Why Completion Times Are Getting Worse, Not Better

Instruction to completion reached 123 days in 2025 — 18% worse than 2019 — over the same period AI adoption in conveyancing firms doubled. Here is what is actually going on.

Propelr Editorial Team10 min read

What you need to know

Average instruction-to-completion time rose to 123 days in 2025, 18% worse than 2019, and around 60% longer than 2007. The deterioration happened while conveyancing firms became measurably more efficient, because firm-side productivity addresses a small share of the calendar. The binding constraints are third-party waits and the sequencing of information after commitment.

  1. Instruction to completion reached 123 days in 2025 — up 18% since 2019 and ~60% since 2007.
  2. AI adoption in conveyancing firms doubled to 8 in 10 over the same period.
  3. Firm-side efficiency addresses a small share of the calendar; most of it is third-party waiting.
  4. Complexity has risen: more leasehold, building safety documentation, lending and AML requirements.
  5. The structural fix is sequencing — gathering information before commitment, not after.

Here is a fact that should be more discussed than it is. Between 2019 and 2025, UK conveyancing firms adopted AI at scale, digitised their workflows, and by most measures became substantially more productive.

Over the same period, the average time from instruction to completion rose to 123 days — an 18% increase. The government's own figures put the average transaction at around 120 days, roughly 60% longer than in 2007.

The industry got faster and the process got slower. This guide explains how both are true.

Where the time actually goes

The core misunderstanding is treating conveyancing as a work problem when it is mostly a queueing problem.

ElementTypical durationNature
Local authority searches2–8 weeksWaiting on a council
Leasehold management pack2–4 weeksWaiting on a freeholder
Mortgage offer2–4 weeksWaiting on a lender
Chain alignmentOpen-endedWaiting on strangers
Seller returning forms and repliesDays to weeksWaiting on a client
Solicitor active working timeDays in totalActual work

Only the last row responds to firm-side productivity. Halving it saves days. The rows above it are weeks each, and no conveyancer controls any of them.

Why it has actively worsened

Transactions are more complex

  • Building safety. Post-Grenfell requirements — EWS1 forms, cladding disclosures, building safety information — added an entire documentation layer to flats that did not exist in 2017.
  • Leasehold. A larger share of transactions, each requiring a management pack, lease review, ground rent and service charge verification.
  • Lending. Stricter affordability and valuation requirements since 2008, tightened again through the rate cycle.
  • Anti-money laundering. Source-of-funds evidencing that is far more demanding than a decade ago.
  • Disclosure. Material information obligations and the TA6 6th edition ask for more, in more detail.

Every one of these is individually justified. Collectively they added weeks.

The infrastructure has not kept pace

Local authority search times remain the single largest variable, and they are a function of council resourcing rather than anything the property industry controls. The reform roadmap commits £1.4 million to local authority data improvement and completion of HM Land Registry's Local Land Charges programme by 2028 — real, but slow.

The sequencing is backwards

The deepest cause. In England and Wales, information is gathered after the parties commit. Searches are ordered after an offer. The survey happens after an offer. Title problems surface after an offer.

Every complication therefore lands mid-transaction, when it is most expensive to resolve and most likely to cause a collapse. And every collapse means starting again, which is time that does not even appear in the completion statistics.

Why AI has not shown up in the numbers

Eight in ten conveyancing firms used AI last year, double the 2024 proportion. Individual firms report meaningful savings — Talbots Law publicly reported over five hours saved per lawyer per week on title checks alone.

Those savings are real. They are also concentrated in the one row of the table above that was never the constraint. This is a textbook case of optimising a non-bottleneck: the system's throughput is set by its slowest stage, and speeding up a fast stage changes nothing.

There is a real effect on responsiveness — faster enquiry turnaround compounds across sequential rounds — but it is measured in days against a problem measured in weeks. See can AI speed up conveyancing.

What would actually reverse it

The government's reform roadmap attacks the sequencing rather than the technology, which is the correct diagnosis:

  • Sales packs before listing. Searches, condition report and title information move off the critical path entirely. This is the structural fix.
  • Binding conditional contracts. Fewer discretionary withdrawals means fewer restarts.
  • Digital data standards and Land Registry APIs. Data moving between parties without rekeying.
  • Local Land Charges programme. Completing by 2028, targeting search times directly.

All of it needs legislation with no commencement date. The improvement is years away.

What you can do in the meantime

The useful conclusion: you do not have to wait for the legislation to get the benefit of it.

Instructing a conveyancer before you list, ordering searches upfront, completing your property forms early and having your title checked reproduces the reform's sequencing voluntarily. It removes roughly eight weeks from a conventional timeline, and it is available today.

The sector average will probably keep drifting. Your transaction does not have to follow it. See what is actually achievable and how to exchange in four weeks.

Sources and further reading

  • MHCLG— Home buying and selling reform roadmap, June 2026 (gov.uk)
  • Legal Futures— Instruction-to-completion timings; AI adoption in conveyancing, 2026 (legalfutures.co.uk)
  • HM Land Registry— Local Land Charges programme and digital transformation (gov.uk/land-registry)
  • Quick Move Now— Fall-through rate tracker, 2026

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Frequently asked questions

Are house sales taking longer than they used to?

Considerably. The average time from instruction to completion rose to 123 days in 2025, an 18% increase since 2019, and the government's reform roadmap puts the average transaction at around 120 days — roughly 60% longer than in 2007. This is despite substantial investment in conveyancing technology over the same period.

Why are conveyancing times getting worse?

Several pressures compound. Transactions are more complex — more leasehold, more building safety documentation since Grenfell, more stringent lending criteria, more demanding anti-money-laundering requirements. Local authority search times have not improved. And the fundamental sequencing has not changed: information is still gathered after the commitment rather than before it, so every complication lands mid-transaction when it is most expensive to resolve.

Has technology not made conveyancing faster?

It has made conveyancing firms faster without making transactions faster. Eight in ten firms now use AI, double the 2024 figure, and firms report real savings on title review and enquiry drafting. But the solicitor's active working time is a small share of the calendar. Most of a transaction is waiting for councils, freeholders, lenders and other parties, and no amount of firm-side efficiency touches that.

Will the 2026 reforms fix this?

They attack the right thing. Requiring a sales pack before listing moves searches, condition information and title work off the critical path entirely, which is the only structural fix available. Binding conditional contracts would reduce the discretionary withdrawals that force restarts. Both need primary legislation with no commencement date, so the improvement is years out.

Does a slower market mean faster conveyancing?

Not reliably. Fewer transactions can ease pressure on search teams and conveyancing capacity, which helps at the margin. But slower markets also bring more price renegotiation, more nervous buyers and more chains that take longer to align. Transaction volumes fell during 2026 while completion times stayed poor, which suggests volume is not the binding constraint.

What can I do about it as an individual seller?

Adopt the reform sequencing voluntarily. Instruct a conveyancer before you list, order searches upfront, complete your property forms early and get your title checked. That removes roughly eight weeks from a conventional timeline without waiting for anyone to legislate, and it is available today. The sector average will keep getting worse; your own transaction does not have to follow it.

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