How to Speed Up Conveyancing
How Can You Speed Up the Conveyancing Process?
You cannot control every part of a property transaction, but there are several things you can do to help speed up conveyancing and avoid unnecessary delays.
Instructing your conveyancer early, completing identification and source-of-funds checks promptly, returning paperwork quickly and responding to questions without delay can all help keep the transaction moving.
If you are selling, preparing important property documents before a buyer is found can also save valuable time. If you are buying, arranging your mortgage and survey promptly can prevent other parts of the transaction from holding up the legal work.
Some delays will always be outside your control, particularly where there is a property chain or information is required from third parties. The aim is therefore not to rush the legal work, but to remove avoidable delays wherever possible.
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Can Conveyancing Really Be Speeded Up?
Sometimes. There is no guaranteed way to make conveyancing fast because every property transaction is different.
Your conveyancer may need information from the seller’s solicitor, local authority, mortgage lender, managing agent or other organisations. If you are in a property chain, progress may also depend on several other buyers and sellers.
However, many delays occur because something has not yet been provided, completed or answered.
Taking action early can therefore make a genuine difference.
The key is to distinguish between:
Avoidable Delays
Missing paperwork, slow responses, late instructions or waiting unnecessarily before arranging something.
Unavoidable Delays
Issues that genuinely need investigation, third-party turnaround times or delays elsewhere in a property chain.
You should never try to speed up conveyancing by skipping important legal checks. The objective is to make the process efficient, not rushed.
This guide is part of our Conveyancing Timescales series, where we explain how long the different stages of buying and selling a property can take.
1. Instruct Your Conveyancer as Early as Possible
One of the simplest ways to avoid delay is to choose and instruct your conveyancer early.
If you are selling, you do not necessarily need to wait until you have accepted an offer. Instructing a conveyancer when your property goes on the market can allow the initial paperwork, identity checks and other preparatory work to begin before a buyer is found.
If you are buying, having a conveyancer selected before or around the time your offer is accepted means you can provide their details immediately and get the legal process underway.
Waiting to choose a conveyancer simply delays the point at which the legal work can begin.
2. Complete ID and Source-of-Funds Checks Promptly
Your conveyancer will need to carry out identification and anti-money-laundering checks. If you are buying, they may also need evidence showing where the money for your deposit and purchase is coming from.
This could include savings, proceeds from another property, a financial gift, investments or inheritance. Depending on your circumstances, additional evidence may be required.
Providing the requested information early and responding promptly to any further questions can prevent these checks from holding up the transaction later.
3. Complete Your Initial Paperwork Carefully
Your conveyancer is likely to send you forms and request information at the beginning of the transaction. Complete these as soon as reasonably possible.
Speed should not come at the expense of accuracy. Missing information or incorrect answers can create additional enquiries later and cause more delay than taking a little extra time to complete the paperwork properly.
If you do not understand a question, ask your conveyancer rather than guessing.
4. Sellers Should Prepare Property Documents Early
Sellers can often save time by gathering relevant documents before they are requested. These might include planning permissions, building regulation documents, guarantees, warranties, certificates for replacement windows or doors, and paperwork relating to extensions or alterations.
Leasehold properties and homes with features such as solar panels may require additional documentation.
Not every property will have all of these documents. The important thing is to identify relevant paperwork early rather than discovering several weeks into the transaction that something needs to be found or replaced.
5. Buyers Should Arrange Their Mortgage Promptly
If you need a mortgage, begin the application process promptly once your offer has been accepted.
The lender may need to arrange a valuation, assess your application, verify your circumstances, request further documents and issue the formal mortgage offer. This process runs alongside the conveyancing and can become a separate source of delay.
Respond promptly to requests from your lender or mortgage adviser. There is little benefit in the legal work progressing quickly if the transaction then has to wait for the mortgage offer.
6. Arrange Your Survey Early
A survey is separate from the conveyancing process, but delaying it can still delay your purchase.
If the survey identifies a problem, you may need further investigation, specialist advice, repair quotations or additional negotiations with the seller. Your conveyancer may also need to investigate a related legal issue.
Discovering these matters early gives you more time to deal with them rather than allowing a problem to emerge when the legal work is already well advanced.
7. Pay for Property Searches Promptly
Your conveyancer may ask you to pay money on account before property searches can be ordered. If you are ready to proceed, making that payment promptly allows the searches to be requested without unnecessary delay.
Search turnaround times vary, and local authority searches can sometimes take longer than the other standard searches. Delaying the order simply pushes back the date on which the results can be received and reviewed.
Our How Long Do Property Searches Take? guide explains search turnaround times in more detail.
8. Respond to Your Conveyancer Quickly
Your conveyancer may contact you throughout the transaction for information, documents, signatures or instructions. Some requests may appear relatively minor, but the transaction may not be able to progress until you respond.
Check your emails regularly and provide requested information promptly.
If you cannot provide something immediately, let your conveyancer know. They can explain whether it is holding anything up or whether other work can continue in the meantime.
9. Make Sure Your Conveyancer Can Contact You
Simple communication problems can create unnecessary delays, so make sure your conveyancer has your correct email address, telephone number and current postal address.
If you are going away during the transaction, tell them in advance and make sure they know how to contact you.
You should also mention any dates when you will be unavailable or anything else that could affect your proposed moving date.
10. Deal With Enquiries Promptly
Legal enquiries are a normal part of conveyancing. The buyer’s conveyancer may raise questions after reviewing the contract papers, title documents, searches and other information.
If you are selling and your conveyancer needs information from you to answer an enquiry, respond promptly. If you are buying, your conveyancer may need your instructions after receiving a reply.
Some enquiries require information from third parties and cannot be resolved immediately. But where the next step depends on you, responding quickly can prevent the transaction sitting unnecessarily.
11. Leasehold Sellers Should Start Early
Leasehold transactions often require additional information from the freeholder, managing agent or management company.
If you are selling a leasehold property, your conveyancer may need to obtain a management information pack or other documentation. There may also be a fee that needs to be paid before the information is supplied.
Requesting this information early can help prevent the transaction reaching a point where the buyer’s conveyancer is ready to proceed but important leasehold documents are still outstanding.
12. Keep Your Estate Agent Informed
Where an estate agent is involved, they can help maintain communication between the different parties and keep track of progress across a property chain.
They cannot carry out the legal work, but they may be speaking regularly to the buyer, seller, mortgage advisers, conveyancers and other estate agents involved.
If your conveyancer tells you that something important is outstanding from another party, keeping the estate agent informed can sometimes help establish what is happening elsewhere in the transaction.
13. Be Realistic About the Property Chain
Your conveyancer can progress your legal work efficiently without being able to control the rest of the property chain.
You might be ready to exchange while somebody elsewhere in the chain is still waiting for searches, a mortgage offer, replies to enquiries or further investigation following a survey.
If progress appears to have stopped, ask your conveyancer or estate agent whether the delay is within your transaction or elsewhere in the chain. Sometimes your own legal work may already be as far advanced as it can be.
14. Raise Problems as Soon as You Know About Them
Do not wait until late in the transaction to mention something that could affect the legal work.
For sellers, this might include alterations to the property, neighbour disputes, rights of way, boundary issues, missing documents, tenants or unusual ownership arrangements. Buyers should tell their conveyancer about anything important agreed with the seller or discovered during a survey or inspection.
An issue disclosed early can be investigated early. The same issue revealed shortly before exchange could delay the entire transaction.
What Should You Do if Conveyancing Is Moving Slowly?
First, find out what the transaction is actually waiting for.
Rather than simply asking your conveyancer to “chase everything”, ask:
- What is currently outstanding?
- Who are we waiting for?
- When was it requested?
- Is anything required from me?
- Can any other work continue while we wait?
This should give you a much clearer understanding of the position.
Sometimes the answer will reveal something you can act on immediately.
At other times, your conveyancer may have already done everything possible and simply be waiting for another organisation or party to respond.
Does Chasing Your Conveyancer Speed Things Up?
Good communication is important, but repeatedly asking for updates does not necessarily make the legal process move faster.
A more useful approach is to understand what is outstanding and agree when you should expect the next update.
If your conveyancer is waiting for a search, mortgage lender or another solicitor, contacting them every day will not necessarily change that turnaround time.
However, if an expected response has not arrived, a sensible follow-up may be appropriate.
The important thing is that your conveyancer communicates clearly enough for you to understand what is happening and what happens next.
Can You Pay Extra for Faster Conveyancing?
Some conveyancing firms may offer expedited services in particular circumstances, and certain third-party services may sometimes have faster options.
However, paying more cannot remove every cause of delay. Your conveyancer still needs to carry out the necessary legal work, and they cannot control the turnaround times of another solicitor, local authority, mortgage lender or managing agent. Nor can they remove delays elsewhere in a property chain or avoid investigating a genuine legal problem.
If you have a particular deadline, tell your conveyancer before instructing them and ask whether it is realistic.
Do not assume that paying an additional fee guarantees completion by a particular date.
How Quickly Can Conveyancing Be Completed?
There is no minimum period that applies to every transaction.
A straightforward transaction may sometimes progress considerably faster than average where everyone is ready, there is no complicated chain and the legal work raises no significant issues.
Other transactions will inevitably take longer.
Trying to achieve an unusually fast completion should never mean skipping necessary searches, enquiries or legal checks simply to meet a preferred date.
For a broader explanation of typical timescales, see our How Long Does Conveyancing Take? guide.
How to Speed Up Conveyancing: Quick Answers
Why Choosing the Right Conveyancer Matters
You can do a great deal to avoid unnecessary delays, but your conveyancer also needs to manage the legal work efficiently and keep you informed.
At Trusted Conveyancers, we’ve done the hard work, so you don’t have to. Rather than spending hours comparing firms yourself, we’ve carefully assessed the conveyancing firms we recommend based on communication, service standards, transparency and professionalism, so you can choose with confidence.
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You should know what is happening, what remains outstanding and whether anything is required from you.
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An experienced conveyancer can identify issues early and deal with the legal work efficiently without cutting important corners.
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We focus on connecting buyers, sellers and homeowners with conveyancing firms selected with service and communication in mind.
A Smoother
Move
Good preparation, prompt communication and efficient legal work can all help reduce avoidable delays.
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