How Much Does It Cost to Move House in the UK? 2026 Guide

How much does it cost to move house in the UK depends first on who you are. Which? reported in October 2026, using Reallymoving data and median purchase prices, that a home mover in England pays an average of £17,413 to sell and buy. A first-time buyer in England pays £2,293 before the deposit. In London, the average for a home mover is just over £32,000, and for a first-time buyer it is just under £8,000.

A renter's bill looks different. There is no Stamp Duty and no solicitor, but you can be asked for up to 5 weeks' rent as a deposit and up to a month's rent before the tenancy starts. That money leaves your account before your old deposit comes back.

So build your budget in two parts: the cost of owning or renting the new home, and the physical move. The second part is smaller than most people expect. Use the table below to find your starting point, then read the sections that apply. All figures are dated, because they move.

A removal company cost is mainly crew size multiplied by hours. Our rates are £60 an hour for one mover and a van, £80 to £120 an hour for two movers and a Luton van, and £120 to £160 an hour for three movers and a large van. The two crew options carry a 2-hour minimum, which makes the smallest two-mover booking £160 and the smallest three-mover booking at the lowest rate £240.

To turn that into a budget, you need an hours figure. The hours in the table are planning assumptions for a local move with normal access. They are not job times or a promise. We use them so you can see the arithmetic and swap in the hours from your own quote. Every current rate is on our prices page.

Compare any figure with care, because market data disagrees. Which? collected quotes in May 2026 for a July move of 12 miles within London: £540 for a ground-floor 1-bed flat, £779 for a 2-bed house, £1,409 for a 3-bed and £1,553 for a 4-bed. HomeOwners Alliance gives lower UK averages from Reallymoving for a move of up to 25 km: £330, £543, £792 and £1,169. Its page is undated. Which?'s England average of £624 is for 30 miles. For a London move, we recommend budgeting nearer the Which? quotes until you hold a written price.

Man and van cost in London is the cheapest hourly rate you will see, and it suits a small load. Our rate is £60 an hour for one mover and a van, aimed at studios, small 1-bed flats, students and single bulky items. A 3-hour job costs 3 × £60 = £180. We confirm the minimum booking for this option when you enquire.

The catch is that one person cannot safely carry a sofa or a wardrobe alone. If you are expected to take the other end, ask yourself whether you are able to, particularly on stairs. Which? says that unless you live in a small house or flat, a professional removals company is worth paying for, partly because crews know how much they can safely lift.

Do the sum before you assume one mover is cheaper. The smallest two-mover booking is £160, which buys 2 hours. At £60 an hour, £160 buys 2 hours and 40 minutes of one mover. So if one person would need more than about 2 hours and 40 minutes for a load that two could clear in 2, the two-mover booking at the lowest rate costs less. For most 1-bed flats with furniture, we recommend two movers.

Self-drive van hire looks cheaper still. Which? found 12-hour London hires for July 2026 at £91 and £75, and says a small, uncluttered ground-floor flat could be moved for as little as £100. It marks van hire as not recommended for 3-bed and 4-bed homes. Add fuel, your own time and any damage excess before you compare. Choose it only for a light load with helpers you trust.

On an hourly price, anything that adds time adds cost. Which? names the volume of goods, distance, crew size and packing speed as the main drivers. Our removals page adds stairs, lifts and long carries to the van. Each extra hour costs £80 to £120 with two movers and £120 to £160 with three, so a short delay matters less than a whole problem that nobody mentioned.

Tell the firm these things before it prices the job. A quote based on the wrong facts is the usual reason a final bill surprises people. We ask about access first so that the hours we agree are realistic.

Our packing service is £30 an hour per packer. Cardboard boxes are £35 for a pack of 10, and a 50 m roll of bubble wrap is £20. Here is a worked example for a 2-bed home: 2 packers for 4 hours is 2 × 4 × £30 = £240, two packs of boxes are 2 × £35 = £70, and one roll of bubble wrap is £20. That totals £330. Added to the 2-bed move of £480 to £720, the job comes to £810 to £1,050.

Which? lists £1,220 for a 2-bed under its packing row, against £779 for removals alone. Its table does not say whether the packing figure is a total or an extra. Read as a total, packing added about £441, and Which? says paid packing can add surprisingly little to a move.

We recommend a middle path for most homes: pack books, clothes and kitchen cupboards yourself, and pay for breakables. Which? warns against packing breakables yourself, because a firm's insurance will not cover items you packed. That is worth asking about before you decide. Read our moving house checklist for what to pack and when.

London adds costs that a national average hides. The largest is parking. If the van cannot stop near your door, you either pay for more carrying time or pay to suspend a bay, and borough rules differ widely.

Barking and Dagenham lists £154.80 for one bay for one day, plus a £33.90 administration charge, with at least 5 working days' notice. Each bay is 5 metres, and the fees are not refunded if your dates move through no fault of the council. So a single bay comes to £154.80 + £33.90 = £188.70. That fee is a problem if your completion date slips, so apply only when the date is firm.

Havering lists £70 a day per bay for 7 days or less, and needs 5 working days' notice, but its page says only utility and street work companies can apply. So do not assume a household can book one. Call your own council early, and check both addresses. Red routes are run by Transport for London, not the borough. Which? also notes you may need permission to unload in some places, and that large lorries can struggle with steep or narrow roads.

If you hire your own van, check emissions as well. Hounslow Council says ULEZ covers all of Greater London and charges £12.50 a day for vans up to 3.5 tonnes that do not meet the standard, generally diesels bought before 2016. Check your hire vehicle on the Transport for London website before you drive it. Our London house removals guide covers planning a London move in more detail.

Stamp Duty Land Tax applies in England and Northern Ireland. GOV.UK lists these standard rates: 0% up to £125,000, 2% on the next slice to £250,000, 5% to £925,000, 10% to £1.5 million and 12% above that. Each rate applies only to the part of the price inside its band, so it works like income tax.

Here is the sum for a £550,000 home: nothing on the first £125,000, 2% of £125,000 is £2,500, and 5% of the remaining £300,000 is £15,000. The total is £17,500.

First-time buyers pay nothing up to £300,000 and 5% from £300,001 to £500,000. Above £500,000 the relief is lost altogether, and everyone buying must be a first-time buyer. That creates a sharp edge. A £500,000 home costs £10,000 in tax, while a £510,000 home costs £15,500. If you are a first-time buyer close to that line, negotiate hard before you offer above it.

If you will own another home after the purchase, you usually pay 5% on top. GOV.UK says you avoid this when replacing your main home, provided you sell the old one within 36 months. Buyers who are not UK resident usually pay a further 2%. Your return and payment are due within 14 days of completion, and your conveyancer usually handles both.

Scotland and Wales run their own taxes, with different bands. Wales charges Land Transaction Tax from £225,000 and Scotland charges Land and Buildings Transaction Tax from £145,000, so check the Welsh Government or Revenue Scotland rates. Tax rates can change at a Budget, so check GOV.UK the week you offer.

Stamp Duty is only the first buying cost. Budget for these three next, and treat the figures as benchmarks, because sources differ and none of them is your quote.

Conveyancing: Which? reports an average of £1,445 for first-time buyers and £2,241 for home movers in October 2026, and its May 2026 buying guide gives £500 to £1,500 for the legal fees alone. HomeOwners Alliance gives £1,509 for buying and £929 for selling, including disbursements and VAT. The gap comes from what each figure includes. Disbursements are costs your solicitor pays on your behalf, such as local authority searches, which HomeOwners Alliance puts at £250 to £450, and bank transfers at £20 to £30.

HM Land Registry's fee for a whole-title transfer on a £200,001 to £500,000 home is £150 through the portal or £330 by post. On a £500,001 to £1 million home it is £295 or £655, on the page updated 28 April 2025. Leasehold homes usually add about £300 of legal work, according to HomeOwners Alliance. Compare full quotes rather than the headline fee, and ask what you pay if the sale falls through.

Surveys: RICS describes three levels. Which? puts the average at £510 for a home mover and £474 for a first-time buyer. HomeOwners Alliance gives wider ranges: £300 to £900 at Level 1, £400 to £1,000 at Level 2 and £630 to £1,500 at Level 3. We suggest Level 2 for an ordinary home in reasonable condition, and Level 3 for an older, altered or run-down one. Finding a repair before exchange gives you room to renegotiate.

Mortgage fees: Which? says fees commonly range from £999 to £1,999, while HomeOwners Alliance says £500 to £1,500, and both are general ranges. Add a lender's valuation fee, which HomeOwners Alliance puts at £100 to £300, if your deal charges one. Which? warns that fee-free deals often carry higher interest, so compare the total cost over the fixed period and not the fee alone.

If you are selling as well, the estate agent is usually the largest extra bill. Which? reports an average agent fee of £4,473 in England in October 2026, and an average charge of 1.42% of the sale price in its January 2026 selling guide. On a £450,000 sale, 1.42% is £6,390. Agents' fees can be negotiable, so ask, and compare high street percentages with the fixed fees charged by online agents.

Add an Energy Performance Certificate, which Which? puts at around £65 and up to £120. An existing one is valid for 10 years, so check before paying again. Leasehold sellers should allow for a management pack, which HomeOwners Alliance puts at £300 to £800.

The cost most people miss is the mortgage exit. Which? warns that an early repayment charge can add thousands to a move if you leave a fixed rate early. Ask your lender for a figure in writing before you accept an offer, and ask whether you can move the mortgage to the new home instead. An early repayment charge can be larger than the whole cost of the van.

In England, a renter's upfront cost is capped by law. GOV.UK says a tenancy deposit can be up to 5 weeks' rent where annual rent is under £50,000, and 6 weeks' where it is £50,000 or more. A holding deposit to reserve a home is capped at 1 week's rent. After you sign, the landlord can ask for no more than 1 month's rent before the tenancy starts, and you should not pay rent before signing. Shelter dates the ban on rent before signing to private assured tenancies starting on or after 1 May 2026.

Take a £2,000 monthly rent. One week's rent is £2,000 × 12 ÷ 52 = £461.54. The deposit cap is 5 × £461.54 = £2,307, rounded down. The most you can be asked for up front is £2,307 + £2,000 = £4,307. The landlord can hold the holding deposit for 15 days unless you agree a different period in writing, and if the landlord keeps it, written reasons are due within 7 days.

The ban is the useful part. The Tenant Fees Act 2019 stops a landlord in England from requiring most payments linked to a tenancy. GOV.UK lists insurance, a guarantor service, a deposit replacement product and an inventory service among things you cannot be made to buy. Shelter adds reference check fees and the part of any deposit above the cap. mydeposits lists check-out inventories and professional end of tenancy cleaning among banned charges. If you are asked for one, say so, keep the messages and contact your council, which can investigate and help recover the money.

Your landlord must place the deposit in an approved scheme within 30 days of receiving it. GOV.UK names the Deposit Protection Service, MyDeposits and the Tenancy Deposit Scheme. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have different rules, so check locally. The real budget problem is timing, because the new deposit is due before the old one returns. Keep a full deposit in savings, or ask whether dates can overlap by less.

You cannot be forced to pay for a professional clean, but you do have to hand back a clean home. mydeposits says you must return the property as clean as it was when you moved in, and that a landlord can seek cleaning costs from the deposit if you do not. Fair wear and tear has to be taken into account. Our guide to tenancy deposit cleaning deductions covers disputes.

The Deposit Protection Service says cleaning is one of the main reasons for a claim, and that landlords should back a claim with evidence such as signed check-in and check-out inventories, invoices and date-stamped photos. It also says a full professional clean is an unreasonable claim if the home already had cleaning defects at the start.

So add a realistic cleaning line to your moving budget, whether that is your own time and materials or a paid clean. Book it for after the removal van leaves, because empty rooms show everything. Our flat rates for a standard end of tenancy clean start at £130 for a studio, £200 for a 1-bed, £230 for a 2-bed and £300 for a 3-bed. Our end of tenancy cleaning comes with a 48-hour re-clean guarantee, which is a promise of a re-clean and not a promise about your deposit. If you only need one part done, we also offer carpet cleaning and oven cleaning.

For a full breakdown, read how much end of tenancy cleaning costs. Use our end of tenancy cleaning checklist if you are doing it yourself.

Here are three complete budgets, so you can see how the parts add up. Each one uses the top of our example range for the physical move, because a budget should survive a hard day. Replace our figures with your own quotes as they arrive.

The renter pays the least, but most of that money is a deposit you should get back. The first-time buyer pays tax above £300,000, even though Which?'s national average shows none. The mover pays the most, because tax and agent fees both scale with price. In all three, the physical move is one of the smallest lines. Spend your effort on the large ones first: the offer price, the agent's percentage and the mortgage exit.

Get quotes 4 to 6 weeks before you move, as HomeOwners Alliance suggests, and get at least three, as Which? advises. Ideally a firm should see the home, in person or on a video call, before it prices. Which? says a survey matters most where access is restricted or stairs are tight. If you quote remotely, list everything, including the loft and garage.

Then make the quotes comparable. An hourly rate means little until you know when the clock starts and what it includes. Put the same questions to each firm and ask for the answers in writing. We answer all of these when you ask us for a price.

A low hourly rate can hide a slow crew or a price that grows on the day. Walk away, or at least slow down, if you see any of these signs. HomeOwners Alliance warns about the first three, and they are the ones that usually lead to a dispute.

Start with the items that cut hours, then the items that cut fees. These are in order of how much they usually help, and most of them cost nothing but planning.

We are based on Clements Road, Ilford, and we move homes across London. Our removals service is priced by the hour: £60 for one mover and a van, £80 to £120 for two movers and a Luton van, and £120 to £160 for three movers and a large van. Crew bookings have a 2-hour minimum, so two movers start at £160.

Dismantling and reassembly are included in the hourly rate, and the crew brings blankets and straps. Packing is £30 an hour per packer, boxes are £35 for 10 and a 50 m roll of bubble wrap is £20. Storage is quoted individually. Ask us what insurance cover applies to your move before you book. We confirm how travel time is counted, along with your price, crew and inclusions, in writing before booking.

We can also clean the home you are leaving, so see our cleaning services or check every rate on our prices page. When you are ready, send both postcodes, the floor and lift details and a rough list of furniture through our contact page. Our phone lines are open Monday to Saturday, 8am to 8pm.