Moving tips
The real cost of moving house in the UK (2026): every line, with numbers
Removals are the bill everyone budgets for, and one of the smaller ones. Here is every cost of moving house in the UK, what each typically runs to, and where the money actually goes.
The short answer
For a three-bedroom home that is being sold and bought, the costs of the move itself — removals, conveyancing, survey, searches, the agent's fee and the odds and ends — commonly come to somewhere between £7,000 and £9,000 in 2026. Stamp duty sits on top of that and, depending on the price and where you are buying, can be the biggest single line by a distance. A first-time buyer renting out one flat and moving into another can do the whole thing for a few hundred pounds. Everything depends on which of the lines below apply to you.
| Cost | Who pays | Typical range (2026) |
|---|---|---|
| Removals | Both, if both move | £640–£920 for a 3-bed local move; more for distance, packing or stairs |
| Estate agent fee | Seller | Commonly 1–1.5% of the sale price plus VAT on the high street; online agents charge fixed fees from a few hundred pounds |
| Conveyancing (legal fee) | Both | £700–£1,100 to sell, £950–£1,400 to buy, £1,500–£2,500 for both with one firm |
| Searches and disbursements | Buyer | Roughly £250–£400 for searches, plus Land Registry and bank transfer fees |
| Survey | Buyer | £350–£600 for a Level 2; £600–£1,200 for a Level 3 |
| Mortgage fees | Buyer | Arrangement fees range from nothing to around £1,000; some lenders add valuation or booking fees |
| Stamp duty (SDLT / LBTT / LTT) | Buyer | Depends on price, region and whether it is your first or an additional home — use a calculator |
| Energy Performance Certificate | Seller | Roughly £60–£120, and only if the current one has expired |
| Storage, if the dates do not line up | Whoever needs it | About £15–£40 a week for a 50 sq ft unit, plus the extra handling |
| The small stuff | Both | Mail redirection, cleaning, new locks, a van for the last bits — budget a couple of hundred pounds |
Removals: what moves the number
Removal firms price on volume, distance, access and the calendar. A local move of a three-bedroom house typically lands between £640 and £920 in 2026; the same house 150 miles away can be double that. The table below is for a local move — under ten miles, ground floor to ground floor, midweek — at a UK average. London and the South East add roughly a fifth.
| Property | Typical local move |
|---|---|
| Studio / 1 bedroom | £310–£450 |
| 2 bedrooms | £460–£660 |
| 3 bedrooms | £640–£920 |
| 4 bedrooms | £885–£1,275 |
| 5+ bedrooms | £1,190–£1,710 |
- Distance. Beyond about ten miles the price climbs with every mile — fuel, time and sometimes a second driver.
- Packing. A full packing service adds around a third. Kitchens and breakables only is a cheaper middle option.
- Stairs without a lift. Each floor carried adds to the crew's time, and firms charge for it.
- The date. Fridays and month-ends are when most completions land, so that is when vans are scarce and prices peak.
- Access and parking. A van that has to park two streets away, or a road that needs a parking suspension, costs time and sometimes a council fee.
Stamp duty: the line that dwarfs the rest
Stamp duty depends on the purchase price, whether you are a first-time buyer, whether it is an additional property, and which nation you are buying in — England and Northern Ireland charge SDLT, Scotland LBTT, Wales LTT, each with its own bands and reliefs. The thresholds move at Budgets, which is why this guide gives no figure: on a £300,000 purchase the difference between first-time-buyer relief and the additional-property surcharge is many thousands of pounds. Work it out for your own numbers.
Stamp duty calculator — SDLT, first-time buyer relief and the additional-property surcharge, on your priceConveyancing and searches
The legal work is a fixed fee at most firms — typically £700–£1,100 for a sale, £950–£1,400 for a purchase, and a discount for doing both with the same firm. On top come the disbursements: local authority, environmental and drainage searches (roughly £250–£400 together), Land Registry fees, a bank transfer fee on completion, and the stamp duty return. A proper quote lists them separately; one that blends them cannot be compared with one that does not. Leasehold adds to both the fee and the timetable.
Compare conveyancing quotes — regulated solicitors and licensed conveyancers, fixed fees with the disbursements shownThe selling costs people forget
- The agent's fee is the biggest, and it is negotiable — especially in a market where the property will sell itself.
- An Energy Performance Certificate is a legal requirement to market the property. They last ten years, so check whether the old one is still valid before paying for a new one.
- An early repayment charge on your current mortgage, if you are leaving a fixed deal before it ends. This can run to thousands and is the one people most often miss.
- Your own removals. Sellers move too, and it is the same bill.
A worked example: three bedrooms, twenty miles
Selling a three-bedroom house for £300,000 through a high-street agent at 1.2% plus VAT, buying another twenty miles away, one conveyancer for both, a Level 2 survey on the new house, and a removals firm with the packing done yourself:
- Estate agent: about £4,300 including VAT
- Conveyancing, sale and purchase: £1,500–£2,500, plus roughly £350 of searches and disbursements
- Survey (Level 2): £350–£600
- Removals, three-bed, twenty miles: roughly £700–£1,000
- EPC, mail redirection, cleaning, locks: about £300
- Total before stamp duty: roughly £7,500–£9,000
Stamp duty on the purchase is then added according to the price and your circumstances. That total is an illustration of how the lines stack up, not a quote: change the agent's percentage, the distance or the survey level and it moves by a thousand either way.
How to spend less
- Move midweek and mid-month. It is the single easiest saving on removals, and the crews are less rushed.
- Declutter before you get quotes, not after. Firms price on volume — a skip's worth less to move is a cheaper move and a cheaper clearance.
- Compare removal quotes on the same brief. The spread between firms for the same job is regularly a few hundred pounds.
- Use one conveyancer for the sale and the purchase. One file, one set of identity checks, one person watching the whole chain.
- Question the agent's fee. Ask what it is buying you, and whether a lower percentage or a fixed fee is on the table.
- Do not over-survey a modern house, and do not under-survey an old one. The wrong survey is expensive either way.
Questions people ask
What is the average cost of moving house in the UK?
There is no single figure, because the lines depend on whether you are selling, buying or both. For a three-bedroom home sold and bought in 2026, the moving costs before stamp duty commonly come to £7,000–£9,000; stamp duty is then added on the purchase price. A renter moving between flats might spend only the removals — a few hundred pounds.
How much do removal companies cost?
For a local move in 2026, typically £310–£450 for a one-bedroom flat, £640–£920 for a three-bedroom house and £1,190–£1,710 for five bedrooms or more. Distance, packing, stairs and the date all push it up; London and the South East run around a fifth higher.
Do I pay stamp duty when selling a house?
No. Stamp duty (SDLT in England and Northern Ireland, LBTT in Scotland, LTT in Wales) is paid by the buyer on the purchase. The seller's main costs are the agent's fee, conveyancing and any early repayment charge on their mortgage.
What is the cheapest day to move house?
Midweek, away from the end of the month. Most completions land on Fridays and at month-end, so that is when removal firms are booked solid and prices are highest. A Tuesday in the middle of the month is the easy win.
Can I cut the removals cost by packing myself?
Yes — a full packing service adds around a third to the bill. Packing the kitchen and breakables only is a cheaper middle option, and doing it all yourself is cheapest, provided you are genuinely finished before the crew arrives; waiting time is chargeable.
How much should I budget for the small stuff?
A couple of hundred pounds covers most of it: mail redirection, a clean of the old place, new locks on the new one, and a van hire or a friend's fuel for the last few boxes. It is the line most people forget and the one least worth forgetting.
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