Agreeing your compensation is a milestone, not the finish line. If you’re an owner-occupier, it’s the start of the moving process. If you’re a landlord you won’t be moving — but you will usually need to get your tenants out and hand over with vacant possession before the sale can complete. Work through the sections that apply to you, in roughly the order they appear.

1Solicitors

Once a sale price is agreed, you’ll need a solicitor to transfer ownership of your property to the buyer in exchange for the agreed funds. The same solicitor usually handles the purchase of your next home at the same time. The reasonable legal costs of your sale are payable by whoever is buying your property, and your purchase costs are normally recoverable through disturbance compensation.

One important point: your solicitor will not complete the sale until you have somewhere to move to. So it pays to start the process early — instruct a solicitor soon after agreement — but hold off on completion until you’re genuinely ready.

The conveyancing process, stage by stage

Every sale is a little different, but most follow the same broad path. Here’s what to expect:

2My Budget

Before you commit to a new home, it’s worth being clear on both the upfront costs of buying and the ongoing costs of living there — service charges, ground rent, council tax, utilities and travel all add up. Getting a realistic picture now avoids surprises later.

If your property is affected by the Heathrow scheme, please use the dedicated budget calculator on our Heathrow page instead.

3Mortgages

When you sell, any outstanding mortgage is normally repaid on completion. A few mortgages are portable to a new property, but most people take out a new mortgage when they buy elsewhere. Terms typically run from 3 to 40 years — a longer term lowers the monthly cost but means more interest overall, so it’s worth taking proper advice.

Don’t assume your existing bank offers the best rate. As a rough guide, lenders will consider income and outgoings and often lend somewhere between three and five times household pre-tax income — but a good broker can find deals you won’t see on the high street. Remember that mortgage costs can rise over time, so make sure any commitment is genuinely affordable.

4Stamp Duty

Stamp duty is the tax paid when you buy a property. Under compulsory purchase rules it’s recoverable up to a cap — broadly, the stamp duty you’d pay on a purchase at your sale price. So if you sell your main home at £300,000 and buy at the same price or less, the full amount is normally recoverable. If you buy at a higher price, the stamp duty on the excess isn’t recoverable (unless it’s been negotiated into the buyer’s offer, as can happen with shared-equity properties).

5Finding & Buying

This is often the fun bit — and sometimes the frustrating one. Where an estate is being cleared, nearby prices can be higher than the value of the estate itself, which can make buying close by a challenge. A little flexibility goes a long way.

Looking for somewhere

Widen your search radius on the portals — stretching from one mile to three can transform your options — and stay open on layout, as some two-bedroom homes convert neatly to three. The two portals worth watching are Rightmove and Zoopla.

Registering with agents

Register with four or five active agents in the areas you’re targeting so you hear about new listings early — but not so many that your phone never stops.

Making an offer

Offers are made through the estate agent, and some negotiation is normal. When your offer is accepted, tell the agent which solicitor you’re using — you’re under no obligation to use theirs, and our panel solicitors can handle both your purchase and your sale.

6Survey & Valuation

If you’re buying a new home, a survey is one of the most valuable things you can do — and one of the easiest to skip in the rush to move. A survey is a detailed inspection of the building’s condition by a chartered surveyor, setting out what needs attention now, what to keep an eye on, and what it’s likely to cost to put right. It’s the difference between buying with your eyes open and inheriting someone else’s problems.

We’d always steer you towards a proper survey rather than a basic valuation. A valuation only confirms what a property is worth — it won’t warn you about damp, movement, a tired roof or dated wiring. Most of our clients end up commissioning a RICS Level 3 Building Survey, the most thorough report available, because it gives the clearest picture of what you’re taking on. And in many cases we’re able to get the acquiring authority to pay for it as part of your compensation, so cost needn’t be the deciding factor.

7Tenant Eviction

Sales are agreed on the basis of vacant possession — most buyers won’t purchase with tenants still in place, or will drop their price sharply if they will. So if you’re a landlord, getting your tenants out is usually the one thing standing between you and completion. Occasionally an acquiring authority will agree to take a tenant on directly, which removes the need to evict — but in our experience that’s very rare, so you should plan on the basis that obtaining vacant possession is down to you.

Renting to tenants on benefits can be a double-edged sword: reliable, council-backed income, but a formal eviction is often needed when it’s time to sell.

A word of caution: however good your relationship, tenants rarely leave simply because you’ve asked. DIY eviction runs headlong into recent, tenant-friendly changes in the law, and the mistakes can be costly. It’s almost always cheaper and quicker to use a specialist.