UK Conveyancing Guide: Process, Costs & Timeline

At a glance

• Typical timescale: GOV.UK states buying a home takes about 5 months on average; chains and leasehold packs can extend this — there is no fixed statutory timescale.
• SDLT (England & Northern Ireland): 0% up to £125,000, then 2%, 5%, 10% and 12% on higher bands; first-time buyers pay 0% up to £300,000. Check current thresholds on GOV.UK before relying on a figure.
• LTT (Wales): a separate tax with its own nil-rate band, set by Welsh Ministers and published on gov.wales — always check the current bands there, not SDLT figures.
• SDLT/LTT filing deadline: your conveyancer must normally file the return and pay any tax due within 14 days of completion (the "effective date").
• Exchange vs completion: exchange makes the deal legally binding; completion is when money moves and you get the keys — GOV.UK's own guide sets out both steps.
• Land Registry: registration with HM Land Registry is a legal requirement on purchase, gift, inheritance, exchange or mortgage of property — not optional, and the resulting entry becomes public.
• Cash buyers: no legal obligation to instruct searches, but GOV.UK's guidance and standard practice both treat skipping them as a real risk.

Overview

Conveyancing is the legal process of transferring ownership of property or land from one party to another. In England and Wales it is typically handled by a solicitor or a licensed conveyancer, who acts on behalf of either the buyer or the seller (and occasionally both, subject to conflict-of-interest rules).

A solicitor is qualified across a broad range of legal work. A licensed conveyancer is a specialist property lawyer regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC), the dedicated regulator for conveyancing and probate services. Both routes are well established for residential conveyancing; a solicitor can be a better fit where the transaction sits alongside other legal issues, such as probate or a divorce settlement.

The work covers drafting and reviewing the contract of sale, carrying out property searches, raising enquiries about the property, arranging the exchange of contracts, handling the transfer of funds on completion, paying any Stamp Duty Land Tax (or Land Transaction Tax in Wales), and registering the new ownership with HM Land Registry. Because property transactions frequently form chains — where your sale depends on someone else's purchase, and so on — timing and coordination across multiple parties is a significant part of what conveyancers manage day to day.

GOV.UK's own guidance on buying a home confirms the process takes about 5 months on average, and longer where a chain is involved.

Key steps in the process

1. Instruction and initial paperwork. Once an offer has been accepted, both parties instruct their conveyancers. Under GOV.UK's guidance on transferring ownership, the seller is responsible for drawing up the legal contract, which sets out the sale price, property boundaries, included fixtures and fittings, any legal restrictions or rights (such as public footpaths), planning restrictions, and the services connected to the property. The buyer's conveyancer opens a file and carries out client identification and anti-money laundering checks.
2. Searches and enquiries. The buyer's conveyancer orders property searches, which commonly include local authority, environmental, water and drainage, and chancel repair checks. They review the contract pack and raise enquiries with the seller's side to clarify anything unclear, such as boundary issues, planning history, alterations, or neighbour disputes. There is no legal requirement to carry out searches if you are a cash buyer, but skipping them is generally unwise — and if you are borrowing, your lender will almost always require them as a condition of the mortgage offer.
3. Mortgage offer and survey. If the buyer is borrowing, the lender issues a formal mortgage offer once its own checks and valuation are complete. Many buyers also commission a separate survey at this stage. The conveyancer reviews the mortgage conditions and ensures the property satisfies the lender's requirements before proceeding further.
4. Exchange of contracts. When searches, enquiries, finances and the deposit are all in order, both sides sign and exchange final copies of the contract. GOV.UK confirms that once this happens, the agreement is legally binding and neither party can normally withdraw without paying compensation. A completion date is fixed at this point.
5. Completion. On the agreed day, GOV.UK's guidance sets out what happens: the buyer's conveyancer transfers the purchase money, the buyer receives the legal documents needed to transfer ownership, the seller moves out leaving the property in the agreed state, and the buyer collects the keys and becomes the legal owner.
6. Tax and registration. After completion, the buyer's conveyancer normally deals with the Stamp Duty Land Tax return (or Land Transaction Tax return in Wales), pays the tax due, and submits the application to register the new owner — and any mortgage — with HM Land Registry.

Stamp Duty Land Tax and Land Transaction Tax

Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) applies to residential property purchases in England and Northern Ireland. Under GOV.UK's published SDLT rates, the standard bands for a buyer's only residential property are:

| Portion of price | SDLT rate | |---|---| | Up to £125,000 | 0% | | £125,001 to £250,000 | 2% | | £250,001 to £925,000 | 5% | | £925,001 to £1.5 million | 10% | | Above £1.5 million | 12% |

First-time buyers can claim relief: 0% up to £300,000, and 5% on the portion from £300,001 to £500,000 (no relief is available if the price exceeds £500,000). Buyers who will own more than one residential property after the purchase usually pay an additional 5% surcharge on top of the standard rates. These thresholds and rates are reviewed by government and can change — always check the current figures on GOV.UK before budgeting for a purchase, and use HMRC's SDLT calculator to work out an exact figure.

Your conveyancer must normally file the SDLT return and pay any tax due within 14 days of the "effective date" of the transaction — usually completion — per GOV.UK's guidance on sending an SDLT return. Late filing can trigger penalties and interest, so this is one of the most time-critical parts of the post-completion process.

Wales works differently. Property purchases in Wales are subject to Land Transaction Tax (LTT), not SDLT. LTT is administered by the Welsh Revenue Authority, and the rates and bands are set separately by Welsh Ministers and published on gov.wales. Wales does not have a distinct first-time buyer relief in the way England does — instead, its standard nil-rate threshold is set higher, which in practice means most first-time buyers in Wales pay little or no LTT. As with SDLT, always check the current rates and bands on gov.wales rather than relying on a fixed figure, since these are reviewed and can change.

HM Land Registry and registration

GOV.UK confirms that you must register land or property with HM Land Registry if you have bought it, been given it, inherited it, received it in exchange for other property, or mortgaged it. This is a legal requirement, not a formality your conveyancer can skip. You do not usually need to register a leasehold property if there are 7 years or less left on the lease when you take ownership.

Once registered, some information becomes publicly available — including the names of the registered owners and a "general boundaries" plan showing an approximate, not exact, legal boundary. You cannot opt out of this information being public.

HM Land Registry charges a scale fee for registering most transactions, based on the value of the property; the exact fee depends on whether the application is a "scale 1" or "scale 2" transaction and other factors set out in the Land Registration Fee Order. Because the fee scale is updated periodically, check the current figure on GOV.UK's registration services fees page or use the official fee calculator rather than relying on a fixed number.

Leasehold vs freehold

Whether a property is freehold or leasehold changes what you are actually buying and what ongoing obligations come with it.

Freehold means you own the property and the land it stands on outright, for an unlimited time, with no landlord and (ordinarily) no ground rent or service charge.

Leasehold, as GOV.UK explains, means you only own the property for a fixed period set out in a lease — the ownership reverts to the landlord (sometimes called the freeholder) when the lease ends. Most flats are leasehold; houses are occasionally leasehold too, particularly where bought through a shared ownership scheme. As a leaseholder you may be required to pay service charges and, depending on when the lease was granted, ground rent.

Ground rent on new leases has changed significantly in recent years. The Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act 2022 restricts ground rent on most new long residential leases (over 21 years) granted on or after 30 June 2022 (1 April 2023 for retirement homes) to a "peppercorn" — effectively zero financial value. This does not apply retrospectively to leases granted before those dates, and there are limited exceptions (including business leases). If you are buying a leasehold property, your conveyancer should confirm when the lease was granted and what ground rent, if any, is payable, and check the service charge and management pack carefully — these are a common source of delay in leasehold transactions. See GOV.UK's Leasehold Reform (Ground Rent) Act guidance for the full detail on what is and is not covered.

Where delays typically come from

Frequent causes of delay include slow responses from local authorities on searches, missing or incomplete documents from the seller, leasehold management packs taking weeks to arrive, mortgage underwriting queries, problems uncovered in a survey, and hold-ups elsewhere in the chain. Clear communication with your conveyancer, prompt responses to their requests, and realistic expectations about timing all help reduce the risk of delay — but GOV.UK's average of around 5 months is a guide, not a guarantee, particularly once a chain of any length is involved.

Explore the individual stages in more depth

This hub links to detailed guides covering specific parts of the conveyancing journey — use these for a deeper dive into any one stage.

This guide provides general information about how conveyancing works in England and Wales. It is a tool to help you understand the process — it is not legal advice and is not a substitute for advice tailored to your specific transaction from your own solicitor or licensed conveyancer. The law and the figures described were accurate as at July 2026 and are subject to change — always check GOV.UK, gov.wales and legislation.gov.uk for the most current position.

Last reviewed: July 2026 by a non-practising solicitor · Next review due: July 2027 or on legislative change.