Your selling timeline
A typical selling timeline in England, showing the main steps from marketing until completion. Every sale is unique - but this gives you a clear picture of what lies ahead.
Marketing stage
Typically 5–16 weeksPrepare for marketing
Perhaps some decluttering, minor repairs, gathering paperwork. EPC commissioned.
Begin marketing
Photographs, floorplan and property details produced and home placed on the market.
Viewings
Viewings arranged and take place. Feedback and updates discussed.
Accept offer and sale agreed
Offers negotiated and sale agreed. Memorandum of Sale is produced and the legal stage begins.
Legal stage
Typically 10–20 weeksLegal enquiries and searches
Your buyer's solicitor raises enquiries and commissions local authority searches.
Buyer's mortgage and survey
If your buyer is getting a mortgage a mortgage valuation will be carried out. Your buyer may also have a survey conducted.
Contract negotiations
Solicitors work through enquiries and any conditions of sale. There may be further negotiations or points of clarification.
Exchange of contracts
Buyer pays deposit. Both parties are legally bound and cannot withdraw without significant financial penalty. A completion date is set.
Completion
The sale completes and purchase funds are transfered. You are no longer the legal owner. Keys are handed over.
Around 1 in 3 sales agreed in England collapse before exchange
There are things you can do to reduce this risk: instruct a good solicitor before agreeing a sale, and make sure your estate agent carries out proper due diligence on any potential buyer - confirming not just their ability to purchase, but their motivation to see it through.
A note on chains
A chain is a sequence of linked property sales and purchases, each dependent on the one before it. When a property is also being purchased, the legal stages above occur simultaneously for both transactions. The more links in the chain, the more precarious things can become.
Not sure what a term means?
Our jargon buster explains the words and phrases you are likely to come across in plain English.
Want to talk through what this means for you?
Every sale is different. We are here to help you understand your own situation and what to expect.
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