Buying a property can be a scary prospect, especially if it’s your first time. There is so much to know and understand. So we answer the frequently asked questions about the conveyancing process when buying a property to give you the confidence you need to purchase your dream home.
The conveyancing process is the legal part of buying a home, as such it can be complex and sometimes complicated. If you are a first-time buyer or haven’t bought a property for a good many years, it might all feel overwhelming.
But if you fully understand what is going on, the whole process becomes less scary and more exciting. After all, you are about to buy your dream home, right?
In this article we answer your questions about the conveyancing process and take away some of the stress involved.
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What Is the Conveyancing Process When Buying A Property?
In a nutshell: the conveyancing process is the legal process that needs to take place to transfer ownership of a property from one party to another.
It starts once you have an offer accepted on your new home, and you have instructed your solicitor to act on your behalf. The solicitor will then take these steps that will hopefully lead to the successful purchase:
- Checking documents and making enquiries
- Ordering property searches and checking returned reports
- Ensuring your financial position is in order to proceed
- If everything is in order: signing of the contract
- Exchanging contracts – at this point the sale is legally binding
- Final legal bits such as applying for transfer of property with Land Registry
- Completion day – this is the day the property becomes officially yours
- Solicitor will tie up loose ends to ensure all is in order
Not that complicated, right? It has to be said though that some of these steps can take some time, such as getting enquiries dealt with and waiting for property searches to be back.
If you want to know more details about each step, read our full guide about the conveyancing process when buying a house.
Do You Need A Solicitor To Buy A Property?
The short answer is no, you don’t need a solicitor to buy a property in the UK. However, just because it’s not a legal requirement, doesn’t mean that it’s not advisable. The conveyancing process can be complex and complicated and getting it wrong, can turn your dream home into a nightmare.
After all, it’s still a legal process that needs to be done according to the law. And while DIY conveyancing is possible and allowed, it’s not for the faint-hearted. While the government does provide some guidance, you still have to do it all yourself.
It’s far more than just making sure you fill out the right forms, especially if you are buying a property. To ensure that you know everything that’s important about the home you want to buy, it’s necessary to order the right property searches and send enquiries to the seller’s solicitor.
Without the right knowledge and experience you might miss some vital information, and this could be costly or worse. For example, the seller you are dealing with might not be the rightful owner and therefore can’t sell the property.
If you don’t check it, you might find that after you have moved the rightful owner comes knocking at your door, and you have to move out having lost money and your dream home. This is an extreme example of course, but it just shows how important an experienced solicitor by your side could be.
One scenario where you have no choice about hiring a solicitor is when you buy your property with a mortgage. The lender will insist that you use an approved conveyancing solicitor and won’t lend you the money if you refuse.
But even as a cash buyer, we would highly recommend that you hire a solicitor to support you through the purchase of your home.
What Are Searches And Do You Need Them?
As we have seen, one part of the conveyancing process is the ordering of searches. These are reports from different local authorities concerning the area your property is located in.
These searches can bring to light any issues that might make you reconsider buying it. For example, you might find out that it was built on contaminated land. Not only could this be a risk to your and your family’s health, it could also lead to the lender refusing to lend you on this property.
It might also have implications on you carrying out any works that need planning permission, because the planning authority might stipulate that you have to remedy the contamination first. This could be costly.
Different searches highlight different potential issues, including the risks of flooding and planned developments in the area.
Despite of the importance of these searches, they aren’t actually mandatory. Although any good solicitor will recommend you to carry them out for the reasons mentioned above.
If you want to know more, read our article about what property searches are and if you need them.
What Are Enquiries When Buying A House?

Like searches, enquiries are another way of finding out as much as possible about the property you want to buy. They take the form of questions your conveyancing solicitor sends to the seller’s solicitor.
The questions will be based on the draft contract, the property information form (TA6 form), any survey results, the property’s title and deeds and search results.
Which enquiries are necessary will depend on the property’s age, size, condition and type, where it’s located and wether it’s a leasehold or freehold.
The enquiries stage can take quite a while, because it’s a back and forth between the two solicitors with the seller’s and buyer’s input needed as well at times.
In our experience, this is the time when many issues are uncovered, such as missing certificates, lack of planning permission or building regulations. That’s why these enquiries are so important.
Only when the solicitor is satisfied that all enquiries have been resolved will they move on to the next stage, which is exchange of contracts and completion.
If you want to know more about this important part of the conveyancing process, read our article about what enquiries are.
How Long Does The Conveyancing Process For Buying A Property Take?
There is no definitive answer to this question, because the conveyancing process when buying a property is dependent on so many things. And each property purchase is different and comes with its own complexities.
On average the whole process takes between 12 and 16 weeks, but can take more or less time. Here are some things that could slow down the process:
- Sellers/Buyers not prepared and ready to go
- Searches taking longer
- Mortgage offer taking longer to come through
- Property is a leasehold property
- Planning permissions or building regulation certificates are missing
- Issues with right of access
- The length of the chain
There are of course many more. What we are trying to show is that there isn’t such a thing as a standard timescale. But is there something you can do speed up the process? Read on to find out…
How Can You Speed Up The Conveyancing Process?

While not everything is in your control as the buyer, there are things you can do to reduce the time it takes to complete the conveyancing process.
We have sold and bought several homes over the years, and these are the tips we have learned during the process:
- Be as prepared as possible: have your solicitor and finances in place as soon as you have an offer accepted
- Book surveys early
- Get direct contact details of the sellers: this way you can communicate with them directly if any issues come up
- Keep in regular touch with your solicitor
Of course, this doesn’t mean nothing can delay things, but it will give you ways of dealing with any delays outside of your control.
For example, when we bought our last home, one search took a long time to come back. We kept asking for updates from our solicitor on a regular basis. After a few weeks, we contacted the local authority to find out why it took so long.
Turned out, that there was a system error and they never got the order. Our solicitor ordered the survey again and it was back within a few days. If we hadn’t kept in touch with our solicitor, we wouldn’t have known about the issue and sort it.
Another time, our solicitor struggled to get replies from our buyer’s solicitor. Because we had the direct contact details of our buyer, we could contact him to let him know. He then put pressure on his solicitor so that the process could move forward.
As you can see, we were able to move things along even when issues outside of our direct control occurred.
To find out more about keeping everyone on track read our article about how to speed up your solicitor.
How Much Are Conveyancing Fees When Buying A Property?

How much you will pay will depend on various things, such as how complex the purchase is, whether it’s a freehold or a leasehold and how much the property costs.
On average, you can expect anywhere between £900 to £5,000, depending on the value of the property you’re buying. Of course, if you buy a mansion for several million pounds, your solicitor’s bill is likely much higher.
Solicitor’s fees are divided into two sections: legal fees and disbursements. The legal fees are for the work that the solicitor will do, such as checking the contract and other documents, making enquiries, ordering searches and checking the reports and giving advice.
Disbursements are costs that are owed to third parties and which the solicitor will pay and then invoice you. These include things like the searches, Land Registry charge, bankruptcy search, ID checks, etc.
Some solicitors will have a fixed fee for legal charges and packages for the disbursements. Others will charge by hour, so you only pay when they work on your purchase.
There are ups and down to both ways of charging. We personally prefer the fixed fees, because this makes it easier to budget, as you know what costs to expect.
When we bought our current home, we paid about £2,600 in legal fees. We have to say that the home we bought had a value above the national average, so many people will have to pay less.
For more information, read our article about how much solicitor’s fees are when buying a property.
What’s The Difference Between Exchange Of Contracts And Completion?
This is a question that many buyers ask, as it can be a bit confusing. It’s a big milestone in the conveyancing process, because it signals that the end is near.
The exchange of contract is the point when the sale/purchase becomes legally binding. The seller’s and buyer’s solicitors exchange the contracts singed by both you and the vendor.
This only happens once that you as the buyer and your solicitor are happy that you know everything relevant about the property and the area and all enquiries have been resolved.
Completion is the point where the purchase/sale is legally finalised, which means the property moves from the seller’s possession into the buyer’s, who will then be able to pick up the keys and move into their new home.
On completion day, the buyer’s solicitor receives the funds from the lender/cash buyer, transfers the money to the seller’s solicitor and pays Stamp Duty. Once the seller’s solicitor has confirmed they have received the money, the purchase is complete. This can be a nervous time.
We got told that our house was officially sold to our seller on the way to our new home. But it took another hour for us to get confirmation that the purchase had also completed. So for an hour or so we were homeless, which was a bit scary.
Usually, there are is one to two weeks between exchange of contracts and completion. That’s so that everyone has time to book a removal company, pack and make sure all documents are in order.
While it’s possible to do exchange and complete in one day, it’s very stressful and generally not recommended. Delays with bank transfers and other things could risk the sale not going through on the day.
Find out more about these two stage of the conveyancing process in our article about the difference between exchange of contracts and completion.
What Is the Conveyancing Process When Buying A New Build?

In short, it’s the same as for any other property. It involves checking received information, search reports and responses to enquiries.
However, there are still differences, that are worth knowing about. Unlike an existing building, a new build has to be built to current building regulations and the development has to have planning permissions.
So your solicitor will be checking these carefully to make sure your new home is compliant and was built according to the planning permission granted and no unauthorised changes have been made. Non-compliance, like with extensions or loft conversions, can lead to big problems.
The local authority might order you to pull down what was built. And in case of a new build, it will be the whole house. Newly built homes also tend to come with a warranty. Your solicitor will check this for you and ensure you know what the terms are.
Any new development also needs to be regularly inspected by the National House-Building Council (NHBC) to ensure the work is done to a high standard and highlight any issues.
Another thing that only needs checking with new builds is that the roads that have been built as part of the development have been built according to the regulations. Utilities, such as water, drains, gas and electricity also needs to be checked to ensure that you have access and that everything has been done correctly.
A peculiarity of buying a new build is that you don’t tend to do a homebuyers survey, after all it’s new. Instead you can carry out a so called “snagging survey“, which is designed to check a new built property to ensure it meets the standard that was promised to the buyer.
While it’s possible to get this survey done before completion, some developers won’t allow anyone in the building before the sale is complete. So you will have to get it done after you have moved in.
In this case, your solicitor will include a clause in the contract that stipulates that the developer will repair any issues found during the survey.
As you can see, there are quite a few differences if you buy a new build and it’s important that you have an experienced solicitor by your side, who has dealt with new builds before.
We have delved more into this interesting topic in our article about the conveyancing process of buying a new build.
More information
As you can see the conveyancing process when buying a property isn’t that complicated. However, it’s still good to have an experienced solicitor on your side to help you navigate this stressful time. You can use our handy comparison tool to find the right solicitor for your purchase.