread light into all corners of a space. 

Maintain the regime 

The not-so-good news – particularly if you’re not that keen on housework – is that once you’ve got your house in the condition you want it to be in to show it off, you need to maintain it with a regular cleaning, dusting and polishing regime. The slightly better news is that, once you’ve got your house looking pristine it won’t be as much hard work to keep it that way (although you’ll have to be vigilant for clutter slowly creeping back if the home takes a while to sell).  

Pets

There’s no escaping the fact that some prospective buyers simply don’t like pets. If you can board your cat or dog with a loving relative for a while then do so, and if this isn’t possible then try to keep them out of the way when people are viewing your home. Consider investing in products which will get rid of any lingering smells, and hide any cat litter or food out of sight.

Staging

‘Stage’ some inviting areas around your home. You could put a bowl of fresh fruit in the middle of the kitchen table, for example, or place a comfy chair alongside a table with a tea service on it in front of the window that overlooks the garden.  

Colour scheme

If your normal colour scheme is something particularly vivid and individual, you may find it useful to go over the walls with a couple of coats of something far more neutral and relaxing, to create that blank canvas for prospective buyers. If you have a series of smaller rooms then using a colour palette which is the same or similar throughout the different areas will help to create a feeling of space by linking the smaller areas together.    

Photographs

Most estate agents will organise for professional photography to be taken of your home, even if it is for an additional fee for the service. If you opt to take your own photographs, however, then you should take note of the following simple tips:

• If you can get hold of a good quality digital camera then do so, but if you have to use your smartphone then try using the HDR (high dynamic range) setting to capture greater detail.
• Take photographs of the outside of your home after carrying out the work on the exterior and any paths and garden detailed above.
• Take your photographs during the day and with the curtains and blinds open so that you can take advantage of shooting in natural light. Not only will this enable the camera to pick up the details of your home, but it will also help to create a feeling of air and space within the photographs.
• Choose the best angle for each room, preferably one which will include three walls as this adds depth to the image. In many cases, the best spot from which to capture a room is either from a doorway or a corner. Take the images from around chest height to avoid any distorted sightlines and if there is a particular feature of a room which you wish to highlight – such as a fireplace or large French window – then place this in the centre of your photograph.  
• Once you’ve taken the pictures choose a fairly small selection of the best, rather than bombarding prospective buyers with too many images to consider. As long as you’ve showcased every room and provided images of the exterior of the house you should have enough photographs, although key rooms such as the lounge and kitchen can be captured from more than one angle.

Professional help

If you’re using an estate agent, they may be able to recommend other professionals such as a legal representative, mortgage broker and surveyor. If they do refer you to a company or professional they should be up-front about whether they will be receiving a referral fee, including how much it will be. No matter what happens you shouldn’t feel obliged to work with a professional that has been referred by an estate agent, shopping around for the best deal available and choosing those whom you feel most comfortable working with. Be aware that if you’re looking for a new mortgage then the fact of making multiple enquiries could impact your credit rating, so ask any mortgage providers you approach about their policy on credit checks.

Instruct a conveyancer

The Conveyancer is the name given to any legal professional performing the role of transferring ownership of your home from you to the buyer. You need to choose a legal representative just before putting your home up for sale or shortly after to avoid delays further down the line. The legal professionals qualified to undertake conveyancing work include the following:

• Solicitors
• Licensed conveyancers
• Chartered legal executives and CILEx practitioners

As with most things, you should shop around when choosing a conveyancer, taking into account factors such as:

• The price they agree to charge. Are there any hidden fees or charges within that price and will they be paid a referral fee for doing your conveyancing work? Also ask if they offer a no-move, no-fee service.
• The quality of the work they do. See if they publish any online reviews from customers and whether they have the specialist skills needed – i.e. if your home is a leasehold property or a listed building, will they be able to handle the more complex conveyancing demands?
• The level and type of service they provide. Ask if you will have a named contact during the time they are working for you, how frequently they will communicate with you and what methods they will use (i.e. email, phone, text etc.) What are their opening hours, and have they worked with properties in your local area?

Selecting a buyer

The estate agent you’re using has a legal duty to pass on the details of any offers they receive, even if the offer is below the asking price or you’ve already accepted an offer. The stress involved in selling your home may make you feel like grabbing the first offer you receive but don’t rush into anything. Ask yourself if the amount is what you were hoping to get and whether it matches what similar properties in the local area have sold or are selling for. As well as the amount being offered, you need to consider the nature of the offer, and in particular, whether it is being made by a cash buyer or a mortgage buyer. If the prospective buyer needs a mortgage to pay for your home, have they already got a decision in principle?

Another key consideration is whether the prospective buyer is part of a chain or not. If they are part of a chain then there is always the potential for delay if another property deal up or down the chain runs into problems. If the offer is made by a first-time buyer or someone in rented accommodation, on the other hand, then delays become less likely, whereas the longer any chain is, the more likely problems become. You should also ask whether the buyer is willing to enter into a reservation agreement. Under a reservation agreement, the buyer agrees to pay compensation if they pull out of the deal at some point. Once you’ve chosen the buyer best suited to your requirements and agreed to the sale, you enter into a process of negotiation.

Negotiation

Although a sale has been agreed upon in principle, neither party is yet under any legal obligation to go through with it and the specific details are still up for negotiation. These details include the following:

• The completion date – this is the date by which you need to have moved out of your home. In some cases, this date will be dictated by the date on which the buyer has to move out of their home, and also other external factors such as holidays which have already been booked. No matter when the completion date is it needs to be agreed upon by all parties.
• Fixtures and fittings – decide which fixtures and fittings you want to take with you and which you could leave behind. Make sure that the details are included in the contract – often the details will be included as part of a TA10 form – including details of what you’ll be leaving for free and what will involve extra cost, as agreed with the buyer.
• Survey – the survey carried out on behalf of the buyer may have uncovered issues which they feel you should pay to fix, or which means they want to renegotiate their offer to account for the cost of the work. The problems may be such that they decide to withdraw their offer.

Enquiries

During negotiations, the legal representatives of the buyer will raise enquiries. This is simply the term for questions relating to any information they have received, such as the title of the property and the details of the mortgage. They may also ask more general questions about the property and the transaction as a whole. Questions of this kind can be asked throughout the process, up to and including the moments before completion, and while your legal representatives will usually answer any questions, they may need your input. Answering these questions is important, as the details they unearth may be needed to satisfy the requirements of the buyer’s lender. There are some questions which you don’t need to respond to, however, such as those which lie outside your area of knowledge or those for which the buyer should be able to find the answers for themselves.

Accepting an offer

Once you’ve decided to accept an offer, the legal representatives of the buyer will review the title of the property and may get in touch with questions about your home. They may even commission a surveyor, builder, or mortgage valuer to assess the property, which may seem inconvenient, but is normally a sign that they are serious about the purchase going through. At this point, your home is said to be ‘sold subject to contract’, which means that it is not legally sold until written contracts have been exchanged with the buyer and all paperwork finalised.
Although neither party is legally committed at this stage, as long as the groundwork has been done properly, there should be no reason why either party would suddenly want to pull out of the deal, particularly bearing in mind that withdrawing after accepting an offer is likely to increase costs and cause delays. Once an offer has been accepted you should remove your home from the market.

Exchange contracts

Once you have exchanged signed contracts with the buyer, you are legally bound to go through with the sale. If you withdraw from the sale then you may find yourself being sued for breach of contract, the buyer’s expenses and, in some cases, compensation. If the buyer withdraws they may lose their deposit.

You are still responsible for looking after your home until the sale is completed, so make sure that your buildings and contents insurance is fully up to date.

Once contracts have been exchanged the buyer may well wish to visit your home to measure up for furniture and curtains etc.

Completion

Completion of your sale is the point at which the remaining funds for your home are received by your legal representative from the buyer’s legal representative, and you are required to hand over the ownership of the property.

The transfer of amounts of money on this scale can be complex and delays may happen across the day of completion, but once received, this sum will pay off:

• Any outstanding amount on the mortgage. This will include the remaining unpaid mortgage, any charges for paying the mortgage back early and an amount in interest.
• Any debts secured against the house
• Stamp duty on any other property you are buying
• Any outstanding estate agent fees
• Any relevant service charges
• Their own fees

After all of these have been paid, the remaining balance will be transferred to your account by your legal representatives. From your point of view, the sale will feel as though it’s been completed when the money has been transferred into your account, and the keys handed over to the new owner.

Moving

Things you need to do before moving from your old home and into your new one include removing any refuse, emptying bins etc. and generally leaving your home in the kind of condition you would want to find your new home in. You should also make a record of the utility meter readings and call your energy providers to close your accounts at this address. Log your change of address with the Royal Mail to ensure that your post will be forwarded to your new home in the future, to protect against identity theft.

We mentioned storage when discussing getting your home ready for viewing, but it also comes in handy when you’re moving, particularly if you make use of storage to gradually pack your belongings away and shift them while waiting for the sale to be completed. In this way, you can pack non-essentials and be left with much less to move and unpack at the other end on moving day itself.

You can opt to move the contents of your home yourself, perhaps with the help of friends and family, or you can hire a professional removal company. The actual day of moving might be dictated by a chain your sale is involved in, but it helps when hiring a removal company if you can avoid traditionally busy moving days such as Friday and the first and last days of the month.

You need to choose the removal company very carefully, bearing in mind the responsibility they’ll have, and decide whether you want them to take charge of the packing as well, or just move your belongings after you’ve already packed them. You should get a few quotes from different removals firms and ask them the following:

• Are they in a trade association such as the British Association of Removers?
• Do they have insurance that will cover your belongings for the duration of the moving process?

Look into any online reviews they publish, checking whether issues seem to arise and, if they do, how these issues are resolved, and before signing, go through the contract to look for extra charges or fees, and ask for any you find to be explained.