How long does it take to sell a house in England?

GOV.UK puts it at about five months. Its guide to selling a home says "Selling a home takes about 5 months on average", and that "The process can take longer if you're part of a chain of buyers and sellers." That covers instructing an agent through to handing over the keys, and the spread around it is wide: a cash buyer on a freehold house with the paperwork ready is quicker, a leasehold flat in a long chain considerably slower. The range is wide because most of it is out of your hands: searches, enquiries, lenders, leaseholder information and the chain.

Before you market

Two jobs come before the photographs. The first is the Energy Performance Certificate. Regulation 7(2) of the Energy Performance of Buildings (England and Wales) Regulations 2012 says that where none is valid, "Before the building is put on the market, the relevant person must secure that an energy performance certificate is commissioned". GOV.UK says the same plainly: "You must order an EPC for potential buyers and tenants before you market your property to sell or rent." The rating must appear in the advertising, and an EPC lasts 10 years — our EPC guide explains it.

The second is the paperwork. GOV.UK's pre-marketing list runs to title deeds, tenure, the EPC, planning permission and building regulation certificates, FENSA or CERTASS window certificates, guarantees, warranties and surveys, electrical checks, party wall agreements and "information about fire safety issues (if you live in a flat)".

Your conveyancer will then send you a property information form and a fittings and contents form. They feed the contract, which GOV.UK says must cover the price, boundaries, "which fixtures and fittings (like carpets and kitchen units) are included", restrictions, services and when the sale will complete. Every blank becomes an enquiry later, and enquiries take weeks.

Choosing an agent

You sign a legally binding contract with an estate agent, and GOV.UK is blunt: "You must stick to the terms of the contract or you could be taken to court." The terms that matter are defined in law. Under sole selling rights, the wording prescribed by the Estate Agents (Provision of Information) Regulations 1991 makes you liable for the fee if contracts are exchanged during the period "even if the purchaser was not found by us but by another agent or by any other person, including yourself". Under sole agency you owe it if the buyer came from that agent, or was "introduced by another agent during that period". Multi-agency means instructing more than one firm, and GOV.UK warns you may then "need to pay fees to more than one of them when your home sells (called dual fees)". A tie-in period is how long that exclusivity lasts: ask for it in weeks, and ask what notice ends the contract.

Section 18 of the Estate Agents Act 1979 requires the agent, beforehand, to give you "particulars of the circumstances in which the client will become liable to pay remuneration" and of the amount, or "the manner in which the remuneration will be calculated". Our terms are on our fees page. Every residential estate agent must also join a government-approved redress scheme; GOV.UK lists The Property Ombudsman Limited and the Property Redress Scheme. Atlas Estates is a member of the Property Redress Scheme.

Offer to exchange

An offer is not legally binding in England and Wales until contracts are exchanged — GOV.UK says exactly that, and adds "Your property is not legally sold until you've exchanged written contracts with the buyer." Either side can walk away until then, and your agent must keep passing on other offers "right up to when contracts are exchanged". Three things run in parallel:

• Searches. The buyer's conveyancer organises these: usually a local authority search, a water and drainage search and an environmental search. Turnaround depends on the council.
• Enquiries. They ask about the title, searches, the mortgage offer, the property and the transaction. Slow answers are the commonest cause of drift.
• Valuation and survey. The lender values the property before approving the mortgage, for its own purposes; the buyer may separately get a survey on its condition, which can reopen the price.

A chain then stalls at its weakest link, because in practice the exchanges along it have to be synchronised.

Exchange and completion

At exchange both sides sign final copies and send them to each other. GOV.UK: "The agreement to sell and buy is then legally binding. Usually, neither of you can pull out at this point without paying compensation." The completion date is whatever the contract says, and it is now fixed.

On completion day the buyer's conveyancer transfers the money. Yours pays off the mortgage, any secured debts, the agent's fee and its own, then sends you the balance. You leave the property "in the state agreed in the contract" and the keys go to the buyer.

Why a flat takes longer

A leasehold sale has a third party in it — the freeholder or managing agent — and you cannot make them hurry. The buyer's conveyancer will want the lease, service charge accounts, insurance details, planned major works and the fire safety information GOV.UK lists in your paperwork. Buyers are also told to check the years left on the lease before offering.

Some of it you can demand: a leaseholder can ask for a summary of how the service charge is worked out, and GOV.UK notes "it's a criminal offence" if the landlord does not provide it. But that is a right, not a deadline — which is why ordering the management pack the day you instruct an agent, rather than the day an offer arrives, is the best move a flat seller can make.

If the property is tenanted

Selling with a tenant in place is a different process with its own notice rules, set out in our guide to selling a rented property with tenants.

What actually causes delay

Honestly, most of it is not the agent: incomplete forms, slow enquiry replies, a council search queue, a mortgage offer that has to be re-issued, a managing agent, or someone along the chain changing their mind, which they may do right up to exchange.

What you control is the front end. Instruct a conveyancer before you accept an offer, not after. Commission the EPC before marketing, because you must. Fill the forms in fully and find the certificates for the boiler, windows and extension now. If it is a flat, order the management pack at once. Answer enquiries the week they arrive.

General information, current at October 2026, and not legal advice. Timescales and requirements change, so confirm anything you rely on at GOV.UK or take advice from a conveyancer.

For a realistic read on timing for your own property, ring 0161 710 4510, book a valuation or call in at 12–14 Midland Street, Manchester M12 6LB. Atlas Estates does sales, lettings, management and construction across Greater Manchester.