The Hidden Costs of Selling a Property
Selling a property is a major financial decision. The process typically starts with a property owner engaging an estate agent to run the sales process. In this article, we dig a little deeper into the true cost of selling a property in Ireland.
Estate Agency Fees
Estate agency fees make up the lion’s share of the cost of selling a property. Fees vary dramatically between estate agencies with some agents charging as much as 1.5%+VAT. Many estate agents will also charge marketing fees of in the region of €500. So a property selling for €300k can incur estate agency fees of well over €6000! Auctioneera, by contrast, charges a low fixed fee of €1995+VAT so there are massive savings to be had for savvy vendors.
Legal Fees
In order to sell a property, you will need to engage a solicitor to handle the legal side of things; this is known as the conveyancing part of the process. While prices vary, you should budget in the region of €2k + VAT. You can get real time quotations from property conveyancing solicitors at the Auctioneera Conveyancing Marketplace.
BER Certificate
In order to list a property for sale, it will need an up to date BER Certificate. You should budget in the region of €250 for a BER certificate. You can source a BER Assessor in your area at the Auctioneera BER Assessor Marketplace.
MUD Act Queries & Management Fees
If your property is part of a multi-unit development, the management company will need to provide a host of information and documentation pertaining to the development to your solicitor, who in turn will make this information available to the purchaser’s solicitor for review. The management company charges a fee, typically in the region of €250, in order to provide this information. Typically, your solicitor can provide an assurance to the management company that this fee can be discharged from the proceeds of the sale on closing. This avoids the need to pay the money out of pocket.
All management fees will need to be discharged up to the date that the property is closing; again your solicitor can agree to discharge these fees from the proceeds of the sale.
Am I Liable for Capital Gains Tax If Selling My House / Apartment?
If the property is not your principal residence, or if it was but was subsequently rented out for a period of time, there will be a capital gains tax liability triggered by selling the property if of course a gain has been realised. If the property was your principal place of residence for the entirety of the time you owned it then you won’t be liable for any Capital Gains Tax upon selling the house or apartment. For more on capital gains, see our CGT guide.
Ordnance Survey Map
If your property has not previously been registered with the Land Registry, an ordnance survey map will need to be produced in order to facilitate what is known as the first registration. Prices vary but in the region of €150+VAT should be budgeted. You can check if your property is registered or not on www.landdirect.ie
Certificates of Compliance / Planning Applications
If you have carried out any works on the property (e.g. an extension, attic conversion, porch etc), you must be able to demonstrate that these works are compliant with building and planning regulations. Ideally, this documentation will be at hand but if not, engineers / architects may be required to provide opinions of compliance and where required, apply for retention planning permission. In most cases this is not required but if so, the bill can run to several hundred Euro.
Conclusion
Selling a property is not an inexpensive exercise. There are quite a few costs that combine to dilute your hard won equity in the property. By engaging Auctioneera as your estate agent and sourcing competitive quotations for BER assessors & conveyancing solicitors at our Marketplace, we can ensure that you get the very best price for your property while incurring the absolute minimum costs.