The confusing thing about selling fees is not how many there are, it is that they fall due at different moments and behave differently when a sale collapses. Some are paid before the property is even marketed, some come out of the completion money, and one or two can be charged twice if the contract you signed allows it. This page sets them out by who charges them and when.
Charged before you market
The EPC is the clearest example: you must order one for potential buyers before you market the property to sell, so it is money spent whether or not anyone ever offers. It lasts ten years, so check the register before you buy another. Any preparation work you decide to do sits here too. These are the fees that are gone regardless of outcome, which is a good argument for keeping them small and for checking what you already have before you commission anything new.
Charged on completion, out of the sale money
The agent's fee and the conveyancer's fee are normally settled from the completion funds rather than out of your pocket, which is why they feel less painful than they are. The agent's is the larger and carries VAT at the standard rate of 20 percent. The conveyancer's covers their own charge plus the disbursements they have paid out on your behalf during the transaction. Because both come out of the proceeds, the figure that matters to you is the net one, not the sale price.
The fee that can arrive twice
If you instruct more than one agent you may owe a fee to more than one of them when the house sells, which the guidance calls dual fees, and whether it happens depends on the type of contract you signed and whether an agent has sole selling rights. This is the single most expensive thing to get wrong, because it can double the largest line on the sheet. If you are changing agent or adding a second, read the termination and sole selling rights clauses of the first contract before you sign the second.
Questions people ask about fees when selling a house
Do I pay anything if I take the house off the market?
Usually the fees already spent, such as the EPC, and whatever the agency contract says about withdrawal. The contract is the answer, and it had to be given to you before you signed.
Is VAT on top of the agent's quote or included?
It depends on the quote, and you have to ask. The standard rate is 20 percent, so the difference between inclusive and exclusive is a fifth of your largest fee.
Can the agent charge me for a buyer they did not find?
Under sole selling rights a fee can be due however the buyer was found. That is exactly what the clause means and why it is worth reading.