When your offer gets accepted on a house, it’s easy to think the stressful bit is over. In reality, things are only just getting going. The time between acceptance and moving day is where most of the paperwork, waiting and back-and-forth happens and it can feel like a bit of a slow grind.
First up, you’ll need to instruct a solicitor or conveyancer if you haven’t already. They take care of the legal side of things, checking the contract, dealing with the seller’s solicitor, and starting off the searches. Around the same time, your mortgage lender will also start moving things from “approved in principle” to fully underwritten. It’s not unusual for them to come back asking for extra documents, even if you’ve already provided them before.
Surveys often happen during this stage too. Some lenders only do a basic valuation, which is really just to check the property is worth what they’re lending you. A lot of buyers go a step further and pay for a homebuyer report (Intelligent Home Information) or full structural survey, just to avoid nasty surprises later on. If something serious shows up, it can slow everything down or lead to renegotiating the price.
Enquiries are made with the local authority to highlight anything relevant to the property, including restrictions, environmental factors, or future development plans in the area. The results are usually routine, although occasionally they raise points that need clarification.
Once everyone’s happy with the searches, survey, and mortgage, you move on to exchanging contracts. This is the point where things become legally binding, and you’ll usually pay your deposit then. It’s a bit of a milestone moment, because from here on in, pulling out isn’t simple without losing money.
After exchange, there’s usually a short waiting period before completion. This is when you sort out removals, pack properly, and start thinking about utilities, address changes, and all the admin that comes with moving. Some people have a gap of just a few days, others a couple of weeks, depending on what’s been agreed.
Completion day is when the money is transferred and the property officially becomes yours. Once the seller’s solicitor confirms everything has gone through, you get the keys. It rarely feels calm, there’s usually boxes everywhere and a bit of chaos, but it’s the point everything has been building towards.
Afterwards, there are still a few loose ends like registering the property in your name and sorting stamp duty if it applies. By that point though, you’re usually too busy unpacking and figuring out where things are to care much. It’s a long process from offer to moving in, but each stage is there to make sure nothing important gets missed.
