What not to fix when selling a house in the UK

Should you spend money on your home before selling it?

When it comes to essential repairs and minor decorating to make a home look its best, then the answer is Yes.

There are a few key areas that buyers will want to be perfect: anything that doesn’t meet modern safety standards should obviously be tackled well before selling, and not just for the sake of the sale, but to keep you safe, too.

And while most people would prefer a property that's ready to move into, that doesn't mean spending a fortune on renovating before you leave. 

Your buyers are likely to have different tastes to you and they'll want time to get a feel of the place before making any major changes.

There are also some areas where 'fixing' things might leave you out of pocket because they won’t actually add to the value of your home or make it any easier to sell.

Here’s our guide to what to fix and what you can leave for the next owners to sort out.

Before a sale goes through, your buyer is likely to commission a survey on the condition of your home. It can be a good idea to pre-empt this by having a surveyor look at your home before you put it on the market. This way, you can fix any major issues before selling up.

The following are areas it would be sensible to shell out to fix in advance of selling if you want to get the maximum price for your home. 

Leaving them might put your buyers off, give them cause to knock you down on the price or create delays further down the line.

1. Electrical faults: Ensure your home has a valid electrical safety certificate where possible, and get wiring and any other faults checked

2. Heating or plumbing issues: Ensure your heating and plumbing is up to scratch before selling

3. Structural problems: Address any structural cracks or subsidence. This might mean replacing rotten joists and finding the root cause of subsidence or bowing walls 

4. Plasterwork: If your home has old and crumbling plaster it’s worth replacing it and redecorating before selling

5. Leaking roof/ missing tiles: It might not make sense to get a whole new roof before selling as it's extremely expensive. But a dodgy roof can make your home harder to sell. So it's worth replacing missing tiles, preventing water ingress and ensuring the home is as snug and dry as possible

6. Damp: Nobody wants to move into a damp home. While some fixes for damp are straightforward, others are complicated and pricey. Get an expert in to advise you, and see if you can replace a damp course or improve ventilation well in advance of selling. It’s not a great first impression if your home smells damp and, more importantly, damp can have a negative impact on health

7. Animal infestations: If you have mice or any other form of animal infestation, get the pest control department from your local council or a specialist to help you sort this out well before selling, and of course for your family’s health and wellbeing.

Knowing what not to fix means looking at the less fundamental issues with your home and calculating the time and cost involved in 'fixing' them.

Sometimes you can make a huge improvement to the atmosphere of your home by simply deep cleaning, removing unnecessary furniture and giving the place a lick of paint.

Have a big clear out and take another look. Better still, invite a friend or family member over who will be honest with you about the first impression your home makes on them.

There are many positives about a home that is well 'lived-in' so don’t assume you have to make it look like a show home. Do show buyers how you use the space, and remove enough personal clutter that they can imagine themselves living there.

This aside (and assuming there are no immediate safety concerns that you really should address, as above), here’s what we think you can avoid fixing before selling up:

1. Kitchen units: Fitted kitchens can get scratched and battered with continuous use. While it can be tempting to splash out on a new kitchen before selling up, unless you’re absolutely sure about what you’re doing, this could mean you’re spending money you won’t recoup in the sale price. Chances are your buyers will want to choose their own kitchen eventually and are happy to live with your old one for a while before updating it.

2. Flooring: It can be tempting to erase all sign of yourselves and leave the home looking pristine by installing new carpets or laying new flooring before selling. Again, this is an opportunity for your buyers to put their own stamp on the place. Who knows, you might have spent a fortune on wool carpets, only for the home’s next owners to pull them up in search of original parquet floors to sand down and buff up.

3. White goods: White goods are convenient but they're not a huge selling point. If you’re planning to leave them for the next inhabitant of your home, there’s little point in updating them ahead of a sale. If they're actually broken, why not consider second-hand replacements which will be cheaper?

4. Extensions: While you might think of an extension as a selling point, if you've managed to live without one, don’t fork out on one right before putting your home on the market. You could end up spending more on the building work than you'll add in value to the home, and it'll come with plenty of stress, dust and hassle. Plus, the potential to extend is attractive to buyers who may want to add value themselves at a later date.

5. Windows and doors: You might think your windows or doors would benefit from an upgrade but this is an expensive choice to make. It can be time consuming to get new windows and doors and not everyone will share your taste. This is a huge potential investment and better left for the future owners to decide on themselves.

6. Normal wear and tear: While minor cosmetic issues might annoy you, there’s no point in going to town fixing them when most buyers will expect them to be there. If your paintwork is chipped or the flooring is scuffed, you can give it a clean and a new lick of paint. But perfection shouldn't be the aim. And a lived in home is a well loved home.

7. Bathroom suites: As long as everything in your bathroom works, is plumbed in correctly and can be cleaned so it looks decent, don’t worry about replacing it. Make sure the walls and floor around the toilet, bath, sink and shower are in reasonable condition and consider new vinyl flooring or a lick of paint if needed, but don’t worry about the expensive items you’ll need a plumber to replace.

The answer to this question is: it’s your choice, of course.

Selling a home can feel like a huge task and if you need to line up tradespeople or start learning DIY skills, this can feel overwhelming. Especially if you need to move quickly.

The truth is any good home will sell for the right price. So, if you’re okay with making sure that essential repairs are covered without going the whole hog and aggressively staging or updating your home, the right people will turn up and want it for the right money.

Not fixing everything means you can avoid investments that might not be worth the time and money for you to perform. Ultimately, what’s a problem to you might actually be an opportunity or something exciting for a potential buyer to work on.