Buying your first home takes longer than most people expect. The average conveyancing process in England and Wales runs anywhere from eight to twelve weeks, and that’s when things go smoothly. When they don’t, you could be waiting considerably longer.
The frustrating part is that many of the delays are avoidable, and they tend to come down to the same mistakes made at the same points in the process.
Get the full breakdown below.
Picking a Solicitor Based on Price Alone
It’s tempting to go with the cheapest conveyancing quote you can find. When you’re already stretched on a deposit, every saving counts. But a low fee often means a high caseload, and a solicitor juggling hundreds of files won’t always move quickly on yours.
When comparing your options, it’s worth checking whether the firm uses CQS-accredited solicitors and whether they assign you a dedicated point of contact. Services like SAM Conveyancing solicitors work on a fixed-fee, no-sale-no-fee basis, which at least gives you cost certainty from the outset.
Look at reviews, response times and whether the firm assigns you a dedicated point of contact. Those things will have a bigger effect on your timeline than saving £100 on legal fees.
Waiting Too Long to Instruct a Solicitor
A lot of first-time buyers think they only need a solicitor once an offer is accepted. In practice, if you’re buying with a mortgage, your lender will ask for your solicitor’s details before they issue your mortgage offer. If you haven’t instructed anyone yet, that creates a delay right at the start of the process.
Get a solicitor in place before you make an offer, or at least have one lined up and ready to go. The onboarding process, ID checks and initial paperwork all take time. Starting that clock ticking earlier means you’re not sitting idle in the first two to three weeks after your offer is accepted.
Not Chasing Searches and Enquiries
Local authority searches can take anywhere from a few days to several weeks depending on the council. Some authorities are consistently slow. Your solicitor will order these searches, but they won’t always chase them unprompted.
It’s worth staying in regular contact and asking for updates. The same goes for enquiries raised with the seller’s solicitor. These are written questions about the property, and sellers don’t always answer them quickly. A batch of unanswered enquiries sitting in someone’s inbox can easily add two to three weeks to a transaction. You can’t control how fast the other side responds, but you can make sure your solicitor is keeping the pressure on.
Skipping or Delaying the Survey
Some first-time buyers skip a survey to save money, or they put it off while waiting to see if the mortgage offer comes through. Both decisions can cost you time later.
A survey isn’t just about finding problems. It’s about knowing what you’re buying before you’re legally committed. If issues do come up after you’ve exchanged contracts, you have very limited options. Booking a survey early means any concerns can be raised with the seller while there’s still room to renegotiate or pull out without financial loss.
Common delays linked to surveys include:
- Waiting weeks to book one because the buyer assumed it could be done quickly
- Discovering issues that require specialist reports, such as subsidence or damp, which add further time
- Trying to renegotiate the price after survey findings, which can restart elements of the legal process
Leaving Mortgage Documents Until the Last Minute
Your mortgage application is one of the longest threads running through the whole process. Lenders will ask for payslips, bank statements, proof of address and more. If anything is missing or unclear, they’ll come back with further requests, and each round of queries adds days or weeks.
Get your documents together before you apply. That means three months of payslips, three months of bank statements, your latest P60, proof of address and a record of any credit commitments. If you’re self-employed, you’ll typically need two to three years of accounts or tax returns.
Key Takeaways
Most conveyancing delays come down to gaps in communication or tasks that get left until they become urgent. The buyers who move fastest are usually the ones who stay on top of every thread, ask questions early and don’t assume that no news means good news.
Instruct your solicitor sooner than you think you need to, book your survey promptly and keep a close eye on anything that’s outstanding. A little organisation at the start will save you a lot of waiting at the end.
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