How long is the conveyancing process from raising enquiries to completion?

Once the buyer's solicitor raises enquiries, it can take 1 to 2 weeks to reply on a freehold or 2 to 4 weeks on a leasehold. If initial pre-contract enquiries prompt further enquiries, the enquiry process may be extended until they are all satisfied. The seller may be impatient if they hope for a quick sale. Do not allow them to pressure you to rush past the proper due diligence; you could miss a crucial detail that comes back to bite you later. Once the solicitor has received full replies to enquiries then they will report to the buyer of all their findings. After reading the report on the title, if the buyer decides they are happy to proceed, they need to sign and return the following documents to your solicitor: Contract; TR1 transfer document; Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) return; and Mortgage deed (if applicable) These documents need signing, and some need witnessing. If you can, scan, email and then post special delivery to your solicitor. If you can’t scan and email then just send special delivery (not recorded).

Outstanding enquiries meaning

Outstanding enquiries mean that the seller's solicitor has questions that have yet to be answered. It is common for the seller's solicitor to partially reply to the legal enquiries and then send outstanding enquiries once they are obtained by the seller or their solicitor. Outstanding property enquiries that take the longest to answer are those relating to the council or a freehold management company.

How long do enquiries take after searches?

The time for legal enquiries to be replied to after searches can vary considerably; however, as a rule: Freehold enquiries between 1 to 3 weeks Leasehold/share of freehold enquiries between 2 to 5 weeks Your case may take longer if the seller's solicitor is slow/too busy or if the seller isn't able to respond to the enquiry and they need a third party to reply such as the council inspecting the removal of a load bearing wall.

What happens after enquiries when buying a house?

Once all of your questions are satisfied and the solicitor is happy from a legal perspective, they will report to you on all of their findings. This is called 'the report on title' and is a factual report that advises you of all the information the solicitor is aware of. The report flags up issues and goes into detail on these points. Many clients often think that at the end of the report it says - You should buy this property. Sadly this isn't the case and in fact the role of the buyer's solicitor is to advise you on whether the property is legally fit to purchase and not whether you should actually purchase it - that decision comes down to you. Along with the report which would normally be sent to you via email or post, will be the legal documents required for signing including: Contract of sale TR1 SDLT Form Mortgage deed Title plan

What if the seller's solicitor can't satisfy the enquiries?

There are occasions where you are unable to satisfy a legal enquiry and whether or not you can proceed or not may be outside of your control. Certain enquiries require the your mortgage lender will require and you won't be able to get a mortgage unless the enquiry is satisfied, or their is appropriate indemnity insurance in place to cover for any future liability. One of the most common examples of this is where the seller has completed building works that required building control sign off, however they haven't had the works signed off. A mortgage lender won't give you a mortgage without the building control sign off, so you could be left waiting for the seller to either get retrospective building control sign off, or you can agree to get an indemnity policy to protect against future liabilities caused by not having building control sign off. If the seller does not the answer to the enquiries, they must be transparent. Lying about the enquiries will mean that they misrepresent the property to you, in which case you might be able to sue.

We explain what is included within the draft contract pack and then how long from contract pack to completion.

We can handle each step of the conveyancing process and have tips on how to speed up exchanging contracts. Ask us a question if you need help.

What are legal enquiries when buying a house?

Created on:

31/01/2023

(Last Updated: 19/04/2024)

Key Takeaways

Enquiries and conveyancing searches happen once the draft contract pack has been received.
The enquiries stage usually takes a couple of weeks.
After enquiries are satisfied, the buyer's conveyancer prepares the report on title with all of the information needed by the buyer to decide whether to move ahead with the property purchase.

In this article

When is it time to raise enquiries?

After an offer has been accepted, the seller's conveyancer prepares and sends the draft contract pack to the buyer's conveyancer. At this stage in the house-buying process, the buyer and their solicitor raise conveyancing enquiries to determine the state and condition of the property and identify any issues that would affect the property transaction.

Property in the UK is sold under 'caveat emptor', Latin for 'buyer beware'; this means that the buyer is responsible for uncovering any nasty surprises before you exchange contracts.

The legal enquiries stage is the technical stage of the conveyancing process undertaken by the buyer's conveyancer. The solicitor reviews all of the following documents:

Estate agent particulars
Contract of sale
Property Information Forms including TA6, TA10 and (if leasehold) TA7
Sale memorandum
Title deeds
Title plan
Warranties and guarantees
(if leasehold) Lease
(if leasehold) Leasehold Management Pack

The seller's solicitor provides the buyer's solicitor with all the above documents (except the sales memo) in the draft contract pack.

Questions to ask a solicitor when buying a house

We've compiled a list of the top legal enquiries solicitors raise, what they mean, and the solution. We even rate how hard the enquiry is to reply to. It's free to use, so click below and get searching!

A solicitor inspects documents included with the draft contract pack as part of the conveyancing enquiries process

What pre-contract enquiries do solicitors raise?

When raising enquiries with the seller, the buyer's solicitor's objective is to satisfy themselves that the property being purchased is both 'mortgageable' and 'sellable' on the open market (even if you aren't getting a mortgage).

Imagine buying a property and discovering it needs the relevant planning permission or building control sign-off. Now, you own a property you can't sell for what you bought it for. You need a solicitor to review all of the legal paperwork to spot issues such as this before it is too late to pull out or renegotiate.

Raising enquiries is like a 'Q&A' between the seller and the buyer. Some of the enquiries raised are from the solicitor, and others may be from you. The solicitor looks through the draft contract for legal issues (such as the ones listed above).

However, you may be interested to find out other non-legal enquiries such as; can the sellers make repairs to the property before you exchange?

Frequently Asked Questions

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OUTSTANDING

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Written by: Andrew Boast

Andrew started his career in 2000 working within conveyancing solicitor firms and grew hands-on knowledge of a wide variety of conveyancing challenges and solutions. After helping in excess of 50,000 clients in his career, he uses all this experience within his article writing for SAM, mainstream media and his self published book How to Buy a House Without Killing Anyone.

Reviewed by: Caragh Bailey

Caragh is an excellent writer in her own right as well as an accomplished copy editor for both fiction and non-fiction books, news articles and editorials. She has written extensively for SAM for a variety of conveyancing, survey and mortgage related articles.

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What are legal enquiries when buying a house?

When is it time to raise enquiries?

Questions to ask a solicitor when buying a house

What pre-contract enquiries do solicitors raise?

What does a solicitor do for the buyer

Leasehold Information Pack

What is the draft contract pack

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