Selling Your Home in Ireland: With or Without an Estate Agent

You do not have to use an estate agent to sell your home in Ireland. Agents typically charge 1% to 2.5% of the sale price plus VAT, which is €2,500 to €6,250 plus VAT on a €250,000 home. Whether you use an agent or sell privately, you need a BER certificate to advertise the property and a solicitor to handle the legal side. If the home has been your only or main residence, the profit is usually exempt from Capital Gains Tax.

Selling is less mapped-out than buying, but the shape of it is simple: get the home ready to advertise, find a buyer, agree a price, and let the solicitors complete the legal transfer. This guide covers whether you need an agent, what it costs, the steps, the tax, and how to sell privately without losing control of viewings and offers.

Do you need an estate agent?

No. There is no legal requirement to use an estate agent (auctioneer) to sell your home. Most sellers do use one, and a good local agent brings pricing knowledge, marketing reach and someone to run viewings and handle offers. But you pay for it: agent fees are typically 1% to 2.5% of the final sale price, plus VAT. On a €250,000 sale that is roughly €2,500 to €6,250, before VAT. If you use an agent, they must be licensed by the PSRA (Property Services Regulatory Authority) and must give you a Property Services Agreement setting out the fee and terms at the outset.

Selling privately keeps that fee in your pocket. The trade-off is that the jobs an agent does, marketing the home, running viewings, fielding offers and reading which buyers are serious, fall to you. That is exactly the part a platform like Truehome is built to handle (below), so selling without an agent does not have to mean doing it all on paper and by phone.

Selling privately with Truehome

If you sell privately, Truehome gives you the tools an agent would otherwise charge a percentage for:

• Viewing management so interested buyers book a slot themselves, instead of you juggling calls and texts.
• Bidding management with every offer on one transparent, time-stamped timeline, so you can see exactly where the bidding stands rather than taking an agent's word for it.
• Real-time in-app messaging with interested buyers, so you can answer questions and negotiate while keeping your phone number private until you choose to share it.
• Knowing who is serious, because buyers can be verified (mortgage-approved or proof of funds), so you can tell a genuine bidder from a casual browser.

The point is not to talk you out of an agent if you want one. It is that selling privately is a real, lower-cost option when the viewing, offer and messaging admin is handled for you.

What you need before you list

• A BER certificate. A Building Energy Rating is legally required to advertise a property for sale, whether you use an agent or sell privately. Arrange it with a registered BER assessor before you go to market.
• A solicitor. You will need one to handle the conveyancing (contracts, title, closing) regardless of how you find your buyer. Instruct them early so the title and paperwork are ready.
• Your title deeds and paperwork. If there is a mortgage, the deeds are usually held by your lender; your solicitor requests them. Gather planning documents, the BER, and any certificates for extensions or works.
• An asking price. Research recent sale prices for comparable homes nearby (the Property Price Register shows actual sale prices, with a few months' lag) and, if you like, get a valuation. The asking price is a guide, not a floor or a ceiling.

The selling process, step by step

1. Prepare and price the home, get the BER, instruct a solicitor.
2. Advertise it (with an agent, or privately) and let viewings happen.
3. Receive offers. In a private treaty sale, buyers bid and you can accept, decline or hold out. Nothing is binding at this stage.
4. Go sale agreed once you accept an offer. The buyer usually pays a booking deposit, which stays refundable until contracts are signed. Sale agreed is not legally binding on either side yet, so a sale can still fall through up to contracts.
5. Contracts. Your solicitor sends the contract and answers the buyer's pre-contract enquiries. When both sides sign and the buyer pays the contract deposit (usually 10%), the sale becomes legally binding.
6. Closing. On the closing date the balance is paid, your solicitor clears any mortgage, ownership transfers, and you hand over the keys.

For more on the legal stage, see the conveyancing and sale-agreed guides (the buyer-side timeline mirrors yours).

What it costs to sell

• Estate agent fee (if you use one): about 1% to 2.5% of the sale price, plus VAT. Selling privately avoids this.
• Solicitor fee for the conveyancing: commonly a few hundred to around €1,500 plus VAT and outlay, depending on the solicitor and the sale.
• BER certificate: a modest one-off fee to the assessor.
• Minor costs for any cleaning, repairs or staging you choose to do.

What it costs to sell on Truehome

Listing your home on Truehome is free right now, before the platform opens to buyers in September 2026. From September 2026, listing a home is a single €99 flat fee, with no commission and no subscription. That one fee covers the whole journey, from an early-interest listing through to going fully live with viewings and bidding. The percentage-based commission an estate agent charges does not apply: on Truehome you pay the flat fee and keep the rest of your sale price. The other costs above (your solicitor, the BER certificate) still apply whichever way you sell.

Tax when you sell

If the home has been your only or main residence for the whole time you owned it, the gain is usually exempt from Capital Gains Tax under Principal Private Residence (PPR) Relief (the garden or land up to one acre is included). For most people selling the family home, there is no CGT to pay.

CGT does apply, at a standard rate of 33% on the taxable gain, if the property was not your main residence throughout, for example an investment property, a second home, or a home you let out for part of the time. If any of that applies, get specific advice, because partial relief and reliefs for periods of absence can be involved.

This guide is general information, not financial, legal or tax advice. Costs, rules and reliefs change, so confirm the current position with a solicitor, a PSRA-licensed agent, Revenue or the CCPC before you act.