What your solicitor actually does (conveyancing)

You've had an offer accepted. Now a solicitor takes over and, from the outside, nothing seems to happen for three months. This guide is for first-time buyers and new investors in England and Wales who want to know what's actually going on, what it costs, and how to stop being the reason it's slow.

The one-line version

Conveyancing is the legal work of moving a property from the seller's name to yours, with clean title, no nasty surprises, and your lender's money protected. Your solicitor (or licensed conveyancer, same job here) is the only person in the deal who is legally on your side.

Step 1: Instruction and ID

You "instruct" a solicitor: pick one and sign their terms. Before they lift a finger, anti-money-laundering rules force them to verify your ID and your source of funds: bank statements showing where the deposit came from, gift letters if family are chipping in, payslips, sale proceeds. This is not optional and they cannot skip it.

The catch: most buyers treat this as a formality and drip-feed documents over weeks. It's the first bottleneck of the whole transaction. Send everything the day you instruct.

Step 2: The contract pack

The seller's solicitor sends over the draft contract, the title from HM Land Registry, and the seller's completed property information forms (TA6 for general info, TA10 for fixtures and fittings, TA7 for leasehold). Your solicitor reads all of it looking for problems: restrictive covenants, rights of way, missing building regs sign-off, short leases (see the freehold vs leasehold guide), dodgy boundaries.

Step 3: Searches, what each one finds

Your solicitor orders searches on the property. Three are standard:

• Local authority search (LLC1 + CON29). What the council knows: planning permissions and enforcement, whether the road outside is publicly maintained, tree preservation orders, conservation areas, nearby road schemes. Fees are set by each council and vary wildly, from under £100 to £300+. (Councils are gradually migrating to HM Land Registry's central system, where the LLC1 element is a flat £15.) This is usually the slowest search: some councils turn it round in days, others take 4 to 6 weeks.
• Drainage and water search (CON29DW). From the water company: is the property connected to mains water and sewerage, are there public sewers running under the garden (which restrict extensions), who owns the pipes. Typically £60 to £80 depending on the water company.
• Environmental search. Desk-based data report: contaminated land (old landfill, industrial use), flood risk, ground stability, radon. Usually £30 to £60 and back within days.

A standard pack of all three typically lands at £250 to £450. Buying with a mortgage? Searches aren't optional: your lender requires them.

Step 4: Enquiries ping-pong

This is the invisible middle bit that eats weeks. Your solicitor raises written enquiries with the seller's solicitor about anything odd in the contract pack, searches or survey (see the survey guide). Seller's solicitor asks the seller. Seller digs out (or can't find) the FENSA certificate for the windows. Answers come back, which raise two new questions. Repeat.

Each round trip can take 1 to 2 weeks because four people are involved and none of them are in a hurry except you. Leasehold adds another player: the managing agent, who charges £200 to £500 (sometimes £800, especially in London) for a "management pack" and takes their sweet time producing it.

Step 5: Mortgage offer and report

Your lender issues the formal mortgage offer to you and to your solicitor, who usually also acts for the lender. They check the offer conditions, then send you a report on title (a plain-English summary of everything they've found), plus the contract and mortgage deed to sign. Read the report. It's the entire point of the fees you're paying.

Step 6: Exchange of contracts

Until exchange, either side can walk away for any reason and lose nothing but costs. At exchange, it becomes legally binding.

Mechanics: it's done by a recorded phone call between the solicitors using the Law Society's telephone exchange formulae (Formula B is the norm: each side holds their own client's signed contract; Formula C for chains). A completion date is fixed and written into both contracts. You pay a deposit: 10% of the price is the standard under the Standard Conditions of Sale, though sellers often accept 5% by agreement. In a chain, the same deposit is typically passed up the chain and reused. Pull out after exchange and you forfeit that deposit, plus potential further damages.

Step 7: Completion day

The morning of completion, your solicitor sends the balance of the purchase money (your remaining deposit plus the mortgage advance, requested from the lender in advance) to the seller's solicitor via bank transfer. When the money lands, the seller's solicitor confirms, and the estate agent releases the keys. Usually done by lunchtime; in a long chain, money has to hop up each link, so it can drag to late afternoon.

Step 8: Post-completion (the bit nobody sees)

• SDLT return. Your solicitor files a Stamp Duty Land Tax return with HMRC and pays any tax within 14 days of completion, required even if you owe nothing. Current rates: 0% to £125,000, 2% to £250,000, 5% to £925,000. First-time buyers pay nothing up to £300,000 and 5% on the slice to £500,000 (no relief at all above £500,000). Full bands and worked examples in the stamp duty guide.
• Land Registry. They register you as owner and register the lender's charge. Fee on the standard scale: £100 (electronic) or £230 (postal) for a £100,001 to £200,000 property; £150 / £330 for £200,001 to £500,000. Registration itself can take months, but a pre-completion priority search protects you in the meantime.

What it all costs: a worked example

First-time buyer, £250,000 freehold house, one mortgage:

You'll still see "£800 to £2,000 all-in" quoted online. The bottom of that range is out of date. As of 2026, legal fees for a purchase typically run £850 to £1,500 + VAT, disbursements add £450 to £700+, so budget £1,300 to £2,400 total. Leasehold adds roughly £300 in legal fees plus the management pack.

Why it takes 12 to 16 weeks

The honest average in 2026 is 12 to 16 weeks from offer to completion, and some data puts it nearer 16 to 20. Why: local authority searches can take weeks on their own; enquiries ping-pong adds more; mortgage offers take 2 to 4 weeks; and in a chain, everything moves at the speed of the slowest transaction, because everyone must exchange on the same day. Chain-free with cash? Eight to twelve weeks is realistic, as little as four to six if everything behaves.

Mistakes people make

• Slow-rolling ID and source-of-funds docs. Have bank statements, gift letters and payslips ready on day one.
• Sitting on paperwork. Reply same-day to every solicitor email. A 3-day delay per round of enquiries, over six rounds, is nearly three lost weeks, from you alone.
• Choosing on price alone. A £150 saving with a conveyancing factory that never answers the phone costs you a month.
• Instructing late. Instruct the moment your offer is accepted, not when the mortgage offer arrives.
• Booking removals before exchange. The date isn't real until contracts are exchanged. Nothing is.
• Skipping the report on title. It's the summary of everything you're buying. Read it before you sign.

Sources: gov.uk: SDLT returns (14-day deadline) · gov.uk: SDLT residential rates · gov.uk: HM Land Registry registration services fees · gov.uk: Local Land Charges programme · Law Society: formulae for exchanging contracts by telephone · HomeOwners Alliance: conveyancing fees · HomeOwners Alliance: how long conveyancing takes · Compare My Move: average conveyancing fees

Education, not financial advice. For mortgage advice, speak to an FCA-authorised broker.

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