Conveyancing can feel slow, but a lot of the wait comes from delays you can avoid. The legal work itself rarely takes long. What stretches a transaction out is waiting for forms to come back, paperwork to be chased, mortgage offers to land and questions to be answered. A fair share of that is in your hands. Move quickly on your side and you give the whole chain less reason to stall.
1 Get the basics done before you need them
The single biggest time saver is preparation. Most movers wait until their solicitor asks for something before they go looking for it. Flip that round. Have your identity documents, proof of funds and key paperwork ready on day one, and you remove a chunk of dead time from the start.
If you are selling, dig out everything that proves the property is what you say it is: planning permissions, building regulations certificates, FENSA certificates for replacement windows, guarantees for damp or timber work, and any leasehold paperwork. The buyer's solicitor will ask for these, and a missing certificate can hold things up while a replacement or an indemnity policy is arranged. For what the law requires you to share, see our guide on what you must disclose when selling.
- Photo ID and proof of address, ready to verify quickly (many firms now do this electronically).
- Proof of the funds you are using, including evidence of where a deposit or a gift came from.
- For sellers: the property information form (TA6) and the fittings and contents form (TA10), filled in fully and honestly.
- Certificates and guarantees for any work done to the home.
Sellers complete a property information form (TA6) and a fittings and contents form (TA10) early on. Rushed or blank answers generate follow-up enquiries, and every round of enquiries adds days. Take your time once and you save time later.
2 Sort your mortgage and instruct early
Have your mortgage agreed in principle before you make or accept an offer, and instruct a conveyancer the moment the sale is agreed. Both steps take waiting out of the front of the process, which is where it does the most damage to a chain.
An agreement in principle is not a full mortgage offer, but it tells everyone you are a serious buyer and gives you a head start on the formal application. Once your offer is accepted, submit the full application straight away. The lender's valuation and underwriting often run alongside the legal work, so the earlier they start, the less they hold things up at the end. Check the firm you choose is on your lender's panel, as a firm that is not can add a real delay.
Instructing a conveyancer early matters just as much. You can choose and instruct a firm as soon as your offer is agreed, and a good firm will open the file and start ordering things within days. If you want to understand who does what, our guides on what conveyancing is and what a conveyancer does are a useful starting point.
3 Order searches and book your survey early
Searches and surveys can run quietly in the background while everything else happens, so get them moving early rather than waiting. Property searches are one of the more common causes of delay, because some are returned by the local authority and the time they take varies a lot by area.
Your conveyancer orders the searches once they have funds on account, so paying any search fee promptly is one of the simplest things you can do to keep things moving. To understand what the searches actually check, read our guide on property searches.
On the survey side, book it as soon as you reasonably can. A survey often turns up points you will want to raise or renegotiate, and it is far better to know early. Leave it until the end and any issues land just when you hoped to be exchanging. Our guide to home surveys covers the different levels and which might suit your property.
If you are buying a leasehold flat, the managing agent or freeholder has to supply a management pack, and that can take several weeks to arrive. You will also have a separate leasehold information form (the TA7) to complete as a seller. Ask for the pack as early as possible so it does not become the thing everyone is waiting on.
4 Respond fast, and keep responding fast
Once the process is running, the pace of the whole transaction is often set by the slowest person to reply. Make sure that is never you. When your conveyancer sends a form, a question or something to sign, deal with it the same week if you can.
Conveyancing involves a lot of back and forth between the two sides' solicitors. Each enquiry raised by the buyer's solicitor has to be passed to the seller, answered, and passed back. If everyone turns things round in a day or two, a typical freehold sale or purchase moves along at a good pace. If even one party sits on things, the delay ripples through the whole chain. For a fuller picture of realistic timings, see how long conveyancing takes.
Treat anything from your conveyancer as time-sensitive. A quick reply, even just to say you are working on it, keeps the file active.
Sign and send back contracts, the transfer deed (the TR1) and mortgage paperwork as soon as they arrive. Posting these the same day can save a week.
Searches and other steps only start once your money is received, so settle requested payments quickly.
A polite check-in every week or so keeps your matter near the top of the pile without being a nuisance.
Stay in touch with your estate agent and the others in the chain so any sticking point is spotted early.
5 Choose a responsive firm from the start
The firm you pick has a real effect on how fast things go. A responsive, well-resourced conveyancer who answers the phone and keeps your file moving will usually beat a cheaper firm that is overloaded and slow to reply. Speed is partly about price, but mostly about service.
When you compare firms, look at how quickly they respond to your first enquiry, whether you get a named contact, and how clearly they explain the process. A fixed-fee quote helps too, because you are not waiting on cost surprises later. MoveGuide lets you 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 weigh up service as well as price. For more on what to look for, read how to choose a conveyancer.
One last point. A fast transaction tends to be a more stable one. Deals that drag give buyers, sellers and lenders more time to get cold feet or hit problems, so keeping momentum is one of the better ways to protect your move, as our guide on why property deals fall through explains. None of this is legal advice, but doing your bit quickly really does shift the odds in your favour.