How long should it take to sell your home? What to expect in 2025

Selling your home has two phases: the marketing, and then the period from when you accept an offer to the sale completing.

Timings can vary hugely and is dependent on a lot of different factors, including:

• How proactive and good your agent is
• The level of current demand for your type of property
• Where in the UK you’re selling
• Whether you want to accept the offers that are being made!
• Whether you have instructed your legal company upfront and how good you and they are at the extensive paperwork required to sell a home
• How quickly and easily all the information required (e.g. warranties, confirmation of planning permission, leasehold management information, searches) can be provided
• The mortgage process for your buyer
• Whether the survey raises any issues that need to be addressed before the sale can proceed
• How soon a completion date that works for everyone can be agreed.

In short, there are a lot of elements involved, and the more people there are in the chain – that’s the number of related sales/purchases that all need to go through in order for your sale to successfully complete – the longer the process is likely to take.

On the other hand, if there is no chain at all – for example, if you’re selling to a first-time buyer and you’re happy to move out into a rented property – you could sell in just a couple of months. But this is rare and many transactions do have a chain.

What can I do to speed up my sale?

The more prepared you are ahead of accepting an offer, the quicker the process is likely to be. Of course, you don’t have any control over the other parties in the chain, but if you can ensure that you have everything in place and that you respond right away to any enquiries, that will help move things along.

The first thing to do is choose a reputable local agent who is a member of Propertymark or RICS that has a track record of successfully selling your type of home. That means one that is good at not only finding a buyer and negotiating a sale but also progressing the sale to completion.

Then, before your home goes on the market:

• Get together all the property-related paperwork.
• Decide on which items you would be prepared to include in the sale if a buyer requested them, such as curtains, light fittings and garden furniture, and complete the property fittings and contents form.
• Instruct a legal company so they can open your file and start preparing the sales contract, so this can be passed to the buyer’s conveyancing lawyer within a few days or a week of an offer being accepted

Once it’s on the market:

• Be available and flexible for viewings, to get as many potential buyers through the door as soon as possible. Give your agent a key so they can take people round while you’re not there.

• Choose a proceedable or chain-free buyer – if feasible! If there’s a lot of interest in your property and you’re fortunate enough to receive multiple offers, going with a buyer who has already agreed a sale themselves or is entirely chain-free could speed things up.

Once the sale is agreed:

• Agree a rough timescale for everyone to work towards. Although there may be unavoidable delays at various points, it’s worth setting expectations for when you’d like to complete.
• Check with your agent that the buyer understands the process and has everything in hand, e.g.
  • Their mortgage application is underway and they understand what monies need to be available for exchange and completion.
  • They know the importance of instructing the searches and survey as soon as possible.

• Sign your sales contract and title transfer document as soon as they’re ready.
• Book your removals and ensure they will be able to have you fully moved out of the property by 1pm on the day of completion.

If you have a related purchase underway, it’s worth deciding at the start of the process what you would do if it fell through. Would you be willing to move out into rented accommodation to preserve your own sale? Although that would be more upheaval for you, you would then be chain-free and in a very good position to make offers when you found a new home.

And one final tip…If you are older and perhaps not thinking about moving now, but you’re aware you or your children may need to sell the property in the future, work on putting together a file of all the property information so it’s ready when needed. Most people have a will that plans for their finances and health – getting your property admin in order is just another sensible bit of planning.

Whether you’re selling or buying, we’re here to make sure you have a successful home move. So, wherever you are in the process, if you’d like any help or advice, or you’re looking for a sales valuation, get in touch with your local branch.