Between an accepted offer and the keys there are about twelve weeks in which nothing visible happens and everything that matters does. In conveyancing the solicitor investigates the title, reads the lease, raises enquiries, reports, exchanges and completes, and a buyer in the Gulf who does not know what each step is cannot tell a normal silence from a stalled purchase. Until exchange, either side can still walk away.
Buying from abroad
Conveyancing explained: what the solicitor does week by week, what exchange and completion mean, and where purchases stall
How long a London purchase takes from offer to keys
A London purchase takes about twelve weeks from accepted offer to keys: a cash purchase of a well-documented flat can be done in six, a leasehold flat with a slow managing agent or a chain can take sixteen. Nothing is binding until exchange of contracts, around week eight or nine, when the 10 per cent deposit passes and the completion date is fixed. The catch is that the seller can accept a higher offer the day before exchange, and the leasehold information pack can take four to eight weeks to arrive.
The weeks as they usually run on a London flat:
London purchase conveyancing timetable, week by week
| Week | What happens | Who |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Offer accepted; memorandum of sale; solicitor instructed; identity and source-of-funds checks | Agent, solicitor, buyer |
| 2 | Seller’s solicitor sends the contract pack: draft contract, title, property information forms, lease and lease pack | Seller’s side |
| 2 to 4 | Searches ordered and returned; survey booked | Buyer’s solicitor, surveyor |
| 3 to 6 | Enquiries raised and answered; lease and accounts reviewed; survey received | Both solicitors |
| 6 to 8 | Report on title to the buyer; finance offer received if borrowing; deposit sent to the solicitor | Buyer’s solicitor |
| 8 to 9 | Exchange of contracts; completion date fixed | Both |
| 9 to 11 | Pre-completion searches; balance sent; completion statement | Buyer’s solicitor |
| 11 to 12 | Completion: money moves, keys released | Both |
| 12 to 14 | Stamp duty return and payment; Land Registry application | Buyer’s solicitor |
Source: Law Society conveyancing protocol; GOV.UK buying or selling your home; firm’s experience of London purchases, October 2026.
A cash purchase of a well-documented flat can be done in six weeks; a leasehold flat with a slow managing agent or a chain can take sixteen. Off-plan runs on the developer’s clock, as our off-plan guide explains.
Weeks 1 to 2
The agent issues a memorandum of sale naming the parties, the price and the solicitors; nothing is binding. The buyer’s solicitor opens the file, verifies the buyer’s identity (passport, proof of address, certified for a client abroad) and the source of funds, as our anti-money-laundering guide sets out; a solicitor who has not completed these checks cannot act, and a buyer who delays the documents delays everything.
The contract pack the seller's solicitor prepares
The seller’s solicitor assembles the contract pack: the draft contract, official copies of the registered title, the seller’s property information form and fittings list, and for a flat the lease and the leasehold information pack from the managing agent, which is where the first delay usually is.
Weeks 2 to 6
The buyer’s solicitor orders the searches (local authority, drainage, environmental, chancel) and reads the title and the lease; the surveyor inspects, as our surveys guide describes. Enquiries follow: questions to the seller’s solicitor about anything the pack raises, the lease’s terms, the service charge accounts, planned works, disputes, alterations and their consents, building safety, and the answers the survey prompts. Good enquiries are specific and few; bad ones are a standard list of eighty. The seller answers in writing and the answers are contractual. A lender’s valuation and mortgage offer run in parallel, and the offer must be in hand before exchange.
Weeks 6 to 9
The solicitor writes the report on title: a plain summary of what the buyer is buying, the lease’s key terms (length, ground rent, service charge, restrictions on use, alterations, letting and pets), the searches’ findings, the enquiries’ answers and anything the buyer should know or decide. It is the document to read in full, with the survey beside it, before authorising exchange. The buyer signs the contract (in counterpart, abroad, with the signature witnessed, or through the attorney under a power as our power-of-attorney guide explains) and sends the deposit, usually 10 per cent, to the solicitor’s client account in cleared sterling.
What exchange of contracts means for a buyer
Exchange of contracts is the moment the purchase becomes binding: the two solicitors hold signed identical contracts and agree by telephone that they are exchanged; the deposit passes to the seller’s solicitor (held, usually, as stakeholder); and the completion date is fixed in the contract. From exchange the buyer must complete on the date or lose the deposit and be liable for the seller’s loss; the seller must sell.
Risk and walking away before exchange of contracts
Risk in the property passes to the buyer at exchange in most contracts, so the buyer’s insurance starts that day; our insurance guide explains. Until exchange either side can walk away without penalty, which is why the English system is slow and anxious: twelve weeks of work can end with a seller accepting a higher offer the day before exchange.
Exchange to completion: what the solicitor does in between
Commonly one to four weeks, sometimes same day, sometimes months for off-plan. The buyer’s solicitor runs a pre-completion search at the Land Registry (a priority period protecting the buyer’s registration), requisitions the completion statement, receives the mortgage advance if any, and has the balance from the buyer in cleared funds the day before; our currency guide explains why the sterling is converted at exchange, not on completion morning. The seller’s solicitor prepares the transfer deed for signature.
What happens on completion day when buying in London
On the day the buyer’s solicitor sends the balance by bank transfer to the seller’s solicitor; on receipt the seller’s solicitor confirms completion and authorises the agent to release the keys. The buyer owns the property from that moment. The buyer’s solicitor pays the stamp duty (due within 14 days, in practice the same day), and applies to the Land Registry to register the buyer as owner, which takes weeks to months but is backdated to the application. The managing agent and freeholder are notified of the new leaseholder, and the notice fees in our full-cost guide are paid. Our utilities guide sets out the first month.
After completion: registration, deeds pack and solicitor's invoice
The Land Registry sends the completed registration; the solicitor sends the deeds pack: the title, the lease, the transfer, the stamp duty certificate, the searches, the warranties, the completion statement. Keep all of it; the next buyer’s solicitor and HMRC on sale will want it, as our selling guide explains. The solicitor’s invoice is the fee quoted plus disbursements at cost.
Where a London property purchase stalls and why
The leasehold information pack, which a managing agent can take four to eight weeks to produce; a buyer’s solicitor should chase from week two and the agent should be told the sale depends on it. The seller’s replies to enquiries, when the seller is abroad, elderly or an estate. The lender’s valuation, when the valuer cannot get access or the block’s building safety status is unclear.
The buyer’s documents, when certification abroad takes a fortnight. And a chain: a seller who must complete their own purchase on the same day, which ties the buyer’s completion to a stranger’s. The firm’s rule is a weekly call between buyer, solicitor and agent from week one, and a written list of what is outstanding and who holds it.
Sources: Buying or selling your home (GOV.UK) · Registering land or property with HM Land Registry (GOV.UK) · Stamp Duty Land Tax: filing and paying (GOV.UK) · Law Society conveyancing protocol Figures verified 14 October 2026.
Frequently Asked
Questions about conveyancing on a London purchase
Yes, at any time before exchange, without penalty. Only exchange binds. The quickest protection is a quick exchange, which means documents ready before the offer.
The title investigation, the lease review, the enquiries, the report, exchange, completion, the stamp duty return and the registration; £2,500 to £5,000 plus VAT and disbursements on a London flat, as our full-cost guide sets out.
Yes; everything is done by the solicitor on documents signed abroad or under a power of attorney, and the firm takes the keys. Our guide on buying without travelling sets out the sequence.
About twelve weeks from accepted offer to keys, with exchange around week eight or nine and completion at week eleven or twelve. A cash purchase of a well-documented flat can be done in six weeks; a leasehold flat with a slow managing agent or a chain can take sixteen. Off-plan runs on the developer’s clock.
Exchange is the moment the purchase becomes binding: the solicitors agree by telephone that signed identical contracts are exchanged, the deposit passes and the completion date is fixed. Completion, commonly one to four weeks later, is when the balance is transferred, the seller’s solicitor confirms receipt and the keys are released. The buyer owns the property from that moment.
Usually 10 per cent of the price, sent to the solicitor’s client account in cleared sterling before exchange and passed to the seller’s solicitor on exchange, usually held as stakeholder. From exchange the buyer must complete on the date or lose the deposit and be liable for the seller’s loss.
The solicitor’s plain summary of what the buyer is buying: the lease’s key terms (length, ground rent, service charge, restrictions on use, alterations, letting and pets), the searches’ findings, the enquiries’ answers and anything the buyer should decide. It arrives in weeks six to eight and is the document to read in full, with the survey beside it, before authorising exchange.
On the day of exchange. Risk in the property passes to the buyer at exchange in most contracts, so the buyer’s insurance starts that day, not on completion.
The buyer’s solicitor pays it after completion; it is due within 14 days, in practice the same day. The solicitor then applies to the Land Registry to register the buyer as owner, which takes weeks to months but is backdated to the application. Both appear in weeks 12 to 14 of the timetable.
The leasehold information pack, which a managing agent can take four to eight weeks to produce; the seller’s replies to enquiries; the lender’s valuation where access or building safety status is unclear; the buyer’s certified documents from abroad; and a chain. The firm’s rule is a weekly call between buyer, solicitor and agent from week one, with a written list of what is outstanding.
