Moving house

imagine

imagine

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May 2, 2003
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I'm thinking of taking a transfer with the company I work for to another part of the country. It's too far to travel in every day so if I take it I'll have to move. Can anyone enlighten me on possible costs that I'd have to fork out for? I'm guessing solicitor's fees, estate agent fees and possibly stamp duty oh and a HIP thingy but what else is there? I own my own place now and I was renting prior to that but this would be the first time I've sold a property.

Advice needed please :confused:
 
There are two main costs incurred in selling a house, firstly the cost in finding a buyer, and secondly the legal costs.

You have two options, using an Estate Agent, fees are usually 1.5% to 4% of your property's value (+VAT at 17.5%). Estate Agent fees can vary, so it is worth shopping about but budget for £2000 approx


You could sell privately, this used to be very difficult due to the cost of advertising to a wide enough audience. However there are now online marketplaces for selling privately on the Internet. You can advertise your property to hundreds of thousands of house hunters on somewhere like HouseWeb for as low as £40 (+VAT) with no commission or extra fees.

Solicitor's fees Estimate around £500 (+VAT)

Don't forget you now need a Home Information Pack which will need to be available from the first day your property is put on the market. Think the cost is around £200 - £300. All the info is here

http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/BuyingAndSellingYourHome/Homeinformationpacks/DG_171685


When you purchase your new place there is stamp duty to consider, currently no charge on properties up to £175,000 but only for the rest of this year, 1% on properties costing £175,000 to £250,000 and 3% £250000 to £500000
 
Brilliant info from DG, Imagine. The other cost that will be incurred, unless you have a chum in the business who'll do it free, is the haulage of your furniture, etc., to the new home. A small local removals business might be fine, but do make sure they're fully insured against all damage or loss of your stuff. It depends on the length of the trip as to how much it'll cost you, because that determines how much time the removal men will be working, and that's also on how much you'll be giving them to take. Good idea to start chucking out everything you don't like/don't use, to reduce such costs. You can usually get a rough, over-the-phone estimate based on average house sizes, etc. to give you an idea to start with. Try three or four soon, so that's one estimated cost you can jot down.

And, at the risk of teaching Granny to suck eggs, don't forget that once you have a definite exchange of contracts and your house belongs to the new buyer, to stop all of your utility bills' payments from that date. Phone, broadband, tv services, gas, electric, water, Council Tax - instruct your bank to stop all of the Standing Orders or Direct Debits you have concerning the property. Make sure that formal final readings of gas, electricity and water use are made just beforehand, so there's no quibbling.

Good luck!
 
Thank you! Lots to consider - I definitely have a lot of crap I could throw out lol
 
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