Updated for 2026: Why Is Conveyancing Taking So Long?

Key Points

- Residential property transactions in England and Wales now take an average of 205 days from offer acceptance to completion, according to data from TwentyEA and Zoopla published in mid-2025, compared with around 100 days before the pandemic.

- The main causes of delay are slow local authority searches, lender turnaround times, outstanding enquiries, leasehold management pack requests, and increasingly rigorous anti-money laundering checks that require source-of-funds evidence.

- Post-completion registration at HM Land Registry remains a serious bottleneck: ownership transfers take around 8 months on average, with complex cases extending beyond 11 months.

- The Building Safety Act 2022 has added a layer of mandatory pre-contract paperwork to leasehold transactions in taller buildings, and the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 has so far been only partially commenced, leaving significant uncertainty in leasehold sales.

- The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government ran a public consultation in late 2025 on mandatory upfront property information, reservation agreements, and digital property packs, all of which could materially reduce transaction times if enacted.

Residential conveyancing in England and Wales now takes an average of 205 days from offer to completion, according to TwentyEA and Zoopla data cited in August 2025. Local authority search delays, lender timescales, leasehold management pack requests, anti-money laundering checks, and a post-completion registration backlog at HM Land Registry all contribute. Buyers and sellers can reduce the risk of delays by instructing a conveyancer early, gathering identity and source-of-funds documents before day one, and commissioning any survey promptly after an offer is accepted.

Conveyancing in England and Wales is taking considerably longer than it did before the pandemic, and that has not changed in 2026. The latest market data from TwentyEA and Zoopla, cited by iamsold in August 2025, puts the average transaction time at 205 days from offer acceptance to completion. That is the best part of seven months, compared with around 100 days in 2019.

For buyers and sellers, a long transaction is not just inconvenient. The longer a sale takes, the greater the risk that a buyer or seller changes their mind, that a mortgage offer expires, or that something emerges on a survey or search that renegotiates the deal. Data from TwentyCi published in 2025 found that the first half of that year saw 159,990 failed transactions, a rise of 13.1% on the same period in 2024. A slower process is also a more fragile one.

Understanding where delays occur and why can help buyers and sellers make better decisions about how to prepare. The causes are structural and systemic rather than attributable to any single party in a transaction.

Where Delays Occur in the Process

Local authority searches

The search process is one of the most unpredictable parts of a transaction. Local authority searches should, in principle, be returned within ten working days. In practice, many councils miss that target. Property Searches Direct data reported by the HomeOwners Alliance in early 2026 found the worst-performing local authorities taking more than 25 working days, while some councils in periods of high demand have taken six weeks or longer. Searches are typically ordered early in the transaction, but a slow return can hold up the entire chain, because enquiries on the draft contract cannot be fully answered until the results are in.

Environmental, drainage, and mining searches are handled by separate providers and can add to the overall timetable, though they are generally faster than local authority searches.

Mortgage offers and lender requirements

Receiving a formal mortgage offer typically takes around four weeks from application to offer, assuming the application is straightforward. Complex cases, or applications where the lender requests additional documentation, take longer. Lenders also carry out their own valuations of the property, which add time and can, in some cases, down-value the purchase price and trigger renegotiation with the seller.

A mortgage offer ordinarily has a validity period of between three and six months depending on the lender. In a prolonged transaction, there is a real risk of the offer expiring, which forces the buyer to re-apply, re-pay valuation fees, and wait again. Suppose a buyer in Solihull accepts an offer on a flat in February and their mortgage offer arrives in early March with a six-month validity period. If searches are slow, leasehold enquiries drag, and exchange does not occur until September, the buyer faces re-application or a potential collapse of the sale.

Leasehold complications

Leasehold transactions consistently take longer than freehold ones. The core reason is the management pack, a bundle of information about service charges, ground rent, insurance, planned maintenance, and the terms of the lease, which the seller must obtain from the freeholder or managing agent before the transaction can progress. Management companies can take between two and three months to supply a pack in some cases, and fees for producing one range from around £100 to £500 or more.

The Building Safety Act 2022 has added a further layer of pre-contract work for leasehold properties in buildings over 11 metres in height or five storeys. Sellers of flats in affected buildings must complete a leaseholder certificate, and the landlord then has four weeks to produce a corresponding landlord's certificate. Where these documents have not been prepared before marketing, they can delay exchange by weeks. Buyers of flats in such buildings should ask the seller and managing agent at the outset whether the relevant certificates exist and are current.

The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 received Royal Assent in May 2024. As of mid-2026, only limited provisions are in force, including the removal of the two-year qualifying period for lease extension and certain right-to-manage provisions. The remainder of the Act awaits commencement by secondary legislation, so many of the anticipated improvements to leasehold information rights have not yet taken effect.

For buyers and sellers of leasehold property, our residential conveyancing solicitors in Solihull can advise on the specific documentation required and help to chase managing agents where their responses are slow.

Anti-money laundering and source-of-funds checks

Conveyancers are required by the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 to carry out customer due diligence on every client. This means verifying identity, confirming proof of address, and establishing the source of funds for the purchase. The checks apply to buyers and sellers alike, and they cannot be skipped or deferred.

Source-of-funds enquiries are the most time-consuming part of the anti-money laundering process. A buyer using savings built up over several years will need to provide several months of bank statements. A buyer whose deposit includes a gift from a parent will need a signed gift letter and the donor's own bank statements showing where the money originated. A buyer using inheritance funds will need a copy of the grant of probate and estate accounts. Where the source of funds involves overseas accounts or complex financial structures, additional documentation and, in some cases, extended due diligence are required. Delays arise when clients do not anticipate this requirement and gather documents only after they have been asked.

The UK government is currently reforming AML supervision across the legal sector, with proposals to introduce a single supervisor and to reduce duplicate checks within the same transaction. The reforms aim to make the process more efficient without reducing the standard of due diligence.

HM Land Registry post-completion backlogs

One point that is sometimes overlooked is that legal title to a property passes at completion, not at the point of registration. The buyer becomes the legal owner on the day they complete and collect the keys. Registration is a separate, subsequent step handled by HM Land Registry (HMLR).

However, delays in registration can cause practical problems, particularly where a buyer later wishes to remortgage, sell the property, or grant a lease, and a registered title is required. HMLR's own published processing times, updated in May 2026, show that ownership transfers such as transfers of title or new leases take around 8 months for the majority of applications to complete, with some taking up to 11 months. Complex transactions, including first registrations and new build registrations, can take between 10 and 12 months, with some extending further. HMLR has acknowledged this is not where it needs to be and has committed to improving speed through additional recruitment and digital modernisation.

HMLR has also introduced a digital identity standard under Practice Guide 81, which allows conveyancers to verify client identity using biometric and cryptographic checks. This is intended to reduce fraud risk and, over time, to reduce duplication in the identity verification process across transactions.

What Material Information Rules Now Require

The National Trading Standards Estate and Letting Agency Team (NTSELAT) has phased in a programme of material information disclosure requirements since 2022, aimed at ensuring buyers have access to the facts they need about a property before they make a decision.

Part A, which came into effect in 2022, requires agents to disclose council tax band, property price, and tenure information on all listings. Part B, which took effect on 30 November 2023, extended the requirement to cover physical characteristics of the property, utilities, broadband, mobile coverage, and parking. Part C, also effective from 30 November 2023, requires disclosure of building safety issues, flood risk, coastal erosion risk, planning constraints, restrictive covenants, rights of way, and accessibility adaptations, where applicable to the property.

The legal basis for these requirements is the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, which has always made it an offence to omit material information. The NTSELAT guidance clarifies what that obligation means in practice and gives agents a defined checklist to follow.

One direct benefit of full Material Information compliance is that transactions should stall less often due to buyers discovering defects late. Where sellers and their agents provide complete information from the outset, the conveyancing process can begin with a clearer picture of what enquiries will need to be raised, reducing the risk of unexpected delays arising after exchange.

What Is Being Done to Improve the Process

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government launched a formal consultation in October 2025 on a wide-ranging package of reforms to the home buying and selling process, with a closing date of 29 December 2025. The proposals include mandatory upfront property information provided by sellers before listing, standardised digital property packs, binding reservation agreements to reduce fall-throughs, and requirements for surveys to be ordered within two weeks of offer acceptance. The government indicated it intended to publish a roadmap in winter 2025 to 2026. The outcome of that consultation and the content of any roadmap were not yet published at the time this article was reviewed.

HMLR's Strategy 2025+ commits to agreed data standards by 2030 and all property information available online by 2035. The organisation has also published commitments to use AI to automate elements of its processing, with a target date of 2030 for that capability to be in place.

For anyone buying or selling property now, these future reforms offer context rather than immediate relief. The structural causes of delay are well understood; translating that understanding into shorter transactions requires coordinated action from government, lenders, local authorities, and the legal profession.

If you are buying or selling a residential property, speaking to a solicitor early, ideally before you agree a sale price, gives you the best chance of a smooth transaction. The team at Pearcelegal advises buyers and sellers across the West Midlands on all aspects of residential property transactions, and you can make an appointment with our team to discuss your specific situation and likely timescales at an early stage.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does conveyancing take in 2026?

The average residential property transaction in England and Wales currently takes around 205 days from offer acceptance to completion, according to TwentyEA and Zoopla data cited in August 2025. Straightforward freehold transactions with no chain can complete in 8 to 12 weeks; leasehold transactions in buildings subject to the Building Safety Act 2022 or involving slow managing agents regularly take longer.

Why does leasehold conveyancing take longer than freehold?

Leasehold transactions require the seller to obtain a management pack from the freeholder or managing agent, covering service charges, ground rent, insurance, and the condition of the building. Some management companies take two to three months to supply this information, and fees for doing so can reach £500. Additional documentation is also required under the Building Safety Act 2022 for flats in buildings over 11 metres or five storeys, and these certificates must be in place before exchange.

What are anti-money laundering checks and why do they cause delays?

Solicitors are legally required under the Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017 to verify the identity and source of funds of every client before acting in a transaction. Gathering the required documentation, which can include several months of bank statements, a gift letter and the donor's statements, or evidence of an inheritance, takes time. Delays arise when clients do not anticipate the requirement. Providing documents on the first day of instruction is the most effective way to avoid this being a bottleneck.

Does HM Land Registry delay affect when I can move in?

No. Legal ownership of the property passes at completion, when the purchase funds are transferred and the keys are handed over. Registration is a separate, subsequent step. However, delays in registration can cause difficulty if you want to remortgage, sell, or take any other action that requires a registered title. HMLR's published figures show ownership transfers currently taking around 8 months for most applications, with complex cases taking longer.

Will proposed reforms make conveyancing faster?

The government's October 2025 consultation proposed mandatory upfront information, standardised digital property packs, and reservation agreements, any of which could reduce transaction times if enacted. The consultation closed in December 2025 and a roadmap was expected in winter 2025 to 2026. Until that framework is in place and the changes embedded in practice, the structural causes of delay remain. Taking early, informed advice from a solicitor is currently the most effective step a buyer or seller can take.

About the Author

Mark Stockton (SRA number 122231) is a Consultant Conveyancing Solicitor at Pearcelegal, advising on residential conveyancing and commercial property transactions across Solihull, Birmingham, Coventry, Sutton Coldfield and Warwick. Admitted in 1983, Mark ran his own firm, Anthony Stockton Solicitors, from 1999 until joining Pearcelegal in July 2020 to focus on client work. He is regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA ID 122231).

Last reviewed: 8th June 2026.