Selling your home usually means buying another one at the same time, which can prove to be a very stressful experience. To keep the number of potential hiccups to a minimum, it’s a good idea to get well and truly organised from the start.

Stage one: Getting your home valued

Before you sell anything you need to know how much it is worth – but when it comes to property this sum hinges on several factors.  That’s why it is advisable to obtain three valuations from three separate estate agents – which will be free of charge – and opt for the average.

Remember that you will also need to factor into the price what you intend to leave, such as white goods, carpets and curtains, although these may be stated separately on the memorandum (see Stage four: Accepting an offer). Bear in mind that, whatever price you end up marketing your home at, it is fairly arbitrary. What a property is really worth is what somebody ends up paying for it, which – depending on the sway of the market – may well be lower than the final valuation.

Stage two: Putting your home on the market 

Before you put up your property for sale in any form, the law requires that you should have applied for a Home Information Pack (HIP) - on which see separate section. Then you are free to use whatever channel you like. These days, for example, it is easier than ever to cut out the services (and therefore costs) of an estate agent. There are several websites that enable you to advertise your property direct to potential buyers for a fixed nominal fee. And selling at auction – real or online – is another possibility. However, neither one of these routes may be the wisest to take, especially if it is the first time you have sold a property.

Most people still choose to employ an estate agent, which can be done in two ways. Sole agency is when you instruct just one estate agent to market and sell your house. Usually, if an agent has not found a buyer during a set time period - say six weeks - you are free to find another agent instead of, or in addition to, the original one. Alternatively, you could go down the multi-agency route, where several agents are competing to sell the house first.

Commission charges will vary between agents and even sales, so it’s always worth negotiating. A benchmark, however, is around 1.5% of the final selling price for sole agency and a little higher – around 2 to 2.5% – for multi-agency. This steeper fee mitigates the risk of the agent making no commission at all. Remember that usually VAT is not incorporated in the quoted price.

Even though estate agency as an industry is not regulated, according to the Estate Agents Act 1979 a seller must be told in advance how charges are calculated and when they will be levied. The agent must also disclose if they harbour any personal interest in the transaction that could affect the fairness of the sale.

Stage Three: Taking viewings

If you have appointed an estate agent, you will need to establish who is going to be responsible for conducting the viewings. If you are out at work all day it might make sense to pass the house keys – and responsibility – to the agent, although make sure you are kept informed as to when these viewings will be. Aside from the fact that it is still your home, you will want to ensure that the property is tidy and ready to receive interested parties.

In terms of preparing your property for sale, quite simply the more space that can be seen, the better. This means tidying and de-cluttering everything from under the stairs, on surfaces – even from cupboards as potential buyers will want to see how much storage space there is. As you are planning to move anyway, why not do a boot sale to sell the items you will ultimately be loath to pack? Or, if Sundays are too precious, sell your unwanted goods gradually on eBay. After all, when moving home, you need as much money and as little junk as possible.

Stage four: Accepting an offer

Any offers to buy your property will arrive via the estate agent, whose job it is to achieve the best price for the current market through negotiation. This, of course is also in their interest, as commission is usually payable as a percentage of the final purchase price. 

Most of the time sellers have in mind a minimum acceptable price for the property, which will be set in accordance with the price of the one they want to buy. But even if this figure has been matched or exceeded, it is still ultimately up to you if you want to accept the offer or not. You will need to take the agent’s advice on this, as they have the experience of knowing whether it is a buyer’s or a seller’s market, and how long the process may take according to the type of buyer making the offer.  Remember that ultimately you and the estate agent are on the same side.

You will not want to take your home off the market until you are reasonably happy that the sale with this buyer is going ahead. This is often signified by way of a memorandum sent from the estate agent to both buyer and seller. The memorandum is not legally binding but sets out proposed terms and conditions, such as the price agreed and an estimated exchange and completion date. It also specifies the details of both the buyer’s and seller’s solicitors. You will now need to pass the buyer’s contact on to your solicitor for the legal proceedings – a process known as conveyancing – to begin.

In the immediate meantime, you should receive a visit from a surveyor working on behalf of the buyer. You may need to take a day off work for this – especially in winter – as they will need to carry out the survey in broad daylight. Depending on the type of survey the buyer has commissioned, be prepared for a lengthy visit involving lifting up carpets and poking around lofts and cupboards.

Stage five: Preparing for exchange

Presuming the buyer is happy with the results of the survey, the conveyancing process pushes ahead. As a seller, one of the first tasks you will need to carry out is filling in the fixtures and fittings forms, which will state which items are staying and which ones you are taking. You will also need to fill out a property information form, disclosing anything that the potential buyer should know, such as boundary, or even neighbourly, disputes. If you don’t fill this in accurately you could be sued later down the line.

The solicitor will then send these forms, as well as a draft contract and the Land Registry information, to the buyers’ solicitor. Be prepared at this point for re-negotiations to take place via your solicitors. Keep on top of what’s going on, as this is the crucial time for a sale potentially to fall through.

Stage six: Exchange and completion

When both parties are satisfied, contracts are exchanged. This is the point at which you are both legally bound to the deal. Once your solicitor has received the money for the sale of your property, they will arrange to hand over the title deeds and transfer document to the buyer’s solicitor. They will then organise for the proceeds received to repay your outstanding mortgage (plus any fees) and give the remainder to you – unless, that is, it forms the deposit on your new property which is to be paid simultaneously.

At this point, once it has been confirmed that funds have been received, you have reached completion. The property has been sold and you must drop off the keys at the estate agent, to be collected by the new owner.

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