selling

How to sell your house in the UK: every step in order, with the document for each

How to sell your house in England and Wales: ten steps in order, the document or form for each, what can go wrong and links to our guide for every…

4 min read
Last reviewed 4 November 2026
By Your Property Check team

Part 1 of 6

The steps in order

General information, not advice. Read our Terms. This page covers England and Wales, checked on 4 November 2026. Scotland sells differently, as our guide to selling in Scotland explains. GOV.UK's Selling a home guide lists the stages in the order below. It says selling takes about 5 months on average and can take longer if you are in a chain.

Step	What you do	Document or form	Our page
1. Mortgage	Ask your lender for the balance, any early repayment charge and fees to move the mortgage	Redemption figure from your lender	Selling with a mortgage
2. Value	Compare local listings, sold prices and agent valuations	Valuation or sold price evidence	Sold prices compared
3. Paperwork	Gather the papers buyers expect	Title deeds, planning and building regulation papers, warranties	Documents you need
4. Energy certificate	Order an EPC before you market the home	Energy Performance Certificate	Find an EPC
5. Agent or yourself	Choose how to market the home	Agent terms of business	Estate agent fees
6. Conveyancer	Instruct a solicitor or conveyancer	ID and address proof	Conveyancing fees
7. Offer	Accept or negotiate an offer	Written offer details	Gazumping
8. Forms	Complete the seller's forms	Property information form, fittings and contents form	TA6 form
9. Exchange	Sign and exchange contracts	Contract, deposit held by solicitor	Fixtures and fittings
10. Completion	Hand over keys, repay the mortgage	Transfer deed	TR1 form

Part 2 of 6

Before you list

The steps before marketing are the ones you control, so do them first.

GOV.UK says you must either move your mortgage to a new home or pay it off, and that your lender can confirm the balance, any early repayment charge and fees. See early repayment charges when selling. It lists the documents buyers will expect: title deeds and tenure, an EPC, planning permission and building regulation certificates, FENSA or CERTASS certificates for windows, warranties, party wall agreements and fire safety information for flats. You will also need to prove your identity and address to your agent, conveyancer and lender, so the ID step is not a surprise later.

Part 3 of 6

Energy certificate

GOV.UK says you need an EPC before you market a home, that it rates the property from A to G and is valid for 10 years, and that you can be fined if you do not get one when needed. Citizens Advice says you and anyone acting for you must try to ensure an EPC is available within 7 days of the property first being put on the market.

Part 4 of 6

Agent, offers and the legal work

Citizens Advice says agent fees can vary from less than 1% to 3.5%. You can also sell without an estate agent. It says you can accept any offer and need not take the highest, but accepting is not binding in law: there is nothing to stop you changing your mind, and the buyer can withdraw too. Keep the details of other interested buyers. Once an offer is accepted, whoever does the legal work is told. Citizens Advice says there is no set scale of fees for conveyancing, so get quotes.

Part 5 of 6

Exchange and completion

This is the stage where the sale becomes binding, so it is worth knowing what happens before you sign. Your conveyancer sends the contract papers, answers the buyer's questions and agrees a completion date with the buyer's side.

At exchange the buyer's deposit goes to your solicitor, who holds it until completion, according to Citizens Advice. It also says you should not allow the buyer to do any work before completion. On completion day you must leave the house empty and hand over all the keys, and your solicitor passes on the rest of the price. If you have a mortgage it is repaid from the sale money. Our guide to moving house costs adds up the bills.

Part 6 of 6

What can go wrong

An EPC not ready when you list.
A mortgage early repayment charge nobody checked.
A buyer who withdraws or an agreed price that moves, since an accepted offer is not binding.
Missing paperwork that slows the solicitors.
A chain, where your sale depends on others, which GOV.UK says can make the sale take longer than the 5 month average.
A missed fixtures and fittings list, which leads to arguments over what stays.

For timings and costs, use our live pages on how long it takes and how much it costs, and see how to sell quickly for preparation. If probate is involved, read selling in probate.

This page is general information, not advice.

Our take

Start with a realistic value, then pick the route

GOV.UK says selling takes about 5 months on average, and longer in a chain. Most of the delay comes from steps that can start early: the energy certificate, the mortgage position and the paperwork. We think the first job is a realistic idea of value, because every later choice about agent, price and route depends on it.

Our free house value check gives an honest range from real HM Land Registry sold prices in your postcode, with the comparable sales and the working shown, and no email or phone number is needed. Then use the sale method comparison to weigh up your routes.

Check my value

Our opinion, drawn from the facts on this page: not advice and not a forecast. We earn from OfferCheck reports and from introducing sellers to cash buyers, so weigh it with that in mind (see our disclosure). We are not authorised or regulated by the FCA.

Questions, answered

Frequently asked questions

What are the steps to selling a house?

Check your mortgage, find the value, gather documents, get an EPC, choose an agent or sell yourself, instruct a conveyancer, accept an offer, exchange contracts and complete. GOV.UK lists these stages in that order.

In what order do you do them?

Start with the mortgage and value, then the paperwork and EPC before marketing, then the offer and legal work, and finish with exchange and completion. Instruct a conveyancer early so the paperwork is ready.

How long does each step take?

GOV.UK says selling takes about 5 months on average and longer in a chain. We do not give a time for each step. Our how-long page shows the sourced figures.

What can go wrong at each step?

An EPC missing at listing, an unchecked early repayment charge, a buyer withdrawing because an accepted offer is not binding, and missing documents. Citizens Advice says to keep other buyers' details.

Do I need an estate agent to sell my house?

No. GOV.UK says you can sell yourself or use an online, high street or hybrid agent. You still need an EPC, a conveyancer and identity checks.

Where this comes from

Sources

Last reviewed 4 November 2026 by the Your Property Check team. This page is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. For your own situation, speak to a conveyancing solicitor or another qualified professional.