What happens after your offer is accepted

England & Wales · Last updated August 2026

The estate agent calls, your offer is accepted, and then… silence. Nobody hands you a map of what comes next, and the next three to five months run on a process most buyers meet for the first time while they’re inside it. Here is that map.

First, know what “accepted” means

In England and Wales, an accepted offer is not binding on anyone. Until contracts are exchanged — usually months away — either side can walk away, the seller can accept a higher offer, and you can renegotiate if the survey turns something up. This is why the middle stage matters so much: the deal only becomes real at exchange.

Week one: set the machine running

Instruct a conveyancing solicitor. The agent may push their in-house recommendation; you’re free to choose anyone. Ask about their current caseload and how they give updates — you’ll live with the answer for months.
Turn your mortgage agreement-in-principle into a full application. The lender orders a valuation of the property — note this checks the price for their benefit, not the building’s condition for yours.
Book a survey (a Level 2 Home Survey for most homes; Level 3 for older, unusual or visibly tired ones). See our survey guide for how to read the results.
The agent sends a memorandum of sale to both solicitors — the document that formally connects everyone.

The long middle: searches, enquiries, and waiting

Your solicitor orders searches — standard checks with the local authority (planning, road schemes), the water company (drains, water supply) and an environmental data provider (flooding, contamination, mining). Councils return these anywhere from days to several weeks, and you can’t hurry them much.

Meanwhile the seller’s solicitor sends the contract pack: the draft contract, title documents, and the seller’s completed property information forms (the TA6, and the TA10 listing what’s included). Your solicitor reads all of it and raises enquiries — written questions about anything unclear: an unsigned-off extension, a missing boiler certificate, an oddity on the title. The seller’s side answers, sometimes prompting further rounds. This back-and-forth is usually the slowest part of the purchase, and most of it happens without anyone telling you it’s happening. See how long conveyancing takes for what the quiet stretches mean.

Around now your mortgage offer arrives — typically valid for three to six months. If you’re in a chain (your seller is also buying, or your buyer is also selling), every link runs this same process at its own speed, and the whole chain moves at the pace of its slowest link.

Exchange of contracts: the moment it becomes real

When searches are back, enquiries answered, your mortgage offer issued and your deposit ready, the solicitors exchange contracts. You typically pay a deposit of around 10% of the price, a completion date is fixed in the contract, and from this moment neither side can walk away without serious financial consequences. Buildings insurance usually needs to start from exchange — your solicitor confirms the details.

Completion: keys

On completion day — often one or two weeks after exchange, sometimes the same day — your solicitor sends the balance to the seller’s solicitor. When it lands, usually by early afternoon, the agent releases the keys. Afterwards your solicitor pays any stamp duty due on your behalf and registers you as the owner with HM Land Registry.

What actually moves things along

Reply to your solicitor the day they ask for something — ID, signatures, forms.
Get your deposit money in place (and any gift letters documented) early.
Ask for a specific status, not a general update: “which enquiries are still open?”
Keep every email and document where you can find it — you’ll be asked for things twice.