Timing
How long does conveyancing actually take?
A straightforward, chain-free purchase typically completes in around 8–12 weeks. With a longer chain, a leasehold management pack, or a slower local authority, it commonly takes longer — there is no single answer that applies to every transaction, but there is a realistic pattern.
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Where the weeks actually go.
01
Instruction & ID checks
A few days
Once you instruct, we carry out identity and anti-money-laundering checks, which the law requires before any legal work can begin. Handled digitally, this is usually the quickest part of the whole process.
02
Legal work & title review
Roughly the first 1–2 weeks
Your conveyancer prepares or reviews the draft contract, examines the title at the Land Registry, and checks the lease where the property is leasehold. This runs in parallel with searches rather than waiting for them.
03
Searches & enquiries
Typically 2–6 weeks
Usually the single biggest variable. Local authority, drainage and environmental searches are ordered early, but turnaround depends entirely on the relevant council, and enquiries raised on the results add further time on top.
04
Exchange to completion
Often just 1–2 weeks
Once searches, enquiries and the mortgage offer are all satisfactory, everyone in the chain agrees a completion date. Exchange makes the transaction legally binding; completion, when funds and keys move, usually follows within a week or two.
These are typical ranges based on how a straightforward transaction usually unfolds, not a guarantee for any individual matter. For what happens at each stage, rather than how long it takes, see how residential conveyancing works.
What Slows It Down
Four common causes of delay.
- A longer chain. Your own file can be ready to exchange while someone else's, several links away, still is not. The whole chain moves at the pace of its slowest transaction.
- A leasehold management pack. Freeholders and managing agents can take several weeks to produce the information a leasehold sale requires, and this is largely outside either solicitor's control.
- A slow local authority search. Turnaround varies significantly by council, and busier authorities can take considerably longer than the fastest ones.
- Mortgage lender processing. Underwriting, valuation and the final mortgage offer are handled by your lender, and their own workload can add time regardless of how quickly the legal work is progressing.
What Speeds It Up
Four things that genuinely help.
- No chain. A first-time buyer with nothing to sell, or a seller moving into rented accommodation, removes one whole layer of coordination.
- A cash purchase. Without a mortgage lender in the loop, there is one fewer party whose own timescales the transaction depends on.
- Prompt responses. Returning signed paperwork, mortgage documents and answers to enquiries quickly keeps your own file moving at its fastest possible pace.
- Digital ID checks. Verifying identity online rather than by post removes days that used to be lost simply waiting for documents to arrive.
Why We Can't Promise a Date
Every chain is different.
No conveyancer, however efficient, can promise a completion date on day one. The legal work in your own transaction is only ever one part of a longer chain that includes other buyers, other sellers, their lenders, their local authorities, and (for leasehold properties) their freeholders. What we can do is keep our own part of the process moving as fast as possible, and tell you honestly where your transaction stands at any point.
Your Quote
See your own timeline
start with a quote.
A few quick questions get you a complete, itemised quote — and a named conveyancer who can give you a realistic estimate for your own situation.
- About 2 minutes, free
- No obligation to instruct
Your Quote
Professional fees, incl. VAT
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Disbursements
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Government fees
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Total: — Disbursements and government fees are estimates and will be finalised before exchange; for leasehold properties the landlord's own Lessor's Registration Fee is not included, as it is set at the landlord's discretion.
Important information
This quote is based on the information you have given us. If something material changes or additional information comes to light during the transaction, we will tell you and agree any change with you before it applies. To comply with Money Laundering Regulations we verify the identity of all clients, including through an online ID verification service.
Almost done
Where should we send it?
A straightforward, chain-free purchase typically completes in around 8-12 weeks from instruction to completion. Add a longer chain, a leasehold property, or a slow local authority, and it commonly stretches to 3-4 months or more. These are typical ranges, not guarantees, since every transaction depends on other people as well as your own conveyancer.
Searches are usually the single biggest variable in the whole timeline. Local authority search turnaround varies significantly between councils, commonly anywhere from a few days to six weeks or more, and we have no control over how quickly a particular council processes them. Where speed matters, we can look at personal or expedited search options as an alternative to waiting on the standard local authority search.
You can influence quite a lot of it. Returning paperwork, ID checks and mortgage documents promptly, using digital rather than postal ID verification, and being available to answer enquiries quickly all help keep your own file moving. What you generally cannot speed up is a slow link elsewhere in the chain or a local authority search queue outside anyone's control.
Not usually. Once searches, enquiries and the mortgage offer are all satisfactory, everyone in the chain needs to agree a completion date before contracts are exchanged. That coordination, rather than any remaining legal work, is often what takes the extra time between "everything looks fine" and exchange itself.
Read Next
More on the conveyancing process.
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