What sellers should expect between accepting an offer and exchange
Around twelve weeks separate an accepted offer from a binding contract. Here's what fills them, and how a seller keeps the sale moving.
4 mins read
17-09-2026
Written by
Editorial Team
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Accepting an offer starts a legal process that usually takes around twelve weeks to reach exchange, and in England and Wales nothing binds either side until then. The buyer can walk away at no cost right up to exchange of contracts, and so can you.
Conveyancing works differently in Scotland, so treat this as general information rather than legal advice for a Scottish sale.
The memorandum of sale
Within a few days of acceptance, the estate agent issues a memorandum of sale, a written summary of the agreed deal sent to both sides' solicitors, covering the price, the parties, their solicitors, the tenure, and the expected exchange and completion dates. It has no legal force. It simply opens the file at both law firms.
Expect it to list the Land Registry title number, whether the buyer is cash or mortgage funded, and any fixtures and fittings agreed in the price. Check it the day it arrives, because a mistake in a name or the price gets copied straight into both solicitors' files.
Instruct your solicitor before the memorandum lands
The single best thing a seller can do in acceptance week is already have a solicitor instructed, ideally from the point of listing. Selling a home takes about five months on average according to gov.uk, and conveyancing eats up most of that time once you have a buyer. The first fortnight is usually swallowed by engagement letters, ID checks and protocol forms that could all have been done in advance.
Get your paperwork ready early
A seller whose contract pack, meaning the title, the TA6 property information form, the TA10 fittings and contents form and the supporting documents, is ready at acceptance can cut weeks off that timeline. Those two forms take the longest to complete properly, so start them before you have a buyer. Speed works in the seller's favour here, because every idle week is another week for the buyer's circumstances, or the chain above them, to change.
Item | Why it matters |
|---|---|
Solicitor instructed | Starts engagement letters, ID checks and protocol forms before the clock starts |
TA6 property information form | The slowest form to do properly; starting early avoids delay once you have a buyer |
TA10 fittings and contents form | Same as above, easy to leave until last and regret it |
Proof of ID and funds | Needed for the anti-money-laundering checks your solicitor must run regardless |
Title documents | Confirms you can legally sell and flags any restrictions early |
Enquiries and the survey
Once the draft contract goes out, the buyer's solicitor raises enquiries, written questions about the title, your protocol form answers, boundaries, alterations and anything the searches turn up. Answer them quickly and honestly. Slow or evasive replies are the most common self-inflicted delay in the whole process. For the fuller walkthrough of every stage, see our guide to the conveyancing process for sellers.
The buyer's survey
The buyer's survey usually happens in the same window, and a poor one can reopen the price. Renegotiation after a survey is normal, not fatal, and a documented response, contractor quotes set against the surveyor's own figures, holds more ground than a flat refusal. If the buyer's lender needs a physical valuation, give access quickly. Valuation delays sit on the buyer's side, but they stall your timetable all the same.
Nothing binds until exchange
The government's guidance for sellers is blunt about this: the agreement to sell and buy becomes legally binding only once final contracts are signed and exchanged, after which neither side can normally pull out without paying compensation. Until then, the buyer can lower the offer and you can accept a higher one. Gazumping remains legal in England and Wales, and we cover the buyer's side of that risk in our guide to gazumping.
Protect yourself while you wait
The practical defence is momentum plus screening. Check for proof of funds and a mortgage agreement in principle before you accept, then record a target exchange date in the memorandum and chase it weekly. Once contracts exchange you're legally bound, and the gap to completion is usually short, typically somewhere between a week and four weeks according to MoneyHelper. The real risk sits in the weeks before exchange, not after it.
If you have not yet instructed a solicitor, compare conveyancing quotes for your sale through Moving Compared now, rather than waiting for the memorandum to arrive.
