Question 1

What does a conveyancer do?

Accepted Answer

A conveyancer handles the legal transfer of property ownership. On a purchase that means checking the title, raising enquiries with the seller's solicitor, carrying out searches, reporting to you and your lender, exchanging contracts, completing, paying Stamp Duty Land Tax and registering you at HM Land Registry. On a sale it means drafting the contract, answering the buyer's enquiries, and redeeming your existing mortgage on completion.

Question 2

How long does conveyancing take?

Accepted Answer

Conveyancing typically takes 12 to 16 weeks from instruction to completion. Leasehold purchases usually take longer because the freeholder or managing agent has to produce a management pack. Chains add time: roughly a quarter of chained transactions hit a complication somewhere along the chain. Remortgages are faster, usually four to eight weeks.

Question 3

How much does conveyancing cost?

Accepted Answer

A conveyancing quote has two parts: the firm's legal fee, and disbursements — third-party costs such as searches, HM Land Registry fees and bank transfer fees. Every quote through our panel is fixed for the legal fee and itemises disbursements separately, so the figure you are quoted is the figure you pay. Leasehold, shared ownership and Help to Buy transactions carry additional fees because they genuinely involve additional work.

Question 4

What is the difference between a conveyancer and a conveyancing solicitor?

Accepted Answer

A licensed conveyancer is a property law specialist regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). A conveyancing solicitor is a qualified solicitor regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) who may also practise in other areas of law. Both are fully qualified to handle your transaction and both carry professional indemnity insurance. For a straightforward purchase the difference that matters is not the qualification — it is the firm's caseload and how well they communicate.

Question 5

Do I have to use the conveyancer my estate agent recommends?

Accepted Answer

No. You are free to choose your own conveyancer, and you should. Estate agents frequently receive a referral fee for recommending a firm, which means the recommendation reflects the commercial arrangement rather than the firm's service record. Agents are required to disclose referral fees, so ask what the fee is before you accept a recommendation.

Question 6

What are conveyancing searches and how long do they take?

Accepted Answer

Searches are enquiries made to third parties about the property: the local authority search covering planning, roads and building regulations, plus environmental, drainage and water, and location-specific searches such as coal mining. Local authority searches are expected back within about 10 working days, though slower councils have been taking more than 25 working days. A good conveyancer orders searches at the very start rather than waiting for enquiries to come back first.

Question 7

What is the difference between exchange and completion?

Accepted Answer

Exchange of contracts is the moment the transaction becomes legally binding — the deposit, usually 10 per cent, is paid and neither side can withdraw without serious financial penalty. Completion is when the balance of the money moves, ownership transfers and you get the keys. The gap between the two is normally one to two weeks, though they can happen on the same day.

Question 8

Why is my conveyancing taking so long?

Accepted Answer

The most common cause of delay is not legal complexity — it is unresponsive communication, where a buyer, seller or their legal representative takes their time replying to enquiries. Other frequent causes are slow local authority searches, missing seller paperwork such as the TA6 and TA10 forms, mortgage offer delays, title complications, and problems elsewhere in the chain. Almost all of these are managed rather than solved, which is why how often your conveyancer chases matters more than how clever they are.

Question 9

Can I change conveyancer part-way through?

Accepted Answer

Yes, though it is not free and it costs time. You will owe the original firm for work already done, your file has to be transferred, and if you have a mortgage your lender must approve the new firm as being on its panel. Switching is worth considering where a firm has genuinely stopped communicating, but it is usually faster to escalate to a supervisor or the firm's complaints partner first.

Question 10

What are disbursements?

Accepted Answer

Disbursements are third-party costs your conveyancer pays on your behalf and passes on at cost. On a typical purchase they include search fees, HM Land Registry registration fees, official copies of the title, bank transfer fees and the Stamp Duty Land Tax return. On a leasehold purchase they also include the freeholder's or managing agent's notice fees. They are not profit for the firm, and they should be itemised on your quote rather than bundled into a single number.

Question 11

When do I pay Stamp Duty Land Tax?

Accepted Answer

Stamp Duty Land Tax is paid on completion. Your conveyancer collects the money from you beforehand, files the SDLT return and pays HMRC, which must be done within 14 days of completion. In England and Northern Ireland the standard nil-rate band is £125,000, with first-time buyer relief giving a nil-rate band of £300,000 on purchases up to £500,000. An additional 5 per cent surcharge applies if you already own another residential property. Wales has its own system, Land Transaction Tax, with different thresholds.

Question 12

Does buying a leasehold property take longer?

Accepted Answer

Yes, usually. The seller's conveyancer has to obtain a management pack from the freeholder or managing agent covering the lease, service charges, ground rent, buildings insurance and any planned major works. Those packs are produced to the freeholder's timetable, not yours, and are one of the most common causes of a leasehold transaction running long. Ask the seller to order the pack the day the offer is accepted rather than weeks into the process.

Question 13

Do I need searches if I am a cash buyer?

Accepted Answer

You are not required to have them, because searches are ordinarily a lender requirement and a cash purchase has no lender. Most conveyancers still strongly advise them. Searches reveal things no survey can — a planned road scheme, a contaminated land designation, an unadopted road you would be liable to help maintain, or a building regulations breach on a previous extension. Skipping them saves a few hundred pounds against a risk measured in tens of thousands.

Question 14

What happens to my fees if the sale falls through?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the terms you agreed at the outset. Disbursements already incurred, such as searches, are non-refundable because the money has been spent with a third party. Whether the legal fee is payable depends on whether your quote included no-move-no-fee protection — ask that question before you instruct, not after. We confirm the position in writing with every panel quote.

What it is	The legal transfer of property ownership from one party to another
How long it takes	12–16 weeks from instruction to completion for a typical transaction. Leasehold takes longer
What it costs	A fixed legal fee plus disbursements (searches, HM Land Registry, transfer fees), itemised separately
Who can do it	A solicitor regulated by the SRA, or a licensed conveyancer regulated by the CLC. Both are fully qualified
Searches	Local authority searches target about 10 working days; slower councils have taken 25+ working days
Exchange of contracts	The point it becomes legally binding. Deposit (usually 10%) is paid. Neither side can withdraw without penalty
Completion	Money moves, ownership transfers, you get the keys. Normally 1–2 weeks after exchange
Stamp Duty	Paid on completion; the SDLT return must be filed and paid within 14 days. Wales uses Land Transaction Tax
Can you choose your own?	Yes. You are never obliged to use the firm your estate agent recommends

Conveyancing solicitors & licensed conveyancers

What does a conveyancer do?

We handle all of it

Most conveyancing doesn't fail on law. It fails on replies.

Unanswered enquiries

Working days for a search

Chains hit a problem

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Conveyancing in one table

Every kind of residential transaction

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Sale & Purchase

Remortgage

Leasehold

Transfer of Equity

What actually happens, and roughly when

Instruction & searches

Enquiries & searches back

Report & exchange

Completion & registration

Your conveyancer already has the survey

Survey findings go straight across

Specialist reports land in the file

Your broker and solicitor talk

Conveyancing, answered plainly

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