What is conveyancing? A UK buyer's plain-English guide

Your solicitor acts in your interests (and the lender's) throughout the purchase. They receive and review the draft contract from the seller's solicitor, raise any legal questions (called 'enquiries'), commission searches, check the title, and manage the flow of money at completion.

The other side has their own solicitor, and the two firms communicate formally — very little of this happens face to face. The process involves a lot of back-and-forth paperwork and waiting. Most delays in a purchase come from slow solicitors, chains, or search delays — not from any single party being difficult.

Searches are formal enquiries made to various official databases. They check for things that could affect the property that aren't obvious from a physical inspection. Your solicitor orders several, but the most important are:

The local authority search checks for planning permissions, building regulations applications, road schemes, and financial charges registered against the property by the council. It can also reveal whether the property is listed or in a conservation area.

The drainage and water search confirms whether the property is connected to the public sewer and water supply, and whether any drains run through the garden (relevant if you want to build an extension).

The environmental search looks at flood risk, ground contamination, and proximity to industrial sites. If it flags anything, your solicitor will advise on whether a more detailed report is needed.

Searches typically take 1–6 weeks depending on the local authority. Some buyers choose an indemnity insurance policy instead of waiting for searches — acceptable in some chains but generally not advisable if you have time.

The sale contract sets out the agreed price, the property boundaries, what's included (fixtures and fittings), any covenants (restrictions on what you can do with the property), and the proposed completion date. Your solicitor reviews it and may negotiate changes with the seller's solicitor before recommending you sign.

Before exchange, you'll also receive a Fixtures and Fittings form (TA10) from the seller, which lists what they're taking and what they're leaving. If the listing photos showed a dishwasher but the TA10 says it's excluded, now is the time to negotiate.

Once searches are back, all enquiries are resolved, and you and your mortgage lender have signed the necessary documents, your solicitor will confirm you're ready to exchange. On exchange day, both solicitors confirm verbal agreement by phone, then physically swap signed contracts. Your solicitor holds your deposit (usually 10%) until this point and sends it to the seller's solicitor on exchange.

On completion day, your solicitor 'draws down' the mortgage funds from your lender and, combined with your deposit, sends the full purchase price to the seller's solicitor via CHAPS (same-day bank transfer). Once the seller's solicitor confirms receipt, they notify the estate agent and the keys are released.

After completion, your solicitor pays your Stamp Duty within 14 days and registers your ownership with HM Land Registry. You should receive a copy of the registered title within a few weeks.

The first filter is your mortgage lender's approved panel. Your solicitor must be on this list or the lender will appoint their own firm and you'll pay for both. Get three quotes from firms on your lender's panel and compare them on total cost (not just the headline fee), the firm's Google or Trustpilot reviews, and how quickly they respond to your initial enquiry — their speed of response now is a reasonable proxy for how communicative they'll be throughout.

Avoid the cheapest option if the reviews suggest a slow or unresponsive service. In a chain, delays from one solicitor can hold up every transaction — and that's a source of significant stress and sometimes collapsed deals.

The most common sources of delay are: waiting for local authority searches (especially in busy councils), solicitor workload (some firms are simply overloaded), complex title issues (missing planning permissions, boundary disputes), and chain issues (someone else in the chain falls through or can't proceed).

You can't control everything, but you can: respond to your solicitor's requests within 24 hours, stay on top of your mortgage application, set a target exchange date early (even informally), and escalate politely but persistently if you haven't heard anything for a week.