The agent's guide to conveyancing: what you need to know

ConveyQuote Team · 10 June 2026 · 9 minute read

Agents do not need to know conveyancing the way solicitors do. But the agents whose pipelines complete fastest share a trait: they understand the legal process well enough to set client expectations, spot trouble early, and keep both sides moving. This guide covers what actually matters — the process, the pinch points, the mistakes agents make without realising, and what to tell clients on day one.

The process, in five stages

1. Instruction and onboarding (week 1). The client formally instructs a solicitor, signs the client care letter, completes identity checks and pays money on account. Nothing else can start until this is done — which is why slow instruction is the most common self-inflicted delay in any chain.

2. Searches and enquiries (weeks 2–6). For purchases, the solicitor orders searches — local authority, water and drainage, environmental, plus area-specific ones such as coal mining in parts of the West Midlands — and raises enquiries on the seller's contract pack. Search turnaround varies by council from days to weeks, and it is the stage clients most underestimate.

3. Mortgage and report (weeks 4–8). The lender issues the mortgage offer, the solicitor checks its conditions, then reports on title to the client: a plain-English summary of what they are buying and any strings attached.

4. Exchange (weeks 8–12). Contracts are signed, deposits transferred, a completion date agreed, and contracts exchanged. This is the legal point of no return — only now is the transaction binding.

5. Completion and registration (exchange + 1–2 weeks). Funds move, keys are released — your moment — and the solicitor pays any Stamp Duty and registers the new owner at HM Land Registry afterwards.

A straightforward freehold matter runs ten to fourteen weeks end to end; leasehold, chains and new build all add time. Knowing the stages means you can translate "we're waiting on replies to enquiries" into an honest timeline for your buyer instead of a shrug.

What clients should have ready (tell them on day one)

• Identity documents — photo ID and proof of address, ready for digital verification. The single most common week-one delay.
• Proof and source of funds — bank statements showing the deposit accumulating; paper trails for any gifted deposit (plus a gift letter from the giver).
• Scheme paperwork — Lifetime ISA details, Help to Buy documentation, shared ownership lease information, all of which add steps the solicitor needs to plan for.
• For sellers — title documents, guarantees and certificates (windows, boilers, building work), and leasehold management details if applicable. Sellers who complete the protocol forms in week one save their whole chain weeks.

What the solicitor is actually doing

When clients complain that "the solicitor is sitting on it", they are usually watching the invisible parts of real work: chasing a managing agent for a leasehold pack, pressing the other side's solicitor for replies to enquiries, reconciling a lender's conditions with the title, or verifying a gifted deposit's source for anti-money-laundering purposes. The useful agent instinct is not to bash the solicitor — it is to find out which party is sitting on what, because the fix differs. A platform that shows you live case status (like the partner portal) turns that from guesswork into a glance.

The five mistakes agents actually make

Overpromising timelines. "Six weeks, easily" sets everyone up for conflict. Quote ten to fourteen and let the solicitor beat it.

Recommending on price alone. The £450 quote that becomes £900 by completion — and stalls your chain for three weeks mid-way — costs everyone more than the difference. Itemised, reviewed, fixed quotes exist precisely to prevent this.

Leaving conveyancing until memorandum of sale. The best agents raise it at valuation for sellers and at offer for buyers, so instruction happens in days, not weeks.

Not flagging leasehold early. A leasehold flat with a short lease or an absent freeholder is a different transaction. Surfacing it on day one lets the solicitor order the management pack immediately — the slowest item in the whole matter.

Going quiet after exchange-ready. Chains wobble most in the final fortnight. The agent who keeps gently coordinating completion dates earns the review — and the next instruction.

Where this becomes revenue

Everything above is worth doing purely for pipeline velocity — faster conveyancing means faster completions and fewer fall-throughs. But the same moment you guide the client through is also a referral moment. Handled transparently, with a regulated panel and a disclosed fee, the introduction earns a fee agreed individually with you up front, fixed per case type, no clawback surprises — and you keep the visibility that makes you better at your actual job.

Related reading: the revenue maths · keeping your client while earning · the partner FAQ.