What does conveyancing actually involve?
On a purchase it means investigating the title, ordering and interpreting searches, raising and reviewing enquiries, reporting to you and your lender, exchanging contracts, completing, filing the tax return and registering you at HM Land Registry. Stamp Duty Land Tax applies in England; Land Transaction Tax, collected by the Welsh Revenue Authority, applies in Wales.
On a sale it is the mirror image: assembling the title and the protocol forms, answering the buyer's enquiries, obtaining a redemption figure from your lender and accounting for the proceeds. Delay can come from an incomplete title, a slow search result, or an enquiry nobody has chased.
Freehold and leasehold transactions look similar from the outside but differ in the middle. The table shows where the extra work sits.
| Freehold | Leasehold | |
|---|---|---|
| What you own | The land and building outright | A lease for a fixed term, usually of a flat |
| Extra documents | None beyond the title and searches | The lease, the management pack, ground rent and service charge accounts |
| Third parties | Seller, buyer, lenders | Plus the landlord and managing agent, who set their own fees and timescales |
| Common issue | Missing building regulation sign-off | A lease under about 80 years, which affects the extension premium and which many lenders treat as a problem, each setting its own minimum unexpired term |
| Typical timescale | Shorter | Longer, because the pack is outside anyone's control |
| Start here | Buying or selling | Leasehold |
Where do transactions go wrong?
Missing documents are one risk: no building regulation certificate for a conversion, no window installation certificate, no gas safety record for a boiler. Most are solvable, often by indemnity insurance, provided nobody has already raised the point with the council. A policy insures the consequence rather than curing the defect, which is why we tell you what it must cover, and you buy it from an insurer or through a broker, before anyone makes the enquiry that would void it.
Leasehold management packs are another. Managing agents can take weeks, so we order the pack on day one of a sale. Short leases are a third: under about 80 years lenders may tighten their criteria and the extension premium rises, which changes the shape of the deal. Our lease extension page explains the options.
Chain failure is the one nobody can insure against. Nothing binds anyone until exchange. Unregistered title still turns up, and when it does the paper deeds must be reconstructed before a buyer's lender will lend.