How long does it take to sell a house after offer is accepted?

Selling a house after accepting an offer typically takes 10-14 weeks from acceptance to completion, though this timeline can vary based on your unique situation.

Learn more: A complete guide to selling your home.

Each property transaction follows its own path, with several factors affecting how long it takes after accepting an offer:

• Property searches: These can vary in duration depending on your local authority
• Chain complexity: Longer chains generally mean more potential for delays
• Survey results: Issues discovered may require renegotiation
• Mortgage approval: Lender processing times vary considerably
• Legal complications: Title issues or missing documents can cause unexpected delays

Your conveyancer will work with you to establish a realistic completion date based on your circumstances, coordinating with other transactions in your property chain to ensure a smooth process.

At this exciting stage, you're one step closer to your next move – whether you're upscaling to a larger home, downsizing to something more manageable, or relocating to a new town or city.

Accepting an offer on a house marks a significant milestone, but it's just the beginning of weeks or months process before you can officially hand over the keys.

The moment your estate agent confirms "offer accepted," the legal process begins. Hiring a conveyancer ASAP is crucial, as they'll handle all legal aspects of selling your property and can significantly impact how long it takes to sell your house after the offer is accepted.

After accepting an offer on a house, you'll begin a structured conveyancing process with distinct phases. Understanding each stage can help you better prepare and potentially speed up your sale:

• Instruction phase: 1 to 2 weeks
• Pre-exchange phase: 4 to 10 weeks
• Exchange of contracts: 1 day
• Pre-completions phase: 1 to 4 weeks
• Completion day: 1 day
• Post-completion

Each of these stages requires coordination between multiple parties, so staying responsive throughout will help ensure the smoothest possible journey to completion.

Unlike when buying a home, you don’t need to wait until you’ve had an offer accepted to hire (instruct) a conveyancer. As you own the property (and that’s not going to change), you can instruct a conveyancer as soon as your property is on the market.

While some tasks that involve working with the buyer’s conveyancer must wait until you have a buyer, instructing early can significantly reduce how long it takes to move house.

Guide: How to choose a conveyancer.

Your conveyancer can complete several crucial tasks before you find a buyer:

• Verify your identity and address
• Source your property's title deeds
• Obtain lease documentation (for leasehold properties)
• Draft the initial contract of sale
• Help you complete property information forms

By addressing these tasks early, you can potentially shave weeks off your transaction timeline. While you can instruct a conveyancer after accepting an offer on your house, doing so means missing valuable preparation time that could make your sale more efficient.

After you've accepted an offer, you'll enter the pre-exchange phase, typically the longest part of the conveyancing process (4-10 weeks). This is where most of the detailed legal work happens.

Your conveyancer will:

• Send the draft contract pack to the buyer's conveyancer
• Submit all required protocol forms and title deeds
• Respond to any legal queries about the property
• Address concerns raised in the buyer's survey
• Negotiate key terms of the sale

Learn more: Documents for buying and selling houses explained.

During this phase, several important elements need to be agreed upon:

• Dates for exchange and completion
• What's included in the sale price (fixtures and fittings)
• Any additional payments for items you're leaving
• How to handle issues discovered in the buyer's survey (if any)

If you have a mortgage, your conveyancer will request a redemption statement to calculate the amount that will be paid to your lender from the sale proceeds.

This stage requires patience as the buyer conducts searches and surveys. The more responsive you are to queries, the smoother and faster this process will be.

You and the buyer will have an agreed date to exchange contracts in the previous step. Your conveyancer will exchange the contracts on your behalf, submitting the signed contract you endorsed, and the buyer does the same with their duplicate version.

It’s at this stage where the buyer will pay the seller their exchange deposit (usually 10% of the total transaction or whatever is agreed). The deposit will be kept safe and secure by your conveyancer until completion.

You and the buyer are now legally bound to the property transaction, the buyer is obligated to buy your property and you’re obligated to sell. Neither party can back out now without risking the return or loss of the deposit.

Breathe, the period of uncertainty is over, you and the buyer are legally bound to the property transaction. Your completion day could be anywhere between 7-28 days away, or as per your agreement. There’s no minimum or maximum required time between exchange and completion.

During the time between exchange and completion, ensure your home is packed up and prepared for the buyer to move in. You may want to organise a removal company to assist with transporting your belongings for the upcoming completion day.

It’s moving day! The buyer’s conveyancer has the funds ready and transfers them to your conveyancer. Your conveyancer settles your remaining mortgage and any other house sales costs, before releasing the remaining funds to you.

They’ll also let the estate agent know that they’ve received the buyer’s funds, and they can release the keys to the buyer at an agreed time. You need to be all moved out by this time to allow the buyer to move in.

Time to start your next chapter. Leaving your previous home can be bittersweet, but it marks a major milestone.

After completion, you simply need to pay any fees you owe. This could be to your conveyancer, estate agent, or any other party that was involved in the sale of your property, and that’s it, you’ve completed the sale of your property.

Congratulations!

Even after you’ve accepted an offer on your house, many factors can slow down the sale of a home. These delays can be frustrating and inconvenient for both sellers and buyers.

Being aware of these potential delays can help you manage expectations and possibly take steps to mitigate them:

Property chains can cause delays in your house sale. If you’re buying and selling a house at the same time, you’re likely to be in a chain of some degree. Chains cause delays as each transaction is dependent on other people buying and selling property as well. If a sale or purchase falls through in your chain, it can cause serious delays or even break the whole chain.

You may encounter some delays due to waiting for the buyer’s conveyancing search results. Some local authorities take considerably longer than others to return search results. Searches typically take between 2 to 6 weeks, but conveyancers can sometimes find difficulties locating certain information which could cause delays.

Again, related to your buyer, but also your property. If your buyer’s surveyor finds issues or damages in your property, it could impact your buyer’s decision whether to purchase your home. In some cases, it may slow down the process if they deem the price to be unfair due to defects. You may have to spend a little longer negotiating if this happens.

A lot of people and third parties are involved in property transactions. From you and your conveyancing to lenders and estate agents. Slow responses from anyone involved can cause domino effect delays dramatically slowing down your sale.

Lenders may take longer than expected to process applications, especially during busy periods or if there are complications with the buyer's financial situation. Make sure to keep an offer on your own mortgage offer as they will expire after a certain amount of time.

Life events like illness, bereavement, or employment changes can cause either party to need more time. Major life disruptions often occur unexpectedly and can significantly impact the home selling process.

Unexpected problems with property boundaries, rights of way, or missing documentation can require significant time to resolve. These complications often emerge during the conveyancing process when examining the property's legal title. Boundary disputes might arise from inconsistencies between physical features like fences and the legal boundary lines recorded in official documents.