How Much Does It Cost to Move House? Average Removal Costs in the UK in 2024

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There is no way to calculate the exact costs of moving house for plenty of reasons. Moving home is a complex process that involves a wide range of things to spend money on.

Your overall moving expenses certainly increase with the scale of the move. The volume of the belongings and the distance travelled during the house relocation are the core 2 factors that influence the moving cost.

The cost of moving house will be an amount between £100 to £2000+ if you’re moving to the territory of London. If you live on rent, you won’t have to spend on selling or buying a property.

However, the house removals service is your least concern when you’re moving out. Consider spending a lot of cash on the following things as well:

• Selling your property
• Buying a new property
• Additional move out services such as packing, storage and move out cleaning
• Utility services contractors
• New furniture
• Pet transportation costs (if moving abroad)
• Visa costs (for moving abroad)
• Council taxes when moving house

The overall expenses, including all of the things from the list, may reach from £125 000 up to £500 000+ depending on what your goals are.

What affects the house removal costs?

Size of the move

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It’s a no-brainer but you can’t expect to move on a budget if you’re living in a 5-bedroom house and more than 1 van is required for the transportation of all household items. The bigger the move, the more expensive it gets. Take a better look at what to be careful of before and during the relocation if you want to lower the cost of moving house.

If you’re going to compare removals prices, always compare your quote with one for the exact same move. Don’t get false data on prices from friends, family members or even strangers who claim to have used a particular moving company before and it gave them “the best” price.

Always check your quote with the help of a calculator on the website or by calling the sales department for more information on the price of your particular move.

Distance

The travelled distance is of huge importance when it comes to calculating the cost of moving house. It impacts the removals price significantly, especially for long-distance moves. We usually charge about 60% more for long-distance moves up to 200 miles away than the old property.

If the customer is going more than 200 miles away, we apply even additional charges as the move-out service becomes much more complex, respectively.

The higher the distance, the harder it gets for the removal firm to deal with your house move. The movers get more exhausted, they have to be paid overtime, costs for fuel become much larger, and you can even go beyond the 7. p.m. work time when removals prices get about 2 times higher. Please, consider this when booking your house removals service with a local company.
You might also want to compare the average rental costs in each London area before moving house.

Time duration

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If more time is required to complete the job, expect higher service costs. Movers will have to disassemble any furniture that doesn’t fit through the doors and will then assemble it at the new address. If you haven’t prepared the heavier items for fast and easy dismantling, this will slow down the movers and the time duration of the service will result in higher costs.

Most house removal costs are formed on an hourly basis. Removals companies in London, including Fantastic Removals, have hourly-based removals prices which vary from £45/h to £134/h, depending on different factors, such as the number of movers, the day of the week, time of the day, type of van, membership promotions, price discounts etc.

The longer the movers have to deal with your luggage, the more you’ll have to pay in the end. This is why we have a few tips you can follow to reduce the overall duration of the moving service:

• Declutter your home
• Sort all items for faster packing
• Unplug electronics
• Leave all premises unlocked and easily accessible
• Give proper instructions to the movers in advance (so they won’t have to do things twice)

Remember, the move’s duration highly affects your moving costs, do anything possible to reduce the time required for the move-out process.

Additional services (packing, storage, move-out cleaning etc.)

When moving out, there are plenty of other services you can take advantage of. Each will be of great use and will help you a lot in making a move smoother and less stressful.

Packing service

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along with the house, removals will increase the moving costs, but you will most probably save money in the long run. If we do the packing for you, there will be insurance on your belongings for moves to the territory of London. This means we take responsibility if something is damaged or broken – you don’t get such a guarantee if you pack on your own.

Average cost: £70

To complete the packing service quickly, 2 packers for a period of 3 hours is the most optimal option.

Packing materials delivery

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Unless you have previously bought them, you will have to buy some before the move. We can deliver them to your address a day or two before the move if you want to do the packing alone. In case of booking a packing service, don’t forget to mention that you need packing materials if you currently don’t have any. You’ll definitely need what’s most necessary:

• Moving boxes
• Bubble wrap
• Packing paper
• Duct tape
• Cell divider for glasses

Average cost: For 2-bedroom property: ~£350. (no packing service included)

The price depends mostly on the number of packing materials you’ll need.

Move out cleaning

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If you’re living on rent, your end of the lease agreement with the landlord probably requires you to leave the property clean before vacating it.

You don’t need to contact a cleaning company for the job. Most professional moving companies have expert cleaners at their disposal. Simply mention that you’ll need help with a move out cleaning service and the sales agent will provide you with a quote for it.

Average cost: Depends on the size of the property. Approximately £90 – £250/h+

Storage service

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Lots of people who’re on the move need a place for the temporary storage of their belongings. Personally, dealing with it takes lots of time and effort. Items often get damaged because of improper storage and handling before that.

Most moving companies offer storage solutions but the majority of them will have to come and pick up your items. This means you won’t be able to drive your household items to their storage, they’ll pick them up for you from your current address. Wonder how much it will cost? It depends on lots of factors:

• Volume of items
• Duration of the storage period
• Number of storage containers required for the job
• Duration of the removals job prior to the storage

Average cost: £15/week for the storage + costs on the removals service

For more on the topic, check out our post on storage costs.

Moving date

You’ll probably not see different price lists for Fridays and the weekend on most websites of removals companies, but once you share the details of your move, expect to receive a higher price under the following circumstances:

• If moving at the end of the week
• If moving at the end of the month
• If you provide an unclear date of your move
• If you make changes to the moving date a few days before the move
• If you prevent the movers from arriving on the scheduled date (if you have not secured a parking lot or something else blocks the movers to access your property)
• If you are moving on bank holidays (payment rates are higher)

Average additional cost: from +10% to +50%

Time of the working day (before 7 p.m. or after 7 p.m.)

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Expect an average increase in your removal company costs of up to 85-90% if planning to move after 7 p.m. Completing a move-out service at the end of the working day is not impossible, but the movers will have to be well compensated for their extra effort during this time of the day.

If you need 2 men with a Transit van before 7 p.m., that would usually cost around £45/h, but later than 7 p.m., the price increases up to about £88/h, which is almost twice more.

If you’re planning a large-scale house move with 3 men and a Luton van, the price for completion of the job after 7 p.m. is approximately £130/h.

We highly suggest that you carefully plan your house move and calculate your expenses well in advance, considering all the factors we’ve mentioned in this post. Move late at night only in an extreme situations when it’s your only option and there’s no other alternative at all.

Average additional cost: +90% on the average hourly rate for the service

Insurance

Unless you get insurance, combined with the packing service, you’ll have to negotiate the terms and conditions on how your belongings will be insured during the move. Removal companies have plenty of ways to ensure your items, but not all of them are beneficial.

We recommend you definitely get insurance if the move is a long-distance one or it’s an international move to a destination out of your current country of residence. The chances of getting your belongings damaged increase with the distance being travelled.

Among the top questions, you need to ask the removal company is if you’ll get insurance if they do the packing for you. Only 10% of moving companies do not offer this deal, with them, you’ll have to get your insurance through additional negotiations for insurance.

Average additional cost: ~250 (for packing service with insurance included)

Type of van (Transit or Luton)

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A transit van is most suitable for small to medium-scale moves. It’s enough if you have a 2- or 3-bedroom property of moderate size or if you’re living in a flat.

The prices for a house move with a transit van and 2 men start from £45/h to £60/h. For the same number of movers but with a Luton van, the price goes up by an average of 15-30%, starting from about £50/h up to anywhere around £60/h.

If you’re going to need a bigger Luton van for your large-scale house move, expect an increase in the cost of the removals of approximately 25-35%; also, depending on the number of movers, you’ll need to get the job done efficiently.

Average removal cost: Transit van: ~55/h ; Luton van: ~70/h

Average removal costs based on the size of the property

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To give you the most precise average removal costs you can get, we have processed data from thousands of house moves in London. The average removals price for each property type includes all the above factors.

The price is only average, which means that in your case, it can be 20-25% lower or a lot higher if you request lots of additional services or the job gets done a lot later than expected.

Consider the numbers below subject to a change when you contact us or use our removal costs calculator to get an estimated house move cost:

Average removals costs for a 1-bedroom property

The average cost of moving house (Local move): ~£250

Distance move £350-£500 (up to 200 miles away).

Furniture dismantling and assembly are included. All moving boxes will be loaded into the moving van.

The approximate price does not include packing service and packing materials delivery

Average removals costs for a 2-bedroom property

The average cost of moving house (Local move): ~£350
Distance move £450-£600 (up to 200 miles away).

Furniture dismantling and assembly are included. All moving boxes will be loaded into the moving van.

The approximate price does not include packing service and packing materials delivery.

Average removals costs for a 3-bedroom property

The average cost of moving house (Local move): ~£550
Distance move £750-£900(up to 200 miles away).

Furniture dismantling and assembly are included. All moving boxes will be loaded into the moving van.

The average price does not include packing service and packing materials delivery.

Average removals cost 4-bedroom property

The average cost of moving house (Local move): ~£750- £1000
Distance move £1100-£1500(up to 200 miles away).

Furniture dismantling and assembly are included. All moving boxes will be loaded into the moving van.

The approximate price does not include packing service and packing materials delivery

Average removals costs for 5+ bedroom property

the average cost of moving house (Local move): ~£850- £1200

Distance move £1500-2000 (up to 200 miles away).

Furniture dismantling and assembly are included. All moving boxes will be loaded into the moving van.

The approximate price does not include packing service and packing materials delivery.

Long-distance removals cost

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The price for long-distance moves when they are up to 200 miles away increases by 60% on average when you book your house move service with Fantastic Removals. If the move is to a destination more than 200 miles away than the average distance travelled across London, some additional costs are added to the price.

International moving costs

Our international relocation services within the EU are quoted at a fixed price. We will tailor the service and calculate the costs based on your specific requirements.

A 50% deposit is required for all overseas international moving jobs.

Volume of belongings

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The longer it takes to pack, load and unload all of your furniture and personal items during the move, the more you will eventually pay for the service. Despite receiving a price quote before the move, if certain complications occur during the job, you will get additional charges. Some complications may occur for the following reasons:

• Delays in completing the job due to your mistake
• Having much more stuff for transportation than mentioned when booking
• Slowing down the movers because of clutter or other reasons

Packing and unpacking

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International removal companies often provide the service without free packing. You’ll have to consider additional costs for this service if you’re not planning to pack on your own. Mind that a few hours will be required to pack a small or medium-scale move and up to 1 workday if you’re about to do a very large-scale international relocation.

Average additional costs: £200 – £500

Hiring storage space

Temporary storage is a very handy solution after a house clearance before a move. Instead of trashing or selling the furniture, you can hire a long-term storage facility and then move it to the new address. This way, you won’t have to deal with any furniture transportation while overwhelmed by the move.

We usually take care of our customer’s items for a week or two before they settle the details of their international moving process. When they’re done, the content of the storage container is loaded from the storage facility and transported to the new address abroad.

You may also take advantage of a removal and storage service to store the things you will not get with you abroad. Before you manage to donate or sell it, a storage container is your ultimate solution.

You won’t have to transport anything to the facility we’ll send a team of movers to your place to pick up all unnecessary belongings and load them into the moving vans.

The average cost for removals and storage service:
1. £18/week / £15/week for the storage service (with Membership)
2. + the expenses on the removals job (standard prices apply for the removals).

With Fantastic Removals, you’ll get free storage for 1 week if the removals service lasts more than 4 hours.

Import taxes – paying customs duty

We can only help you with an international house move to countries within the EU. You won’t have to pay any customs duty for your household items(bought in the UK) because such tax has already been paid when these items were initially imported into the UK.

If you’re planning a much more distant move to a destination such as the U.S. or Australia, you should read more about what amount of taxes you’ll be requested to pay at customs.

Rates may be as low as 0% but may also reach up to 100% of the item’s value, depending on that type of goods. The average customs duty tax is around 2% of the item’s current market value.

Getting a visa

Each country has specific types of visa, each with unique requirements. There isn’t any fixed price on getting a visa because it’s a complex procedure that may last from a few weeks up to several months, depending on the circumstances.

The average cost for an employment-based visa in the U.S. is £450, but if you’re moving from the UK to a country with the EU, you may not have to get a working visa as long as you have citizenship from an EU country.

Costs for getting a visa change from £0 to more than £2000 if you’re moving to Australia, where Visas are quite expensive. Carefully consider this expense and add it to the total moving costs for your international house move.

Booking flights

No fixed price for that as well. You have to research your airline company and the prices they currently offer to their customers. The earlier you book your flight, the cheaper.

Consider avoiding bank holidays and the end of the year as a date for your flight, as prices at this time of the year are ridiculously high.

Use Sky Scanner’s calculator to get an estimated price on your flight but consider fluctuations in the price of at least 5% to 50% as it changes each airline company.

An average cost for your flight abroad: From £100 to £2000+

Moving with your pet

If you’re travelling by plane, you will have to get your pet with you on the aircraft. You won’t have to buy a plane ticket for it if it’s a very small animal species. If it’s a larger one, the staff crew will transport it to the aircraft’s cargo and will stay there during the flight.

You’ll have to cover all expenses on the following requirements for pet transportation abroad:

• Vaccines
• Microchips
• Pet passport
• Specialised travel crate

The cost of moving with a pet increase proportionally with the animal’s size. Bigger dog breeds may cost you up to £4000 to transport them abroad.

Average costs for pet transportation: £200 – £4000

Additional costs

The costs of your international move are not limited to the abovementioned things. Once you move abroad, there will be many other things to take care of. This will leave you with lots of unpredicted expenses. Consider spending more on things such as:

• New furniture
• Local utility suppliers
• Tuition taxes
• Bank transfer fees
• Health and car insurance
• Medical checks and vaccines

Average additional costs – £500 – £3000+

The average cost of buying a house

Spending money on the moving service is only a small amount of your total expenses during the move if you’re not moving into a rented property. Buying a house is probably one of the most important steps in life, and we suggest you don’t rush it.

Thoroughly research the real estate market and review your budget once again. Don’t go for a property that’s beyond your budget and needs. Get on that will provide you with the living you need and not much more.

Unfortunately, the property’s price is just one of the expenses you’ll have when buying a property before the house move. There are lots of taxes and services you’ll have to pay during the property acquisition process. We’ve listed the most important of them below:

Mortgage valuation

The mortgage valuation is a standard procedure that will provide valuable information on whether you’re about to pay too much or too little for a property. The bank (your mortgage lender) needs this type of information for the deal.  It’s often a free procedure for smaller properties, but you may also have to pay a small amount to get the job done.

Check out the average cost of mortgage valuation when buying a new property in the UK from the table below:

Additional mortgage costs

You can’t avoid mortgage costs, they are mandatory, and it’s best to pay them as soon as possible.

Booking fee: £100 -£300
Mortgage arrangement fee: ~£2000

For a more precise calculation of your mortgage fee, use this house price calculator.

Property surveyors

There are 4 types of property surveys, depending on the type of real estate you’re looking forward to buying.

Depending on which type you’ll have to pay for, your expenses range from £200 to £600+.

Condition report

This type of survey focuses on the property valuation itself. It has a 3-point rating system for evaluation, which is very comprehensive.

Average cost: ~£200

Homebuyer report

Homebuyer reports evaluate the property’s condition and the construction’s state. Surveyors will look closely for signs of wear in the building materials, mould and dampness caused by water leaks in the walls etc. Any issues on the property’s overall condition will affect the homebuyer report. This means you’ll probably pay less for the property afterwards, based on the type and scale of the noticed issues.

Average cost: ~£400+

Building survey

Includes a property valuation + a comprehensive and detailed report on any issues noticed during the survey. Of course, the details come at extra costs.

Average cost: £400 – £500

Full structural survey

If you’re a perfectionist and everything comes down to “more = better”, opt in for this type of survey. Professional structural engineers will arrive at the address and will initiate a top-notch inspection of the whole property, including all structural elements such as columns, foundations, roof, walls etc.

In the end, the engineers will provide you with a detailed survey report so you can draw as many conclusions as you need before considering buying the property.

Average cost: £600+

Solicitors fees (Buying a property)

You’ll need someone to take care of all legal work when buying your new home. Solicitors in the UK work at quite high hourly rates and will have to do tonnes of research on the legal details. Consider having expenses of anywhere around a thousand pounds on this.

The solicitor’s fees you’ll have to pay in the end are strictly related to the overall cost of your new property. You’ll pay the average legal fee + any additional fees on the job.

You can use this conveyancing calculator to estimate how much your solicitors’ fees will cost you. The table below provides an estimate of the average solicitor’s fees, including additional charges:

Stamp duty

The stamp duty is a legal requirement for anyone who’s buying a property in the UK, Northern Ireland and Wales. Only those who purchase a property worth more than £125,000 are subject to paying a stamp duty tax.

That stamp duty tax has to be paid to the HMRC, and usually, the solicitor you have hired will deal with most of the job on this. People who’re buying their first property will not have to pay Stamp Duty tax unless the deal is worth more than £300,000.

There are 5 brackets for pricing a property when determining the amount of the stamp duty. Brackets change as shown in the table below:

To determine your average expenses on the stamp duty, make calculations using the actual price of your property and the rate from the category it falls within.

Deposit

The deposit when buying a property in the UK is approximately 10% of the property’s accepted offer.

The average cost for a house in the UK is about £230 000. Respectively the deposit on this price is £23 000.

You can, of course, give a higher deposit if you have saved more than the average minimum costs on the deposit. This will dramatically decrease mortgage costs, resulting in much lower monthly bank payments.

The average cost of selling a house

Selling a house comes at a price too. Don’t expect only to profit from the whole deal. There are plenty of fees and taxes you’ll have to pay before finishing the deal of selling your house.

Things get a little more complicated if there’s still a mortgage loan for what you’re selling but don’t panic. Just get informed on all the costs of selling a house, and you won’t face any unexpected problems. We also recommend you properly estimate the added value of your property’s location.

Sheryl Petrashek

Sheryl Petrashek

A full time Realtor since 1996

"Location matters because it influences so much including school districts, ease of transit, and resale value. In general, the suburbs closer to the Twin Cities have higher equity. The surrounding homes also affect the worth of your homes. This creates neighborhood equity as well. Even within a neighbourhood, different locations are worth more. For example, a home in a cul-de-sac is removed from traffic providing a safer and quieter environment than homes on busy streets. This location can raise a home’s value even from a similar house down the street".

Read more

Mortgage fees and remortgaging

Have a mortgage loan on the property you’re selling? Don’t worry, it’s most certainly portable. This means you can transfer it onto the new property you’re buying and sell the old house for its current market price smoothly.

Contact professional loan experts who’ll provide you with all the information you need. Mind that there will be fees you’ll have to pay during the arrangement of the new mortgage details.

Put money aside for the arrangement fees, product fees, and consultation taxes for the loan expert (if he’s a private one).

Average costs for remortgage: £0 – £300+

The remortgaging cost is pretty low but mind that you will have to pay all the fees on the new mortgage, which are a lot higher. Average costs on your new mortgage: £0 – £2,500 + ~£100 – £200 for a booking fee.

Read more about remortgage fees in detail.

Estate agent fees

Selling without the services of an estate agent is close to impossible nowadays. The real estate market is super dynamic and volatile.

Unless you are a full-time professional working in the field, you won’t be updated about anything.

We highly suggest you talk to a real estate agent and negotiate a payment rate for their service. The fees for using the services of estate agents in the UK range from 1% to 3.5% of the property’s value.

The chances of finding a real estate agent who works at a fixed price are moderate to very high, depending on the region you live in. Our advice is to carefully research this phase of selling your property. It may turn out to be greatly financially beneficial at the end of the deal.

Solicitors fees for selling a house

The conveyancing process when selling a house contains several crucial steps. You can go through all of them alone, or you can hire a solicitor and pay them for the job. In any of the cases, this is what needs to be done:

• Signings a contract note
• Exchange contract with the buyer
• Complete requisition on the title
• Sign the land transfer documents
• Deal with mortgage discharge
• Take care of settlement

The actual fee you will have to pay, aside from the solicitor’s payment rate, is a bank transfer fee. You can avoid a lot of hassle by hiring the same solicitor for selling your old house and for buying the new one.

The average cost of conveyancing fees when selling a house:

You can also use this conveyancing calculator to estimate the costs.

Amy Cutmore

Amy Cutmore

Digital Editor at Ideal Home and winner of PPA Digital Editor of the Year 2018.

When searching for a solicitor, a personal recommendation goes a long way – ask friends and family if they can put you in touch with a firm they enjoyed good service from. If you’re hunting for a solicitor yourself, make sure they are accredited by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.

Energy performance certificates (EPCs)

Anyone in the UK who’s selling a property must be able to provide an EPC (energy performance certificate). The certificate provides a thorough description of the property’s energy efficiency levels.

The scale is from A to G, while properties marked with A are the most efficient in terms of performance and G – is the most inefficient.

The EPC is provided only after an accredited energy assessor performs an inspection. You can talk to your real estate agent about this and ask him to arrange the necessary procedures for getting your EPC.

Average costs for getting an EPC: £50 – £120

An EPC in the UK is valid for 10 years. If one has been provided in the last 10 years, you can use it as it is a totally legal document. If you’re a first buyer of the property, this means no EPC has ever been given to you at all.

No matter how much time you spend researching all the things that will increase your removal costs, the ultimate solution is to use a proper calculator. We have designed a service booking process, which provides you with an estimate quote when you fill in all the necessary fields with the information on your house move. Check it out now and get an estimate moving quote quickly and with almost no effort at all.

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