Most people want one honest answer before anything else: how long will this actually take? For a straightforward freehold sale or purchase in England or Wales, conveyancing usually takes around 8 to 12 weeks from the point your offer is accepted to the day you collect the keys. That is a realistic average, not a promise. Some moves complete faster, plenty take longer, and a few quiet weeks at the start are completely normal.
1 The honest answer: around 8 to 12 weeks
For a typical freehold home with a mortgage and a short chain, plan for around 8 to 12 weeks. The clock starts when your offer is accepted and the legal work is instructed. It stops at completion, when the money changes hands and you get the keys. This is the timeframe a good conveyancer will quote you, and it is the one we use here.
The range is wide for a reason. The same house can complete in six weeks or run past four months depending on the chain, the mortgage, the searches and how quickly people reply. Conveyancing is rarely about one firm being slow. It is about a string of separate people, your conveyancer, the seller's conveyancer, lenders, councils and surveyors, all having to line up. If you want the detail of what each party does, our guide to the conveyancing process, step by step walks through the full sequence.
This guide covers England and Wales. The Scottish system, with its missives and a binding offer much earlier in the process, runs on a different timeline, and Northern Ireland has its own rules too.
2 The main stages, and how long each takes
Conveyancing is not one long task. It is a series of stages that mostly run in order, with some overlap. Knowing where the time goes helps you tell a genuine hold-up from a normal pause.
You appoint a conveyancer, pay any amount due upfront and complete identity and anti-money-laundering checks. Once you respond, this is usually a few days.
The seller's side sends the draft contract and the property information forms, such as the TA6 and, for a leasehold, the TA7. This often takes a week or two, sometimes longer if the seller is still gathering paperwork like guarantees or planning documents.
Your conveyancer orders the property searches. Most come back within days to a couple of weeks, though a local authority search can be slower depending on the council.
Your lender values the property and issues a formal mortgage offer. This is often the longest single wait. Any survey you have arranged runs alongside it.
Your conveyancer raises questions on anything unclear in the contract, searches or forms, then waits for answers. This back-and-forth is the stage most likely to stretch.
You receive a report on the property, sign the contract and the transfer deed (the TR1), and pay your deposit ready for exchange.
Contracts are exchanged and the deal becomes legally binding. A completion date is fixed. See exchange and completion explained for what each milestone means.
On completion day the balance is transferred, ownership passes and you collect the keys. Post-completion tasks like paying Stamp Duty and registering the title with the Land Registry follow afterwards.
3 What slows conveyancing down
Most delays come from a handful of familiar causes. None of them mean anything has gone wrong, but each adds time, and they often stack on top of each other.
- The chain. If the people above and below you are also buying and selling, nobody can exchange until everyone is ready. One slow party can hold up the whole chain, which makes it the single biggest variable in your timeline.
- Leasehold. Flats and some houses are leasehold, and the seller's conveyancer has to obtain a management pack from the freeholder or managing agent. That pack can take weeks to arrive and often triggers extra enquiries. Our guide to leasehold and freehold explains why.
- Mortgage delays. A formal mortgage offer can take longer than expected, especially if the lender wants more information or the valuation flags an issue.
- Slow searches. Some councils take longer than others to return a local authority search, which can hold up the rest of the work.
- Enquiries and missing paperwork. If forms come back incomplete, or a building has alterations without the right certificates, the questions multiply and answers take time.
- People being unavailable. Holidays, illness or an unresponsive party on the other side can quietly add a week or two.
If you are buying or selling a flat, build in extra weeks from the start. Waiting on a freeholder's management pack is one of the most common reasons a leasehold sale runs past twelve weeks.
4 What speeds it up, and why no chain is faster
The fastest moves tend to have no chain, a freehold property, a mortgage already agreed in principle and everyone replying promptly. A no-chain purchase, say buying a vacant property or one being sold by executors, removes the largest source of delay, because there is no other sale you have to wait for. Cash buyers go faster still, since there is no mortgage offer to wait on.
You have more control than you might think. Returning forms quickly, replying to your conveyancer the same day where you can, lining up your mortgage early and having your deposit ready all shave time off. Choosing a responsive firm matters too, which is where comparing quotes helps. For a fuller list of practical steps, see how to speed up your conveyancing.
You do not have to wait until everything is formally confirmed to instruct a conveyancer. Getting set up early means searches can be ordered the moment you are ready, which can save a week or more.
Whatever your situation, it pays to start with a conveyancer who is upfront about timing and cost. You can compare fixed-fee quotes from SRA-regulated solicitors and licensed conveyancers side by side, free and with no obligation, in about 60 seconds, so you can pick a firm that is ready to move when you are.