Selling and buying a house at the same time

Moving home usually means two deals at once: selling the home you have and buying the next one. Each has its own solicitor's work, its own lender and its own timing. The art is in lining them up.

This guide covers the choices: sell first, buy first, close both on one day, bridge the gap, or rent your old home back for a while. The buying timeline planner sets out the dates for a purchase, which you can run alongside your sale.

The three ways to do it

Most movers aim for both on one day. The other two routes are the fallbacks when the dates do not line up.

Selling first

You put your home on the market, go sale agreed, and close. You now know your equity exactly. Equity is what is left from the sale after the mortgage is paid off and the costs are met.

Then you buy, as a buyer with cash in the bank and no chain behind you. Sellers and their agents like that.

The cost is a move in between: a rental, or a stay with family, with your furniture in storage. Rentals are scarce and a lease ties you for a time. If the purchase takes longer than you planned, the stay gets longer.

Buying first

You find the new home, close on it and move in. Then you sell the old one with no one living in it, which makes viewings simple.

The problem is money. Until the old home sells, you own two homes. The deposit on the new one has to come from savings, because your equity is still tied up in the old one. And the lender has to be satisfied that you can meet both mortgages for a time, or you need a bridging loan.

A bridging loan is a short loan secured on your old home to cover the gap until it sells. Since 8 April 2026, the Central Bank's rules leave a bridging loan on your own home out of the income limit, for up to 18 months. Before that change, the bridging loan counted against the 3.5 times income limit for a mover, which made it hard to get. The bridging loan guide works through the costs. The changes page records the rule change.

Both on one day: the linked closing

This is the common route. Your solicitor (check the Law Society's register) acts on both the sale and the purchase. A conveyancing solicitor who runs both can time them together.

Here is the day in order:

1. The buyer's solicitor sends the money for your old home to your solicitor.
2. Your solicitor pays off your old mortgage from it, with a redemption figure from your lender. The redemption figure is the exact sum to clear the loan on that day.
3. Your new lender sends your new mortgage to your solicitor.
4. Your solicitor sends the price of the new home to the seller's solicitor: your new mortgage plus what is left from your sale, less the deposit you paid at contracts.
5. The seller's solicitor confirms the money is in, and releases the keys to your agent or solicitor.
6. You hand over the keys of the old home and collect the keys of the new one.

The money moves through the banking system. A payment that goes out at 10am may not land until the afternoon. Most linked closings finish in the afternoon, so plan the removals for later in the day.

Making the dates line up

The two contracts each have a closing date. Your solicitor's job is to make them the same date, or to make the sale close first.

• The contract for your sale can say the closing date is on or after a set date, tied to your purchase.
• The contract for your purchase can have a special condition that it is subject to the closing of your sale. Sellers often refuse this, because it makes their sale depend on yours. Expect to negotiate it, or to drop it.
• Your lender's loan offer for the new home is usually valid for six months. If the sale drags, you may need an extension.

The 10% deposit at contracts on the new home is the pinch point. Your equity is still in the old home at that stage. Most people pay it from savings, a gift, or a short loan, and get it back on closing day from the sale money.

Rent-back: staying on after you sell

If you have sold but your purchase is not ready, you can ask the buyer to let you stay as a tenant for a short time. This is a rent-back. The buyer becomes your landlord for the period.

It needs:

• A written agreement with the dates and the rent.
• The buyer's lender's consent, because a lender may not allow a tenant in a home it has just lent on.
• Your own clear exit date, with the purchase closing before it.

A rent-back of a few weeks is manageable. A longer one brings tenancy law into play, and the Residential Tenancies Board's rules can apply. Ask your solicitor to draft it, and keep it short.

Moving on one day

If both close on the same day, the removals company has to empty one home in the morning and fill the other in the afternoon, with the keys arriving in between. Removal firms do this every week, but they need to know the plan.

• Book the removals as soon as the closing date is fixed, and tell them it is a linked closing.
• Ask for a quote with a wait time included, in case the keys come late.
• Pack everything but the kettle the day before.
• Have the meter readings for the old home ready and take them at the new one.
• Keep documents, keys, medicines and chargers with you, not in the van.

The removals page explains what to ask for in a quote.

The costs on both sides

Two deals mean two sets of costs. On the sale: the agent (with a PSRA licence) at a typical 1% to 2.5% plus VAT, the solicitor, and a BER certificate. On the purchase: the solicitor, stamp duty at 1%, a survey, a valuation and the move. The trading up guide adds them up with an example.

If the sale leaves you short

If your old home is worth less than the mortgage on it, that is negative equity. Selling needs the lender's consent, and the shortfall stays owed. Some lenders have a negative equity mortgage for movers, which the Central Bank's rules allow outside the 90% limit. Talk to your lender early, and to MABS, the free money advice service, if the numbers are tight. The money help page lists the free routes.

Where this leaves you

Put your purchase dates into the buying timeline planner and lay your sale's dates beside them, with the slower one setting closing day. The moving home journey puts the steps in order. Then get quotes from a solicitor who can run both deals, an agent for the sale, and a removals firm for the day.