Selling a house in England and Wales follows a set legal path known as conveyancing, the transfer of property ownership from seller to buyer. It begins long before contracts…
Selling a house in England and Wales follows a set legal path known as conveyancing, the transfer of property ownership from seller to buyer. It begins long before contracts are signed and ends only when funds land in your account on completion day. Between those two points sits a sequence of steps: instructing a solicitor, checking the title (the legal record of ownership), drafting the contract pack, completing property information forms, replying to buyer enquiries, coordinating the chain, exchanging contracts and finally completing.
The process can feel slow, and often is. Delays usually stem from missing paperwork, slow replies to enquiries, mortgage timings, or other parties in the chain. Lauren Basger, solicitor, notes that sellers who gather documents early, guarantees, planning consents, building regulation certificates, tend to keep their transaction moving rather than waiting on requests from the other side.
This guide walks through the selling a house UK process chronologically, from preparation before your home goes on the market through to completion day. For tailored support, see our selling a property service.
Preparing to Sell: Valuation, Agent and Documents
Start with a realistic valuation. Invite two or three local estate agents to appraise the property, and compare their figures against recent sold prices on the Land Registry and portals like Rightmove. An inflated asking price tends to stall the listing; a sensible one attracts genuine buyers.
When choosing an agent, look beyond the headline fee. Check the contract length, tie-in period, whether the agreement is sole or multi-agency, and how they handle viewings and feedback. Ask what marketing is included.
You will also need an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) before the property is marketed. If your existing one has expired, an accredited assessor can produce a new one; costs vary, so get a quote locally.
Gathering paperwork early is one of the most useful things a seller can do. Lauren Basger notes that transactions often slow down not because of legal complexity, but because documents surface piece by piece after enquiries are raised. Pull together:
- Title deeds or the title number
- FENSA or CERTASS certificates for replacement windows
- Gas boiler installation and service records, plus electrical certificates
- Planning permissions and building regulation completion certificates for extensions or structural work
- Guarantees and warranties for damp proofing, roofing, timber treatment or new-build cover
Having these ready before instructing a solicitor on the selling a house UK process reduces back-and-forth later.
Instructing a Solicitor and Client Onboarding
Choosing the right conveyancer matters more than finding the cheapest quote. Look at reviews, response times, and whether you will have a named contact who actually handles your file. A firm regulated by the Solicitors Regulation Authority, with clear communication channels and realistic workloads, will usually move faster than a call-centre model where files pass between unnamed handlers.
Once instructed, you will receive a client care letter and terms of engagement (the formal document setting out fees, scope of work, and how the retainer operates). Read it properly before signing. Lauren Basger notes that sellers who return signed paperwork the same day, rather than letting it sit for a week, often see their transaction move into the active phase noticeably sooner.
Your solicitor must then complete identity and source of funds checks under anti-money laundering (AML) rules, which require verification of who you are and where any relevant money originated. This is not optional, and no draft contract can be issued until it is done. Uploading ID promptly, replying to verification requests quickly, and providing bank statements without delay removes the most common early bottleneck.
You can read more about our approach at /services/selling-a-property.
Title Check, Draft Contract Pack and Property Information Forms
Once instructed, your solicitor's first job is to build what's known as the contract pack, the bundle of documents that gets sent to the buyer's solicitor to start the legal side of the sale.
They begin by downloading official copies of the register and title plan from HM Land Registry. These confirm you are the registered owner and set out anything that runs with the property, such as easements (rights over or across the land), restrictive covenants (limits on what can be done with the property) and any charges like a mortgage. Lauren Basger notes that title issues picked up at this stage, a missing right of way, an old covenant, or an unregistered extension, are among the most common reasons a sale stalls later, so early review matters.
Alongside the title check, your solicitor drafts the contract itself and asks you to complete the standard Law Society forms:
- TA6 (Property Information Form), covers boundaries, disputes, alterations, guarantees, utilities and similar.
- TA10 (Fittings and Contents Form), records exactly what is included, excluded or available for separate purchase.
- TA7 (Leasehold Information Form), required where the property is leasehold, covering ground rent, service charges and the managing agent.
For leasehold sales, you will also need to order a management pack (sometimes called an LPE1) from the freeholder or managing agent. Fees vary and turnaround times are outside your control, so request it as soon as you instruct.
The single most useful thing sellers can do to keep momentum is fill in the TA forms carefully and gather paperwork, building regulations sign-offs, FENSA certificates, boiler service records, planning permissions, before the buyer's enquiries land. More on our approach at /services/selling-a-property.
Buyer's Enquiries, Searches and Managing the Chain
Once the buyer's solicitor has the draft contract pack, they'll review your title documents, protocol forms and any supporting paperwork, then send a list of written questions known as pre-contract enquiries. These often follow the local authority, drainage and environmental search results, and can range from routine clarifications to more detailed points raised by the buyer's mortgage lender as conditions of the loan offer.
Boundaries are a frequent sticking point. Buyers commonly ask who maintains which fence, whether the physical boundary matches the plan filed at the Land Registry, and whether any part of the garden has been extended or informally taken in over time. Alterations are the next hotspot: extensions, loft conversions, removed walls, new windows and replacement boilers will usually prompt requests for planning permission, building regulations sign-off and installer certificates. If any documents are missing, indemnity insurance (a one-off policy covering the risk of enforcement) is sometimes offered as a workable fix. Disputes with neighbours, past or present, must be disclosed honestly.
Lauren Basger notes that sellers can genuinely shorten the process by gathering certificates, guarantees and planning paperwork before enquiries land, and by replying to their own solicitor quickly.
Your solicitor will also be speaking to others in the chain to find a completion date that works for every party. Dates are proposed, not fixed, until exchange, so flexibility helps.
Further detail on our approach is on the selling a property page.
Costs, Leasehold Complications and Common Delays
Selling a home carries several unavoidable costs, and it helps to map them out early in the selling a house UK process. You'll usually pay legal fees to your conveyancer, estate agent commission (typically a percentage of the sale price), and any early repayment charge or mortgage redemption fee owed to your lender. If your property is leasehold, expect a management pack fee from the freeholder or managing agent covering service charge accounts, buildings insurance and lease information. These figures shift regularly, so ask for written quotes rather than relying on general estimates.
Leasehold sales tend to move more slowly. Delays often come from waiting on the freeholder's pack, questions about ground rent, cladding or fire safety information (EWS1 forms on relevant buildings), or short lease terms that concern the buyer's mortgage lender. A lease with fewer than around 80 years remaining can trigger renegotiation or extension talks mid-sale.
Lauren Basger notes that the most common hold-ups are avoidable: missing FENSA certificates for windows, absent Gas Safe or electrical certificates, unsigned building regulations sign-offs, and slow replies to enquiries from either side. Chain breaks, where a buyer or seller elsewhere in the sequence withdraws, are harder to control, but staying responsive and gathering paperwork early gives your transaction the best chance of progressing steadily. See our selling a property service for more.
Solicitor Insight: How Sellers Can Speed Up Their Own Sale
Much of the delay in a sale sits with paperwork, and that is where sellers hold real influence. Lauren Basger notes that the transactions which progress most smoothly tend to be the ones where the seller has gathered documents before the buyer's enquiries even land.
Start with the property information forms your solicitor sends, commonly the TA6 and, for leasehold, the TA7, along with the TA10 fittings and contents list. Complete them in full rather than leaving blanks for later. Vague or partial answers almost always generate follow-up questions that add weeks.
Next, dig out the supporting paperwork early: FENSA or CERTASS certificates for windows, Gas Safe records for boilers, electrical installation certificates, planning permissions, and building regulation completion certificates for extensions or structural work. Guarantees for damp, timber, roofing or new-build warranties should sit in the same folder. If something is missing, indemnity insurance may be an option, but that is a conversation to have with your solicitor sooner rather than later.
For leasehold sales, the management pack from the freeholder or managing agent is a common bottleneck. Order it as soon as you instruct. Fees vary and change, so confirm current costs directly with the provider.
Complete ID and source of funds checks the moment they are requested. Finally, keep the estate agent and solicitor working from the same information, inconsistent answers about boundaries, occupants or works done tend to slow things considerably.
More on how we support sellers: /services/selling-a-property.
Exchange, Completion and Next Steps: Speak to a Conveyancer
Exchange of contracts is the point at which the sale becomes legally binding. Deposits pass between conveyancers, the completion date is fixed in the contract, and neither party can pull out without significant financial consequences. In practice, exchange only happens once enquiries are answered, the chain is aligned and both sides are ready to commit.
Completion day follows the timetable set at exchange. The buyer's conveyancer sends the balance of the purchase price to your conveyancer. Once those funds are received and confirmed, keys are released, usually through the estate agent, and legal ownership transfers to the buyer.
Your conveyancer then handles the outgoing payments. The existing mortgage is redeemed (paid off) using a redemption statement obtained from your lender, estate agent fees are settled from the sale proceeds, and any conveyancing costs are deducted. The net balance, what remains after all deductions, is transferred to you. Lauren Basger notes that sellers can help their own transaction along by returning TA forms promptly, chasing missing paperwork such as guarantees or building regulations certificates early, and staying in regular contact with their conveyancer.
To instruct, visit selling a property.
Disclaimer: This article provides general information only and does not constitute legal advice on any individual circumstances.