Most sellers underestimate this badly. From the day you list to the day the money lands, a typical UK sale takes around four to six months — and that's when nothing goes wrong. Here's where the time actually goes.
The typical timeline
- Finding a buyer: a few weeks to a couple of months, depending on price and demand.
- Conveyancing (offer to completion): usually two to three months — often longer for leasehold flats.
And that assumes the sale holds together. Around a third of agreed sales fall through before completion, sending you back to the start.
What slows a sale down
- Chains — you're only as fast as the slowest buyer and seller in the line.
- Mortgage approvals — a buyer's lender can take weeks and can withdraw after a bad survey.
- Local-authority searches — timescales vary by council.
- Surveys — problems found can trigger renegotiation or collapse.
- Leasehold — management packs and freeholder responses add weeks.
How to speed things up
Instruct a solicitor before you list, get your paperwork ready, price realistically, and be responsive. It helps — but you still can't control the other side of the chain.
The fastest route
If a normal sale is four to six months, a cash buyer is a different order of magnitude: no chain, no mortgage, no searches waiting on a buyer's lender, and completion in one to three weeks on a date you pick. That's the entire reason people choose it when timing matters — a relocation, a looming repossession, or an empty inherited property costing money every month. See how Braehold does it, or find your area to get a figure.