When you buy a house in England or Wales, the property does not become legally yours the moment your offer is accepted. Between that handshake and the day you collect the keys sits conveyancing: the legal process that transfers ownership from seller to buyer, checks that the seller is entitled to sell, and makes sure there are no hidden problems with the property or the land it stands on. This guide explains how conveyancing works, step by step, how long it usually takes, and what it costs.
What is conveyancing?
Conveyancing is the branch of property law that deals with transferring legal title from one person to another. It is carried out by a conveyancer or a solicitor regulated in England and Wales, acting for the buyer, and a separate legal representative acting for the seller. Their job is to investigate the property’s legal title, raise and answer questions, prepare the contract, and manage the exchange of money on completion.
The process sits within the wider framework of UK property law. If you want the background first, our guide to land law: a guide to UK property and land rights explains the underlying rights and rules, while law and property in the UK looks at how ownership and property rights work together in practice.
The conveyancing process step by step
1. Instruction and initial checks
Once your offer is accepted, you instruct a conveyancer and provide identification so they can satisfy anti-money-laundering requirements. The seller’s conveyancer prepares a draft contract pack containing the title documents, a property information form completed by the seller, and a list of fixtures and fittings included in the sale. Your conveyancer checks these documents and raises preliminary enquiries about anything that is unclear, from boundary disputes to missing planning permissions.
2. Searches
Your conveyancer then applies for a standard set of searches. The local authority search reveals planning history, building control approvals, road schemes and whether the property sits in a conservation area. The environmental search flags flood risk, contaminated land and ground stability issues. A water and drainage search confirms that the property is connected to public water and sewerage. Depending on the location, additional searches may be recommended, such as a mining search in former coalfield areas. Searches usually take a few weeks, although local authority turnaround times vary considerably.
3. Mortgage offer and survey
If you are buying with a mortgage, your lender carries out a valuation to confirm the property is worth what you are paying, and then issues a formal mortgage offer. Your conveyancer checks the offer conditions carefully, because you cannot exchange contracts safely until the funds are committed. Many buyers also commission their own survey at this stage, from a basic condition report to a full building survey on older properties, to identify defects that the legal process will not uncover.
4. Enquiries, contract approval and exchange
Once the search results and mortgage offer are in, your conveyancer reports to you on everything they have found, answers your questions, and asks you to sign the contract and pay the deposit, usually ten per cent of the purchase price. When every party in the chain is ready, the conveyancers exchange contracts. This is the point of legal commitment: the completion date is fixed, and pulling out afterwards means losing your deposit and potentially facing further costs. The agreement becomes binding in exactly the way described in our guide to how legally binding agreements work, which explains how enforceable contracts are formed.
5. Completion and registration
On the completion day, your conveyancer sends the balance of the purchase price to the seller’s conveyancer, the keys are released, and the property becomes yours. The legal work is not quite finished, though. Your conveyancer pays any Stamp Duty Land Tax due, then registers the transfer and your mortgage with HM Land Registry. Once registration is complete you receive the updated title documents, and the file is closed. Keeping copies of these documents matters, as our guide to legal documents in the UK explains when it looks at how official records are used as evidence of ownership.
Freehold and leasehold differences
Most houses are sold freehold, meaning you own the building and the land outright. Many flats, and some newer houses, are leasehold: you own a long lease over the property while the freeholder retains the land. Leasehold conveyancing involves extra work, including reviewing the lease terms, checking ground rent and service charge provisions, and obtaining a management pack from the freeholder or managing agent. That pack costs money and can take weeks to arrive, which is why leasehold purchases usually sit at the slower end of the timescale. If you are buying a leasehold property, ask early about the remaining lease length, because a short lease can affect both value and mortgageability.
How long does conveyancing take?
A straightforward purchase typically takes between eight and twelve weeks from instruction to completion, but the honest answer is that it depends on the chain. A first-time buyer purchasing an empty property with no onward chain can complete much faster. A long chain, a slow local authority, a leasehold flat with management company information to gather, or problems revealed by searches can all extend the timeline. Leasehold transactions almost always take longer than freehold ones because there is an additional layer of information to obtain from the freeholder or managing agent.
You can help by returning forms and identification promptly, arranging your mortgage application early, and responding to your conveyancer’s questions the same day where possible. Delays of a day or two at each stage compound quickly across a whole chain.
What does conveyancing cost?
Conveyancing fees have two parts. The legal fee is what you pay your conveyancer for their work, and disbursements are the third-party costs they pay on your behalf, such as search fees and Land Registry charges. The total varies with the property’s price, whether it is freehold or leasehold, and where in the country it is. Always ask for a full written quote at the outset that lists disbursements separately, and check whether the firm works on a no-completion, no-fee basis or charges for work done if the purchase falls through.
It is also sensible to budget for the wider costs of moving, including Stamp Duty Land Tax, survey fees, mortgage arrangement fees and removals. Buyers planning their longer-term affairs at the same time often find it useful to read about related private client matters, such as the topics covered in our guide to private client law in the UK.
Choosing a conveyancer
You are not obliged to use the conveyancer recommended by an estate agent or mortgage broker, although those recommendations can be convenient. Compare quotes, but also compare service: ask how you will communicate, whether you will have a named contact, and how busy their current caseload is. Online conveyancing factories can be cheaper, but a local firm that answers the phone quickly is often worth more during the stressful weeks before exchange. Whoever you choose, make sure they are on your mortgage lender’s approved panel, or the transaction will stall.
Conveyancing can feel opaque while it is happening, because so much of the work goes on quietly in the background. Understanding the stages, and what your conveyancer is waiting for at each one, makes the process far less stressful and helps you spot when a gentle chase is genuinely needed.
