Conveyancing fees

Conveyancing process

How long will my sale, purchase or remortgage take?

The honest answer is that it depends, and a good deal of it sits outside anyone's hands. Search providers, mortgage lenders, freeholders and the solicitor on the other side all set part of the pace. If you are in a chain, the chain only moves as fast as its slowest link.

What we can give you is the national picture, so you know what a normal transaction looks like before you start:

• Freehold sale or purchase: typically 14 to 18 weeks from your offer being accepted through to completion

• Leasehold sale or purchase: typically 20 to 26 weeks, because a freeholder or managing agent sits in the process and their response times are outside our control

• Remortgage: typically 4 to 8 weeks, and often longer where the property is leasehold

The latest industry figures put the national average at 104 days from sale agreed to exchange of contracts, split between 97 days for freehold properties and 155 days for leasehold. Allow a further one to two weeks between exchange and completion. (Connells Group transaction data, April 2026.)

These are averages, and they are worth treating as averages. Some straightforward transactions are in and out in a handful of weeks. Others get stuck for reasons nobody saw coming: a late lender query, a missing planning certificate, a seller three houses up the chain who changes their mind. We quote you the national average because it is the fairest starting point we can give you, not because we are predicting your own transaction.

What we do control is our end of it. We manage our caseloads deliberately so your conveyancer has the time to move your case forward and to pick up the phone when you ring. Our 400-plus five-star reviews suggest that is the part clients notice.

We act for clients buying and selling across England and Wales, from our offices in Nelson, Manchester, Mirfield and Heckmondwike.

What are the stages in buying a property?

The precise stages vary according to your circumstances, but a purchase will typically include:

• Taking your instructions and giving you initial advice

• Checking your funding is in place and contacting your lender's solicitors where that is needed

• Receiving and advising you on the contract documents

• Reviewing the legal title and reporting to you on any title issues

• Carrying out searches

• Requesting further planning documentation where it is needed

• Making any necessary enquiries of the seller's solicitor

• Advising you on all the documents and information we receive

• Going through the conditions of your mortgage offer with you

• Reporting to your lender where the mortgage instructions require it

• Sending the final contract to you for signature

• Agreeing a completion date with the other side, which is the date from which you own the property

• Exchanging contracts and letting you know that it has happened, at which point the transaction becomes legally binding

• Preparing a completion statement showing all monies due

• Carrying out pre-completion searches, including a priority search at HM Land Registry and a bankruptcy search where applicable

• Arranging for all monies needed to be received from you and from your lender

• Transferring the completion funds to the seller's solicitor and completing your purchase

• Filing your Stamp Duty Land Tax return in England, or your Land Transaction Tax return in Wales, and paying any tax due

• Registration of your ownership at HM Land Registry

• Where you are buying a leasehold property, notifying the landlord of the change of ownership

What are the stages in selling a property?

Again the precise stages vary, but a sale will typically include:

• Taking your instructions and giving you initial advice

• Arranging completion of your Property Information, Leasehold Information and Fittings and Contents forms

• Downloading the official copy entries from HM Land Registry

• Checking your legal title

• Drafting the contract and sending the contract pack to the buyer's legal representatives

• Answering the pre-contract enquiries raised by the buyer's solicitor

• Preparing the transfer deed (a form TR1) for signature

• Sending the final contract to you for signature

• Agreeing a completion date, which is the date from which you will no longer own the property

• Requesting a redemption figure from your lender if you have a mortgage, and getting your lender's consent where it is required

• Exchanging contracts and letting you know that it has happened

• Completing your sale

• Preparing a completion statement

• Paying your estate agents' fees

• Sending the signed transfer and the deeds to the buyer's legal representatives

• Discharging any legal charges over the property after completion

• Accounting to you for the net sale proceeds

What are the stages in a remortgage?

The precise stages vary, but a remortgage will typically include:

• Taking your instructions and giving you initial advice

• Downloading the official copy entries from HM Land Registry

• Receiving your mortgage offer and reporting to you on it

• Arranging for you to sign the mortgage deed

• Carrying out searches, or arranging indemnity insurance where your lender will accept it

• Checking whether any alterations, extensions or installations have been made at the property, and getting the appropriate paperwork

• Requesting a redemption figure from your existing lender

• Agreeing a completion date

• Completing your remortgage

• Registration of the new mortgage at HM Land Registry

What our quote assumes

The figures quoted by our online calculator are based on a straightforward transaction. In particular, we assume that:

• The property is registered at HM Land Registry

• The property is not a new build

• The property is not subject to shared ownership, Help to Buy, Right to Buy or a similar scheme

• The transaction does not involve a trust, a gift of deposit or a declaration of trust

• There are no complex title issues and the land is not unregistered

• There are no disputes affecting the property

• No unforeseen complications arise and the transaction is concluded in a timely manner

• All parties to the transaction are cooperative, and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties providing documentation

• No indemnity policies are required. Additional disbursements may apply if indemnity policies are needed

Who will deal with my case?

You will have a dedicated conveyancer looking after your sale, purchase or remortgage from your first instruction through to completion. The same person, on first name terms, for the whole of your transaction.

Emma Moore, Director of Residential Conveyancing, supervises the department. You can find the members of our conveyancing team and links to their profiles below.

We are accredited under the Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme and hold the Lexcel Legal Practice Quality Mark, and we were Highly Commended as Conveyancing Firm of the Year, North of England.

For a no obligation personal quote, please call 01282 695400 or use our online quote system below.

Get in touch with our conveyancing solicitors in Burnley, Manchester and West Yorkshire today or get an online quote…