How to Speed Up Your Property Sale, Practical Steps That Actually Work

Why Property Sales Take So Long

The average property transaction in England and Wales takes between 12 and 20 weeks from offer acceptance to completion. In complex chains, this figure can stretch to six months or longer. The delays are rarely caused by a single problem, more often they accumulate from multiple small inefficiencies: a solicitor instructed late, a management pack ordered after a buyer is found, enquiry responses that take two weeks instead of two days.

The good news is that sellers can directly influence several of the most significant delay factors. The steps below are not theoretical, they represent the practical difference between a sale that completes in 10 weeks and one that drags on for six months.

1. Instruct Your Solicitor Before You List

Most sellers wait until they have accepted an offer before instructing a solicitor. This is a missed opportunity of typically 2–4 weeks. If you instruct a solicitor when you instruct your estate agent, the solicitor can:

• Apply for official copies of the title register immediately
• Identify any title defects early, so solutions (indemnity insurance, regularisation, discharge of old charges) can be arranged in advance
• Begin preparing the draft contract and title bundle
• Advise on TA forms so you can complete them accurately before a buyer is found

By the time you accept an offer, your solicitor should be ready to send the full title bundle to the buyer's solicitor within days rather than weeks. This alone can save 3–6 weeks from the overall timeline.

2. Complete the TA Forms Carefully and Completely

The TA6 Property Information Form and TA10 Fittings and Contents Form are the primary source of enquiries raised by buyers' solicitors. Vague, incomplete, or inconsistent answers generate follow-up questions. Every follow-up question costs time.

Tips for completing the TA6 effectively:

• Answer every question fully, do not leave sections blank or mark them "not known" unless genuinely uncertain
• Where works have been carried out to the property, state when, by whom, and whether consent was obtained
• Disclose disputes or neighbourly issues honestly, a buyer finding out about a dispute after exchange (or after completion) can lead to legal action; disclosure at the outset is always the better approach
• Attach documentary evidence where it supports your answers, a planning permission consent notice stapled to the TA6 answer is more useful than "planning permission obtained, see solicitor"

A well-completed TA6 can reduce enquiries from 20–30 questions to 5–10. Each enquiry that does not need to be asked saves one to three days.

3. Order the Management Pack on Day One (Leasehold)

If you are selling a leasehold property, the management pack is almost always the single biggest source of delay. Do not wait for a buyer, order the management pack the day you decide to sell.

Contact the managing agent or freeholder directly, pay the fee (typically £200–£400), and request the LPE1 form. Chase weekly. A pack ordered on day one of your sale preparation will arrive before, or shortly after, your buyer is found, rather than weeks or months into the conveyancing process.

The management pack is typically valid for 3–6 months, so ordering it early rarely means it needs to be reprised.

4. Gather All Relevant Documents Before the Sale

Assembling documents in advance removes a common source of delay during the enquiry stage. Documents to locate and copy before listing:

If documents are missing, identify alternative evidence or arrange indemnity insurance early. Discovering a missing building regulations certificate on week 8 of a sale that should have completed on week 10 is an entirely preventable situation.

5. Choose a Solicitor Who Communicates Promptly

The choice of solicitor has a material impact on transaction speed. Consider:

• **Local solicitors** tend to move faster on straightforward residential transactions and may have established relationships with local search providers and other local firms
• **Online-only conveyancers** can be fast and cost-effective but may have higher caseloads and less direct communication
• **Ask explicitly about response times**, a solicitor who commits to responding to all correspondence within 24 hours and chasing weekly is a significantly better choice than one who does not

The Law Society's Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS) accreditation indicates a firm that meets minimum standards for residential conveyancing practice.

6. Respond to Enquiries Within 24 Hours

Once the buyer's solicitor has raised enquiries, your response time is directly within your control. Each day of delay in answering an enquiry is a day added to the transaction timeline. Aim to respond to every enquiry within 24 hours of receiving it from your solicitor.

If an enquiry requires a document or evidence you do not immediately have, send a holding response confirming when you expect to provide the information. Buyers and their solicitors respond better to "I am obtaining the boiler service records, I expect to have these by Thursday" than to silence.

7. Chase Proactively, Weekly at Minimum

Property transactions stall when nobody is actively pushing them forward. Chase your solicitor every week for a progress update. Ask specifically:

• Have all enquiries been raised and answered?
• Are searches back? If not, why not and when are they expected?
• Has the buyer's mortgage offer been issued?
• Is there anything outstanding on your side that needs action?

Sellers who actively chase reduce average transaction times by 2–4 weeks compared to those who wait passively for updates.

8. Fix the Chain Problem Early

If you are part of a chain, selling and simultaneously buying, the weakest link in the chain determines when everyone completes. Identify the most vulnerable transaction in the chain early and ask your estate agent to establish direct communication with all agents in the chain to identify and address problems before they cause collapse.

Consider offering to use the same solicitor as the buyer's solicitor if they are dealing with a straightforward transaction, as this can sometimes accelerate communication.

9. Use a Memorandum of Sale to Fix the Timeline

Once an offer is accepted, ask your estate agent to issue a memorandum of sale immediately, a written record of the agreed price and all parties' solicitor details. This formally kickstarts the conveyancing process. Some estate agents delay issuing the memorandum, which delays solicitors on both sides from opening the file.

10. Use Property Passport UK to Reduce Enquiries

A documented property record cuts enquiry time materially. When buyers and their solicitors can access an accurate, centralised record of the property's EPC rating, title tenure, sold price history, planning history, and uploaded documents, many standard enquiries are answered before they are even asked.

Property Passport UK is designed precisely for this purpose: sellers with a complete, up-to-date property record on the platform arrive at the conveyancing table with answers already prepared, and complete their sales faster as a result.

Summary: The Steps That Make the Biggest Difference

Done together, these steps can reduce a 20-week sale to 10–12 weeks. There are no guarantees, other parties in the chain and external factors like search delays remain outside your control, but everything on this list is within your power from day one.