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How Long After Searches To Exchange & Completion?

We can reduce the time by 119 days

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Content Written By: Kirsty Rowett - Last Updated: 03/07/2025

Quick Summary

  • Searches, Enquiries and Contracts: Week 4 to 6
  • Exchange To Completion: Week 6 to 8
  • Total Timeline: Around 8–12 weeks from offer to completion, depending on delays
  • Need a faster sale? Cash buyers, like us, can complete in as little as 7 days

The process of selling a house is a daunting one to say the least. The market is flooded with horror stories of nightmare estate agents and solicitors and buyer drop-outs, so it’s no wonder people like you are trying to find out how long the whole thing will take before getting in too deep.

No matter where you are in the process, it’s important to do your research and know what your options are, including whether or not you need to wait so long and how you can sell your house faster.

You can use this guide to set yourself up for the best experience when it comes to selling your house, so let’s dive in.

Table of Contents

How long does it take to sell a house?

There’s no exact science to buying or selling a house—indeed, it’ll be a whole different picture from one house to the next, even on the same street. The process is broadly the same, but the ways in which they are approached by different solicitors and conveyancers and estate agents and all the rest can vary wildly.

Property searches are an absolutely necessary part of the process and it’s here that most of the delays can crop up—we’ll get into that in more detail below. Firstly, let’s take a quick look at a typical timeline of what you can expect at every stage of the selling process. Bear in mind that these are rough timings and they may be different to your experience if you’re actively trying to sell now.

TimingWhat happens
Weeks 1-2Offer gets accepted, solicitors enlisted, searches ordered and contracts shared between solicitors
Weeks 2-4Concerns and enquiries brought to the seller
Weeks 3-5Mortgage offer comes through
Weeks 4-6Contracts are reviewed and confirmed by solicitors
Weeks 6-8Contracts are exchanged and completion date is agreed
Weeks 8-12Time to complete: Money is transferred and keys handed over
Week 12+New ownership confirmed with Land Registry via the buyer’s solicitor

You can find out more about the average time it takes to sell a house in the UK here. There are so many factors and they’re different for every sale, so let’s take a look at the most common ones.

How long do property searches take?

There are many factors at play here. Property searches can take anything from weeks to months to complete and it doesn’t help that there are so many different searches to carry out. These include:

Local authority

The buyer’s solicitor will push forward with the local searches to check for issues like planning permissions, building control, road schemes and nearby developments—each council has a different timeline depending on the backlogs at any given time

  • Typical Timeline: 3-30 Days

Drainage and water searches

Conducted to check that the property is connected to the public water and drainage systems and that there are no issues

  • Typical timeline: 1-10 days

Environmental searches

Checking for risks related to contaminated land, ground instability, flooding and pollution—complicated properties can experience delays, but these searches are normally automated

  • Typical timeline: 1-10 days

Other searches

The likes of Land Registry searches, coal and general mining searches and high-speed rail searches can also take place and delay exchange further still

The government stipulates a maximum of 10 working days for returning local searches, but, naturally, every council across the UK is dealing with different backlogs. As reported by the HomeOwners Alliance, people relying on Sheffield City Council are looking at 28 days, while those under the London Borough of Hackney council are facing delays of 103 days.

“In reality, timescales on local authority searches can vary significantly, from 48 hours to several months! Mitigating factors can include whether the results are sent via email, online or by post; seasonal demand levels and local authority staffing levels.”

- HomeOwners Alliance

So, the searches themselves can take a few weeks to complete, but that’s not the extent of the wait involved. The conveyancer will then need a few weeks to compile the reports of the search results, so you won’t get them straight away by any means.

“The impact of these delays on the overall timeline of property transactions cannot be overstated. They can cause anxiety and uncertainty for all parties involved, potentially leading to delays in mortgage approval and other critical steps.”

- Athilaw.co.uk

Sale taking too long? We can help!

How long does it take to exchange contracts?

Once the results of the searches get back to the solicitors, they’ll need to spend some time reviewing them and working through any issues before they can develop the paperwork for the contracts.

If, for instance, there are any missing planning permissions pertaining to any part of the property in question, the whole process can get delayed. Moreover, mortgage approvals take time and so do everyday communications between solicitors, so there’s a raft of factors that can push a sale back.

“The majority of delays were from information not being available quickly enough for due diligence. “The protocols that are currently followed need to be brought up to date to align with digital technology, which is already largely in place.”

- Lloyd Davies, Managing Director of Convey Law, speaking to The Times

For the paperwork to be drawn up and completed as ready-to-sign contracts, you’ll typically be looking at 4-6 weeks. It’s at this point that the exchange can happen and a completion date can be agreed upon—but that’s assuming that everything goes to plan:

“Don’t also forget—you’ve got the 34% of transactions that fall through, so all of that wasted work by all of the stakeholders.”

- Beth Rudolph from the Home Buying and Selling Group

How long does it take to complete on a house?

After the signing of the contracts, when everything becomes legally binding, the completion date will be set and everyone can set their sights on that. It’s when the property officially changes hands, so the funds are transferred and the keys are given to the buyer. 

This can, indeed, happen on the same day as the exchange outlined above, but that takes a lot of planning and relies on everything going smoothly without any chinks in the chain. Normally, there’ll be a delay of a few days to a few weeks for final preparations to take place, such as organising removals and making mortgage arrangements. 

The next step for the buyer’s solicitor is to register the new ownership with the Land Registry and then the whole process should be wrapped up. Some sales go smoothly, but most don’t, unfortunately…

NO TIME FOR SEARCH DELAYS? SELL YOUR HOUSE FOR CASH NOW

How to sell your house faster

It can be a long, drawn-out affair selling your house on the open market—we’ve seen so many customer stories of people being let down by buyers pulling out or estate agents not pulling their weight.

Many people are surprised by how quickly you can complete with a cash buyer like us and they wish they’d tried this route sooner. Here’s how you can sell your house faster than you will selling on the open market:

StageSelling on the open marketSelling to a cash buyer
Searches, enquiries and contracts 3-6 weeks1-2 weeks (but not always required)
Exchange to completion4-8 weeks1-2 weeks
Total time to sellUp to 12 weeks or longerAs quickly as 7 days

The advantages of selling to cash house buyers are plentiful and you can trust us when we say you won’t miss the open market… here are some of the top benefits of selling to The Property Buying Company

Reason 1
No chains, no stress
Cash buyers means fast buyers—we won’t drop out or hold you back with unnecessary delays.
Reason 2
No mortgage, no waiting
You won’t need to wait around for us to get a mortgage approved or carry out extra checks—we’ll get it done.
Reason 3
Slash weeks or months off the timeline
Our own panel of solicitors are experts in speeding up the searches required during the buying process.
Reason 4
It’s totally flexible
We’ll work around your schedule—if you need to sell within a week to make your dream house move, we can make that happen (if not, that’s fine, too).
Reason 5
No fees…at all!
The money we offer is the money you’ll receive because we’ll cover all your costs for you, including legal fees.

Take advantage of quicker cash buyer timelines

If you’re in need of a quick house sale for whatever reason—you might need to relocate or your buyer might have pulled out at the last minute—you can keep the chain together by selling to a cash buyer like The Property Buying Company.

Sell your house fast in days instead of waiting for months to find the right buyer on the open market. All that’s required to get the process started is your postcode—enter it into our quick form below to see if your house is eligible and, if it is, we’ll be in touch with a cash offer within hours.

Don’t just take our word for it—check out our customer stories and our Trustpilot reviews to find out more about how quickly we can help you sell your house.

Don't just take our word for it:
Casey said on Trustpilot
★★★★★

I didn't even know a service like this…

“I didn't even know a service like this existed, selling a house can be a horrific experience and take soo sooo sooo long, I'm really happy to have found this company who have helped me sell quickly and without the typical hassle.”

Date of experience: July 15, 2024

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