95% of home movers hit an unexpected cost this year

The research surveyed 1,000 UK adults over 25 who had moved home in the previous 12 months. It is the second year the survey has run, which is what makes this year's figure worth reading twice: the share of movers hit by an unexpected cost jumped from 62% to 95% in a single year.

What did the PEXA report actually find?

An unexpected cost is a charge a mover did not know about, or did not know the size of, until it landed. The report separates that from a hidden charge, which is one nobody disclosed at all.

If people rate the fees as transparent, why is anyone surprised?

This is the part of the report that matters most, and it is the part the headline number hides. Movers rated the professionals well on clarity. They still got caught out.

The report's own conclusion is that the problem is fragmented disclosure and poor expectation setting. Each professional explains their own bill clearly. Nobody hands the mover one running total with dates against it.

As the research puts it, buyers commit emotionally and financially before they understand the sequence of costs or when payments fall due. That is a description of a process, not of anyone's honesty.

Which costs tend to arrive late in a sale?

The surprises are rarely the big, obvious lines. Agent fees and conveyancing quotes are agreed at the start. The costs that land late are the ones triggered by something the transaction discovers about the property.

• Leasehold management packs, which a flat seller usually pays for and cannot price until the managing agent quotes.
• Indemnity policies, taken out when a document such as a building regulations certificate cannot be found.
• Extra or specialist searches a buyer's lender asks for after the standard set comes back.
• Specialist reports ordered after a survey flags damp, timber or a structural question.
• Mortgage product, booking and valuation fees, and any early repayment charge on the loan you are leaving.
• Removals and storage rebooked when a completion date moves, which is a cost created by delay rather than by the property.

Is the process really taking longer than people expect?

Yes, and the gap is wide. Movers in the survey believed a sale should take about four months from offer to completion. Rightmove's analysis, reported on 31 July 2026, put the real average at 216 days from listing to completion, made up of 62 days to find a buyer and 154 days from sale agreed to keys.

The same PEXA research found only 7% of movers completed with no delay at all, and 75% met a disruption of some kind along the way, from conveyancing and mortgage approvals to chains, surveys and identity checks. Time is where the extra money comes from: every month a sale runs on is another month of mortgage payments, insurance and rebooked plans.

What should a seller do about it?

1. 1. Ask for the running order as well as the quote

   Ask your conveyancer and your agent for a list of every payment, what triggers it and roughly when it falls due. A quote tells you the total. A running order tells you the month.

2. 2. Price the property-specific costs early

   If you are selling a leasehold flat, request the management pack cost from the managing agent before you accept an offer. If a certificate is missing, ask what an indemnity policy would cost now rather than at exchange.

3. 3. Compare agents on the whole fee, not the percentage

   Ask what the fee covers, whether it includes VAT, whether there is a withdrawal fee, and what happens if the sale falls through. Two agents quoting the same percentage can leave you with very different bills.

4. 4. Build the delay into the budget

   Assume the sale takes longer than four months and work out what an extra two or three months of mortgage payments and bills would cost you. That single number removes most of the panic later.

5. 5. Keep one list and update it

   Every time a new cost appears, add it to the same list. The report's finding is that movers lose track because the information arrives from four different people. One list you own solves that.

The bill was never hidden. It just arrived in pieces, from four different people, none of whom could see the whole thing.

Does this change what a home is worth?

No. Moving costs sit alongside the sale price, not inside it. What they change is the figure that actually reaches your bank account, which is the number that decides what you can afford next.

A seller who knows their true net proceeds early negotiates from a steadier position than one who is still adding costs up at exchange.

ValuQ gives UK homeowners free, side-by-side property valuations from competing local estate agents, so the fee, the strategy and the valuation all sit on one screen before you speak to anyone. Comparing that way is how you see the whole cost of selling at the start rather than in instalments.