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Buying

The buyer-side journey, from agreement in principle to keys.

Buying a home in England and Wales usually takes months, not weeks. Rightmove put the average at 167 days from sale agreed to completion as of March 2026, and most of that time is spent waiting: for searches, for the mortgage offer, for answers to enquiries, and for the slowest link in the chain.

The guides in this section follow the buyer's side of the transaction in order: identity checks and instructing a conveyancer, searches and the survey, enquiries, exchange of contracts, and completion. They explain what each stage involves, how long it tends to take, and which delays you can do something about.

Buyers use PropXchain free. When the sale runs on PropXchain, you see the same live view of the transaction as the seller and the conveyancers, so you know where things stand without chasing.

How long does conveyancing take?

A realistic stage-by-stage timeline for England and Wales, the delays that genuinely cost weeks (searches, chains, enquiry ping-pong), and what sellers and buyers can do to shorten the wait.