What selling actually costs the seller

There is a settled way of talking about the cost of selling. It is worth asking how much of it survives contact with the detail.

Start from net, not gross

The figure that matters is what reaches your account, which is the price less the mortgage redemption, fees, taxes and apportionments. Buyers plan their purchase from the sale price and then discover the gap when the completion statement arrives. Ask your conveyancer for an estimated completion statement early, since they produce one routinely.

Every later decision about what you can afford to buy depends on this number rather than on the asking price.

Agency and legal fees

Agency fees are commonly a percentage plus tax, and the percentage is negotiable at instruction and effectively fixed afterwards. Additional charges for photography, floor plans, premium listings or withdrawal may sit outside the headline percentage. Conveyancing on a sale is usually cheaper than on a purchase, with fewer disbursements, but leasehold sales attract extra work and a management pack fee.

Ask for a written quote that separates the fee from the disbursements before instructing either.

What the lender takes

The mortgage is redeemed from the proceeds, and the redemption figure includes interest to the completion date plus any administrative charge. An early repayment charge may apply if you are within a fixed or discounted period, and it can be a substantial percentage of the balance. Porting an existing deal to a new property avoids that charge in many cases, subject to the lender criteria and a fresh assessment.

Request a formal redemption statement rather than relying on the balance shown on a statement.

Taxes on the sale

Many countries tax the gain on property that is not your main residence, and some tax it on any property, with rules on reliefs, holding periods and deductible costs. Deductible costs frequently include purchase costs and capital improvements, which is a strong argument for keeping receipts across decades of ownership. Non-resident sellers face additional rules and sometimes withholding at completion.

Rules here change frequently and vary by jurisdiction; this needs an accountant in your own country rather than a general article.

Apportionments and small items

Service charges, ground rent and local property taxes are apportioned to the completion date, and a balance can fall either way. Removals, storage, cleaning and any repairs agreed as part of the negotiation come out of the same pot. Where you have agreed to leave fittings, that is a concession with a value even though it appears as nothing on the statement.

Individually small, these total more than most sellers expect.

None of this is a substitute for talking to a clinician if something feels wrong.

The chain-funding problem

If you are buying onwards, net proceeds plus new borrowing must cover the purchase price and all its costs, which are paid at different moments. Deposit money on your purchase is usually needed at exchange, before your sale money arrives, so a source has to exist for that gap. This is one of the practical reasons chains synchronise exchange, and one of the reasons a break in the chain is expensive.

Where it helps most, a conveyancer will map the timings for your specific transaction, and it is worth asking early rather than the week before.

The takeaway

Get an estimated completion statement early. That figure, not the price, is what you are buying with.

Small and repeatable beats ambitious and abandoned, almost every time.