How does early lawyer instruction help?

Last updated: 8 September 2026

Instructing a conveyancer when a property is listed rather than when an offer is accepted moves the slowest parts of the transaction into time that is already being spent.  Searches, title review and the seller’s forms all run while the property is on the market instead of afterwards.  The transaction does not get shorter by working faster.  It gets shorter by starting sooner.

The arithmetic

A property spends roughly two and a half months finding a buyer.  Government puts the period from offer accepted to completion at around 120 days on average, and that is the part that has stretched.

During those first two and a half months, in the conventional sequence, no legal work happens at all.  The seller has a solicitor in mind and nothing else.  Then an offer arrives and a queue forms: instruct, verify identity, order searches, request the title, send out the forms, wait for the searches, wait for the forms, raise enquiries.

Almost none of that queue depends on knowing who the buyer is.

What can actually be done before an offer

The title can be obtained and read, and any defect found while there is time to deal with it rather than while a buyer is waiting.

Searches can be ordered, which for local authority searches is the single longest wait in many transactions.

The seller can complete the TA6, TA7 and TA10 while they are engaged and at home, rather than three weeks into a sale when they are mid-move and irritated.

Identity and source of funds checks can be done once, properly, at the start.  Government has said the information needed for anti-money laundering checks should be gathered once, at a high standard, at the earliest possible stage, and is supporting industry work to make those checks shareable rather than repeated by each party.

And for a leasehold property, the management pack can be requested at listing.  That single change removes the largest cause of delay in leasehold sales, because the pack comes from a third party under no obligation to hurry and the wait is the same whenever it starts.

The objection, and the honest answer

The obvious objection is cost.  A seller is being asked to spend money on legal work before they have a buyer, and some sales never find one.

That is a real point and it deserves a real answer rather than a slogan.  Most of the spend is on things that would have been bought anyway and do not expire quickly.  Searches have a defined life, which is why government has committed to defining how and when data such as search information needs refreshing.  And the alternative cost is not zero: a sale that collapses at week nine over something discoverable at week one has also cost the seller money, along with several months.

Government values fall-throughs at around £400 million a year to consumers, across a market where roughly one in three transactions fail.

What the reform roadmap does to this

It removes the choice.

The Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, published in June 2026, commits government to legislating for a sales pack to be prepared before a property is listed, including searches and a property condition report.  A pack prepared before listing is early instruction by definition.

The roadmap also assigns the work.  Sellers hold overall responsibility for the pack, with the relevant professionals responsible for their part, and it names conveyancers on legal and title information.  Ahead of legislation, government is working with industry to identify what can be provided upfront voluntarily now.

Frequently asked questions

When should a seller instruct a conveyancer?

At the point of listing rather than on accepting an offer.  That allows searches, title review and the seller’s forms to run while the property is being marketed.

Does early instruction actually speed up a sale?

It moves work that has to happen anyway into a period that is already elapsing.  Government identifies late and missing upfront information as a leading cause of delay, and its reforms require a pack to be prepared before listing.

What if the sale falls through after the work is done?

Most of the spend is on items that would have been required in any event and that have a defined life.  Government has committed to defining how and when search information needs refreshing.

What is the biggest cause of delay in a leasehold sale?

Waiting for the management pack from a freeholder or managing agent.  It is usually requested after an offer, and government intends to use powers in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 to cap both the fees and the turnaround times.

Start the file at listing

Everything a conveyancer does in the first three weeks of a sale can be done in the three weeks before it.

Get in touch to set your firm up, or see what a completed file looks like.

This article is general information and is not legal advice.