How long does conveyancing take in 2026?

Average UK conveyancing in 2026 takes 12–16 weeks from offer acceptance to completion on a freehold and 16–20 weeks on a leasehold, per Law Society data. Cash buyers can complete in 6–8 weeks, chains of three add 3–6 weeks on top, and leaseholds add 2–4 weeks waiting for management company paperwork. The bottleneck is usually searches or the slowest party in the chain, not your own conveyancer.

What’s the week-by-week timeline?

A typical freehold purchase in 2026 runs like this:

Stage	Typical duration	What happens
Week 1	Instruction	Conveyancer issues client care pack, ID checks, AML source-of-funds
Weeks 1–2	Draft contract	Seller’s conveyancer sends contract pack and property info forms
Weeks 2–5	Searches ordered	Local authority (10–20 working days), water, environmental, chancel
Weeks 4–8	Enquiries raised and answered	Your conveyancer asks questions based on searches and contract
Weeks 6–10	Mortgage offer issued	Your lender issues formal offer (assuming app submitted in parallel)
Weeks 10–14	Exchange of contracts	Deposit (usually 5–10%) committed, completion date fixed
Weeks 12–16	Completion	Funds transferred, keys collected

Cash buyers skip the mortgage stages and can compress this to 6–8 weeks.

Conveyancer with property deeds, contracts and a laptop timeline — On a typical 14-week conveyancing timeline, local authority searches and chain coordination account for most of the waiting.

Why are leaseholds slower?

Leaseholds add 2–4 weeks because the seller’s conveyancer has to buy a management pack — the LPE1 form and associated documents — from the freeholder or managing agent. These can take 4–6 weeks to come back and often need follow-up enquiries. Extra leasehold-specific checks include the lease term remaining (lenders usually want 70+ years at completion, some 85+), ground rent, service charge arrears, and whether cladding/building safety remediation is outstanding for post-Grenfell regulations.

If the lease has fewer than 80 years remaining, you’ll likely need a lease extension — which can add months or kill the deal entirely.

Where does the time actually go?

The single biggest chunk is local authority searches — 10–20 working days on average, but some councils run 6+ weeks, especially in London boroughs. After that, the main time sinks are:

Chain coordination — every party’s conveyancer must be ready at the same moment for exchange
Management packs on leaseholds (4–6 weeks)
Raising and answering enquiries (1–3 weeks of back-and-forth)
Mortgage offer issuance (2–4 weeks for a high-street lender — see how long does a UK mortgage application take)
Buyer responsiveness — slow to return paperwork or ID adds days each time

See what are local authority searches for detail on what they cover.

Can I go faster?

You can compress the timeline by 2–4 weeks. Tactics that actually move the needle:

Instruct your conveyancer the day your offer is accepted — every day saved at the start is a day saved at the end
Use a fixed-fee firm with good reviews, not just the cheapest quote — see should I use my lender’s panel solicitor
Pay for searches upfront on the first invoice so they’re ordered in week 1
Return every form within 48 hours
Chase weekly — politely but consistently
Use a no-chain property where possible — chains of three average 16–20 weeks, chains of five can run 24+

Common misconception: “My conveyancer is slow — that’s why it’s taking 4 months”

Your conveyancer is rarely the actual bottleneck. On a typical 14-week purchase, your conveyancer’s active work is 3–4 days of total effort spread across the period. The rest is waiting — for searches, for the management pack, for the other side’s conveyancer, for the chain, for the lender. Before blaming your solicitor, ask them for a written status update: who are we waiting on, and what have they committed to by when? That often reveals the actual chokepoint. Information, not regulated advice.