Which costs fall on the seller and which on the buyer?
English and Welsh conveyancing splits the cost of a sale along a fairly settled line. The seller pays for marketing the property and for proving title to it. The buyer pays for investigating that title, for taxing the purchase and for registering it. Each side pays its own conveyancer. The table sets out the usual position; anything different has to be agreed in the contract, and the special conditions of an auction sale in particular can move costs from one side to the other.
| Cost | Who pays | When |
|---|---|---|
| Estate agent's commission | Seller | From the proceeds at completion |
| Seller's conveyancing fee | Seller | From the proceeds at completion |
| Buyer's conveyancing fee | Buyer | At the buyer's completion |
| Official copies of the title register and plan from HM Land Registry | Seller | At the start, when the contract pack is prepared |
| Energy Performance Certificate | Seller | Before marketing |
| Leasehold management pack from the freeholder or managing agent | Seller | Up front, before the pack is released |
| Searches: local authority, drainage and water, environmental | Buyer | Early in the buyer's conveyancing |
| Survey and mortgage valuation | Buyer | Before exchange |
| Stamp Duty Land Tax (England) or Land Transaction Tax (Wales) | Buyer | England: return and payment within 14 days of the effective date. Wales: within 30 days beginning with the day after it. The two deadlines are not the same |
| HM Land Registry registration fee, set by the fee order | Buyer | On the buyer's application after completion |
| Indemnity insurance for a title or paperwork defect | Usually the seller, by negotiation | On or before completion |
| Mortgage redemption and any early repayment charge | Seller | From the proceeds at completion |
| Landlord's fees for notice of transfer, notice of charge or deed of covenant | The lease decides. These are duties the lease usually puts on the incoming leaseholder, so the buyer normally pays | At or shortly after completion |
| Landlord's fee for a licence to assign | Different. Under the Standard Conditions of Sale the seller applies for the landlord's consent at the seller's expense, unless the contract says otherwise | Before completion |
| Removals | Each side for their own move | Completion day |
What comes out of the proceeds at completion?
On completion day the buyer's conveyancer sends the purchase money to your conveyancer. It does not come to you first. Your conveyancer holds it and pays out in a fixed order: the mortgage is redeemed, the estate agent is paid against their invoice, the conveyancing fee and disbursements are deducted, and the balance is sent to your bank account, usually the same day.
The mortgage comes first because the lender will not release its charge until it has been paid in full. Your conveyancer obtains a redemption statement from the lender shortly before completion, showing the balance outstanding, the daily interest to the completion date and any early repayment charge that applies because you are leaving a fixed or discounted deal early. If the redemption figure has changed by completion day, the difference is settled from the proceeds and the statement is updated.
The estate agent's commission is settled next. Most agency agreements make the fee payable on completion and authorise your conveyancer to pay it from the proceeds, so you never handle it. Read your agency agreement for the basis of the fee and for any clause that makes it payable if you withdraw or sell to a buyer the agent introduced after the agreement ends.
Before completion you receive a completion statement showing every one of these figures: the price, the deposit already held, the redemption figure, the agent's invoice, the conveyancing fee, each disbursement, any apportionments, and the net sum due to you. Read it line by line. It is the document where an unexpected charge would be visible in advance, and the point at which to ask about anything you do not recognise.
What do you have to pay before completion?
Most sellers pay very little before completion day, but a few costs cannot wait, because third parties require payment before they will release documents. HM Land Registry charges for official copies of the register and title plan, which your conveyancer needs to prepare the contract pack. If you cannot find the Energy Performance Certificate from when you bought, or it has expired, a new one has to be commissioned before the property is marketed. A certificate lasts ten years. On a leasehold sale, the freeholder or managing agent charges for the management pack and almost always wants paying before it is released. Our management pack guide explains why that document holds up sales.
Some sellers also spend money curing problems the buyer's conveyancer would otherwise raise: a regularisation certificate for work done without building regulations approval, retrospective consent for an alteration, or an indemnity policy where a certificate cannot be found. Doing this before marketing is cheaper than doing it under pressure with a chain waiting.
If you owe more than the property is worth, the shortfall has to be paid to the lender before it will release its charge, and the lender must consent to the sale at that price. That situation needs flagging at the very start of the transaction, not at exchange, because the buyer cannot complete until the charge is cleared.
What extra costs does a leasehold seller face?
Selling a flat adds a layer. The management pack has been mentioned. Beyond it, ground rent and service charge are apportioned to the completion date: you pay up to the day you sell and the buyer takes over from then. If you have paid a full year in advance, the unexpired portion is credited back to you on the completion statement. If a service charge demand is outstanding, it is deducted.
Where the building's service charge accounts for the current year have not been finalised, the buyer's conveyancer often asks for a retention from the proceeds to cover any balancing charge that lands after completion. There is no standard retention and no standard period. The amount, how long it is held and what releases it are all matters of agreement between you and the buyer, and they should be recorded in writing before completion, with a long stop date, because a retention with no end date is your money sitting somewhere indefinitely. Your conveyancer holds it and returns the balance to you once the position is settled. That is a separate arrangement from the mechanism the standard contract does provide: where a sum to be apportioned simply is not known at completion, standard condition 6.3.5 calls for a provisional apportionment on the best estimate available, a final apportionment once the figure is known, and the resulting balance paid no more than ten working days after that (checked 20 September 2026). Our service charges guide explains what a freeholder can and cannot recover.
The lease usually requires the buyer to serve notice of the transfer on the landlord, and sometimes to enter into a deed of covenant or obtain a licence to assign. The landlord charges for each of these, and there is no general rule about who bears the cost. Nobody publishes a typical allocation, because it is not a matter of practice: the lease decides which of you owes the landlord the duty, and the contract decides who carries the cost between you. Notice of transfer and notice of charge are duties the lease normally puts on the incoming leaseholder, so the buyer usually pays those, and a deed of covenant is given by the buyer. A licence to assign runs the other way: where consent is needed to complete, standard condition 8.3.2 of the Standard Conditions of Sale makes it the seller who applies for it and who bears the expense of applying, unless a special condition moves that, which on a leasehold sale it often does. Whatever the lease says, the landlord cannot charge what it likes. Section 19(1)(a) of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 allows a landlord only a reasonable sum for the legal and other expenses of a consent, and where a charge is not fixed by the lease itself, paragraph 2 of Schedule 11 to the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 makes it payable only to the extent that it is reasonable, with a right to have that decided by the residential property tribunal for the country the property is in. That right belongs to whoever is the tenant at the time, which before completion is the seller and afterwards is the buyer. The lease and the special conditions are both read before the costs are agreed (checked 20 September 2026).
Do you pay any tax when you sell?
You do not pay Stamp Duty Land Tax in England or Land Transaction Tax in Wales on a sale. Both are purchase taxes, paid by the buyer. If you are selling and buying at the same time, the tax applies only to the purchase side, and our buying and selling service deals with both.
Capital gains tax can apply if the property was not your only or main home throughout the time you owned it. A property that has always been your main residence is normally covered by private residence relief in full. A second home, a buy-to-let or an inherited property you have never lived in is not, and any gain must be reported to HM Revenue and Customs and the tax paid within 60 days of completing the sale, through an HM Revenue and Customs capital gains tax on UK property account, which costs nothing to use. Interest and a penalty can follow if the deadline is missed. Our selling an inherited home guide covers how the gain is measured on an inherited property. Tax is not part of conveyancing, and where a liability may arise you should take advice from an accountant or tax adviser before exchange, not after.
How do you keep the seller's costs under control?
Three things make the difference. First, agree the conveyancing fee in writing before work starts, with the disbursements listed by name, so that the completion statement holds no surprises. Our selling service does this on every file. Second, read the estate agency agreement before signing it: the basis of the fee, the notice period and any sole-agency or ready-willing-and-able clause are where sellers lose money they did not expect to. Third, get the paperwork in order before marketing, so that nothing has to be bought in a hurry. What happens if my buyer pulls out explains why speed between offer and exchange protects the seller as much as the buyer.