Whether you’ve bought and sold multiple properties in your lifetime or you’re getting on the property ladder for the first time, one question that we often hear is, “How long does conveyancing take?”
While it’s not possible to provide a definitive answer, because this depends on factors related to individual property sales and purchases, we can give you a rough estimate based on the current market.
Data suggests that the average time for a property sale to move from the stage of an offer being accepted (sold subject to contract) and exchange is four months in the UK. There are variations within regions too.
Of course, in some sales, exchange and completion can happen on the same day. In other situations, there is a gap between the two. That will be agreed between the buyer and the seller.
You might be wondering why it takes so long, so we thought we’d break down the main stages of the process to help you understand what happens during conveyancing.
Stage 1: Survey and local authority searches
Before you buy a property, it’s advisable to commission an independent survey of its condition. This means you can find out about any structural or other issues before you exchange contracts, committing you to the purchase.
Local authority searches are an essential part of the process as well, because they can flag a range of issues that could affect your purchase, such as planning decisions, environmental factors like flood risk and any legal restrictions on the property – such as listed building status.
While local authority searches should take around ten days to complete, councils often take longer than this, which can delay the conveyancing process.
Your conveyancing solicitors in Epsom, or wherever you live, can coordinate to arrange the local authority searches while you organise the independent survey of the property.
Stage 2: Full mortgage offer
Unless you’re a cash buyer, you will likely be using a mortgage to purchase your property. This means you’ll need to get a full mortgage offer once a buyer has accepted the offer you made for their property.
Although you will likely have had a mortgage in principle before you placed an offer, this isn’t the same as being approved for the funds. So, once your offer is accepted you need to officially apply for your mortgage with your chosen lender.
How long this takes can vary from provider to provider, but it’s advisable to leave around four weeks for your mortgage application to progress from an offer in principle to a full approval for the funds.
Stage 3: Drafting contracts
This process can be a relatively quick two weeks if the purchase is very straightforward and nothing has arisen from the survey or searches. Or it can take up to ten weeks in more complex situations. It can run in parallel to your mortgage application.
Drafting the contract is where your conveyancing solicitor will be invaluable, because they will know how to bring all of the information together into a legal document that works for you.
During this process, they will also make enquiries of the seller’s solicitor where necessary, to ensure you have all the information you need to be confident in going ahead with the property purchase.
The stages that follow – exchange and completion – are usually the quickest because by this point all the legal paperwork is drawn up and ready to go, it simply requires your and the seller’s signatures.