At the end of the day, the costs of selling a home are met by the buyer through the purchase price, however, sellers are generally well advised to keep these costs in mind throughout the process as they will influence how much actual profit the seller makes on the home and hence what disposable funds they have to use as they see fit. With this in mind, Managing Director of new hybrid estate agent Indlu, Mark Burns, shares five hidden charges involved with selling your home. There are also strategies that you can use for selling a property quickly for cash which would be a completely new article!
The energy performance certificate
While home information packs have slunk away into the archives of property-market history (with few, if any, lamenting their departure), a small part of them still lives on in the form of energy performance certificates which must be obtained when you put your home on the market. Prices for EPCs vary depending on various factors, especially location and type/size of property, but at the top end, you’re looking at around £100, therefore, as house-selling charges go, this is arguably a fairly modest one, but it is still a charge and you will still have to pay it (unless you are covered by an existing EPC).
Preparation and staging
Depending on the state of your home, this can be as little as a few cans of paint to as much as the cost of a professional deep clean and full cosmetic refresh. In either case, the cost of this exercise can usually be recouped through the price paid and the speed of the sale – but it must still be paid to begin with.
VAT on estate agents’ fees
The estate agent’s fee itself is hardly a hidden charge, but what may come as a surprise is that estate agent’s fees are usually quoted before VAT (currently 20%), hence you may find yourself paying rather more than you expected to.
VAT on conveyancing fees
Unlike estate agents’ fees, conveyancing fees are often quoted inclusive of VAT, but that is not guaranteed. You need to be clear about whether or not VAT is included as part of the quoted fee in order to be able to judge your costs accurately. As a side note, opting for the conveyancers who offer the lowest fee may turn out to be a hidden cost in itself – and an expensive one at that. If house sales get bogged down in protracted conveyancing, buyers may decide to give up and look elsewhere, causing you to lose a sale.
Temporary accommodation
Out of all the charges so far mentioned, this may be the one which takes most people by surprise. In an ideal world, you would probably want to stay in your own home until you are ready to move into your new, permanent home. In the real world, however, you may find that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush or, in other words, that an offer from a serious and financially-qualified buyer is worth taking even if it involves you having to move out of your home sooner than you’d like and before you’ve found somewhere else to live.
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