This document provides guidance on three key steps for buying and selling a home: appointing an estate agent, finding the right conveyancer, and marketing your property. It discusses the benefits and costs of using estate agents versus selling directly. It also covers how to choose a conveyancer, typical conveyancing costs, and tips for taking photos and staging a property to attract buyers.

1. Three Key
Steps to
Buying and
Selling Your
Home: How to
Sell, Who to
Sell With and
Where to
Advertise

2. 2
‘Darling, perhaps we should move house?’ …Those words that
strike fear into the heart of many.
M oving house stress is something all of us can
relate to. From the moment we move out of our parent’s
house the majority of us make at least one more house
move in our lifetime, many of us more.
It’s no wonder that we find it stressful though. The value
of the money involved alone in a residential move is
enough to make it stressful. The cost of moving house in
London is estimated to be around £20,000. Add to that
the sheer volume of things to do when moving house
and the potential impact that a bad decision could have
on your life, it’s no wonder that people get so hot under
the collar when a home move gets mentioned.
And then, just when you’ve had about enough of the planning, the packing, the researching and the liaising, you
then have the challenge of bringing everything together at the same time for completion whilst moving all of your
worldly belongings in one go and actually move house.
Yes…it’s no wonder we find moving house stressful. At Space Station self storage we see people in the throes of a
house move every single week; scratching their heads and furrowing their brows as they reflect on the day ahead (or

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the one they have had) and then we have the joy of seeing them leaving us looking a lot more relaxed, knowing their
belongings will be looked after until they can pop back and collect their non-essentials at their leisure. So, we
decided to put together some useful information on moving house for you.
Click the header below to skip to the section you need right now in your home move schedule or take your time,
grab a cuppa and feel your stress levels melting away as we make your house move that little bit easier for you with
a few pearls of wisdom!
Contents
Introduction
Appointing an estate agent
Finding the Right Conveyancer
Marketing Your Property
Useful Sources

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Appointing an estate agent
Many people blindly appoint an estate agent as soon as decide to embark on that house or flat move. And yes,
estate agents can bring a lot of knowledge and experience to the process. They can help to get you a better deal on
your house sale and they can save you a lot of time, but they can also be one of the highest moving house costs.
With the internet we now have another option – the online estate agent. So, your first task, having made the
decision to move house, is to decide whether you want to sell your property directly or whether you wish to instruct
an estate agent.
The benefits of using an estate agent:
We see estate agents everywhere, they are on every high street, they have boards on almost every street, and they
are, of course, on Right Move (and who doesn’t love browsing Right Move’s houses for sale?). Once upon a time it
was only with capital investment to get brochures and flyers printed, appear in newspaper lists and get a board
outside your house that you could get the word out about your property being up for grabs.
Times have changed, options made feasible by the internet make it a lot more cost effective and achievable to sell
your own property and save some of your hard earned cash (if that is what you want to do)!
A typical estate agents’ fee can be anywhere between 0.75% and 2.5% and how much you pay will depend on where
you live, what your estate agents will do for you, and what you are obliged to do for them, so when choosing your
estate agents make sure you read the small print.
0.75% and even 2.5% doesn’t sound like much but it does add up so let’s take a look at how the numbers stack up:
*The average house price paid for properties in the UK this last year is £236,000 * estimate by Zoopla
These values can be off-putting; particularly when you consider that there are sites that enable you to sell your
property for free.

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Here is a run-down of your options:
Advertising only
Some sites will just promote your property on their website – the rest is up to you.
The rates are low but so are the service levels. These companies charge around the £50 mark and for that they
feature your property on their site- full stop. They do not verify your property details or support you in the sales
process. They most certainly will not chase your solicitors on exchange day.
These sites include No Estate Agents Please and The Little House Company.
The online estate agent
These are businesses such as Sarah Beeny’s Tepilo where you can expect to pay around £595+VAT* to sell the
average UK house or emoov who tells us that they ‘do everything an actual high street estate agent will do, but
cheaper’ for around £395+VAT*. Tepilo and Emoov will even arrange for their agents to visit your house to verify
any details you have provided, take photographs or draw up floor plans.
Traditional Estate Agents
Then there are the traditional guys on the high street. The big question though is not so much how much they will
charge but what they will do for you. Some of them will do everything and others will do very little. Usually though
they offer services that cover everything from an initial valuation, photography, floor plans and a printed brochure
for prospective buyers right down to advertising on Right Move, the local press, Zoopla, roadside advertising outside
your house, handling viewings and managing negotiations. Then, particularly if they have more than one property in
a chain, they will also help to encourage along conveyancers and searches in order to meet exchange and
completion dates where they can.
Often an estate agency will give you a reduction in fees if you guarantee sole promotional and sales rights to that
agency, either for a definitive period of time or indefinitely.
However you choose to sell your house make sure you:
 Read the fine print of any contract you sign.
 Work out the costs up front – nothing worse than a big bill surprising you along the way.
*at the time of writing.
TIP!
Make sure your estate agent
is a member of the National
Association of Estate Agents.

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Finding the right Conveyancer
Finding a conveyancer is important. In fact it’s most
important because without a conveyancer the
property move does not happen. A conveyancer is
the person that deals with all the legalities involved
in moving house. This includes requesting and
reviewing the searches and facilitating the legal
transfer of ownership title.
Contrary to popular belief you do not need a
solicitor to do your conveyancing (but all solicitors
are qualified to act as conveyancers). You can hire a
conveyancer (that is not a qualified solicitor). Some
people occasionally (more often in the past than
now) choose to do the conveyancing themselves,
but the risk is high on this one because if you miss
something it could be a very costly mistake.
If you are opting for a solicitor choose someone who displays the Solicitor Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS)
kitemark. If you are looking for a conveyancer then find one authorised by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers.
The difference between a Licensed Conveyancer and a Conveyancing Solicitor
There are six tasks that the person you appoint to carry out your conveyancing will be responsible for:
1) Conducting vital searches with local authorities, utility companies and other bodies to ensure that
there are no unpaid debts, liabilities or future plans in existence for the property in question. These
searches should also make you aware of waterways or sewers running close to the property.
2) They should notify you of any incurred costs that result or are likely to result from the sale or
purchase of a property such as stamp duty, or more unusual ones like chancel repair liability.
3) Draft and check the sale and purchase contracts.
4) Ensure your mortgage lender has all the necessary information from both sides of the transaction.
TIP!
Look for the CQS
Kitemark or checkout the
Council for Licensed
Conveyancers

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5) Release the fees and funds at the end of the transaction on your behalf.
6) And last but by no means least, register the new owners with the Land Registry.
Conveyancing costs
Conveyancer’s fees or solicitors costs can one of
the highest costs of moving house because they
cover the conveyancer's (or solicitor’s) time, costs
incurred such as phone call costs, internet charges
and any postage costs. They will also require an
indemnity fee to cover their insurance, land
registry fees and will also often charge a
contingency for any unexpected issues that may
arise. These costs are often seen as something we
‘just have to live with’ if we are to move house. But
when a sale goes wrong we can find ourselves
paying out a small fortune on conveyancer’s fees
but not actually buying (or selling) a property.
However, since 1995 this situation no longer has to end in tears. It was in 1995 that the Government made
Conditional Fee Agreements (CFAs) possible as a part of the introduction of Legal Aid. This means that solicitors are
able to offer their services on a ‘No Win No Fee’ basis. This ‘No Win No Fee’ is also applicable to house sales. Some
solicitors will now offer their conveyancing services on the basis that if you don’t complete and become the owner of
your shiny (or not so shiny) new home, you don’t pay any conveyancing fees. This can help massively to avoid
pointless expense in situations where a house sale falls through (such as where a buyer is gazumped, or the chain is
broken).
However, the main pitfall of this ‘no completion no fee’ model is that if you do complete you may find yourself
paying more than with a traditional conveyancing model. If you use an e-conveyancer the difference in fees may not
be as substantial so it is worth shopping around.
TIP!
Appoint a conveyancer early on in the
process so they can be working on the
documentation whilst you are working on
finding the house of your dreams…or like
most of us the property for your pocket
.
he Council for Licensed Conveyancers

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Marketing Your Property
Whether you choose to market your property yourself or have an estate agent do the work for you there are certain
things you need to think about:
Property Photographs
Before you take photos of your property cut the lawn, tidy away the kids’ toys and try and get the pictures taken on
a sunny day. Everything looks so much more welcoming in good light. Inside the property turn all the lights on - the
more light the better.
Think about what’s in the shot. Just because your apron
always hangs on the door doesn’t mean it needs to
feature in the picture of the kitchen.
If you are taking your own pictures a wide angled lens
will make your room look more spacious. all he lights for
photo day!
To have a board or not to have a board
This day in age the main use of a board (unless you live on a main road with plenty of passing traffic) is to flag your
house to people visiting for a viewing rather than spread the word about your planned sale.
There are many reasons for not having boards these days; not wanting the neighbours to know, not liking them
(boards, not your neighbour!), or just simply not believing boards do much for the house sale. Whether you are a
board fan or bored of boards it really is a matter of personal choice.
TIP!
Make your home as light as
possible.

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Staging your property
Staging properties is a mega bucks industry on the other side of the pond. Americans love it. It’s almost seen as
essential in a house sale and there’s a good reason why.
When someone views your house they are not buying a
house-they are buying a lifestyle. If they see a home that
comes with a lifestyle chaotic and fraught, covered in
piles of unsorted papers, unopened envelopes, crayon
on the wall and toys everywhere it may not appeal to
such a wide market as a home where everything is
ordered and has its place.
Neutral colours in décor will appeal to more people than
strong colours and minimal photographs will help the
viewer to envisage your home as theirs.
When you decide to sell your property take stock of each
room. There is a saying in interior design circles which is
‘if it doesn’t look good, and it isn’t useful then it
shouldn’t be there’.
For each room take a cardboard box and store anything that comply with this rule. Store it away, if it doesn’t have a
home in the house and you can do without it then you could pop it in a box in the garage, but bear in mind your
garage space will also be viewed by potential buyers so if space is limited self storage may be a better option.
Self storage is available for any length of time, from one week to decades, from 1m² to the size of a football stadium
and they can cost as little as your daily cappuccino habit!
Keep an eye open for The Space Station Mortgage Guide and Your Guide to Packing and Removals which will
contain your very own house move checklist with all of the things to do when you move house and a list of who to
notify when you move house coming soon!

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Useful Sources
Cost of moving calculator http://www.reallymoving.com/moving-cost-calculator
An estate agent’s tips for buying and
selling properties in the UK
http://www.channel4.com/4homes/buy-sell/buying-
property/estate-agents-guide-to-buying-and-selling
Resources to save you time and
money when house hunting
http://www.space-station.co.uk/blog/packing-and-removals-
guide/sites-that-save-you-time-and-money-when-you-are-
planning-a-house-move/
Staging your house for a quick sale http://www.space-
station.co.uk/blog/uncategorized/sellyourhousequicktips/
Living a minimalist lifestyle http://www.space-station.co.uk/blog/uncategorized/living-a-
minimalist-lifestyle-with-self-storage/
Properties for sale www.rightmove.com
E-moov Online estate agents http://www.emoov.co.uk/
Tepilo Online estate agents http://www.tepilo.com/
The role of a conveyancer http://www.moneysupermarket.com/conveyancing/
Conveyancers for West London http://www.reallymoving.com/conveyancing/directory/west-
london
A Comprehensive 3 Part Guide: The
Easy Way to Move House
http://www.space-station.co.uk/blog/packing-and-removals-
guide/your-guide-to-a-successful-house-move-part-1/
http://www.space-station.co.uk/blog/packing-and-removals-
guide/your-guide-to-a-successful-house-move-part-2/
http://www.space-station.co.uk/blog/packing-and-removals-
guide/your-guide-to-a-successful-house-move-part-3/
Moving day tips http://www.space-station.co.uk/blog/packing-and-removals-
guide/keep-your-moving-day-stress-free-with-our-moving-
day-survival-tips/

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