You’ve accepted an offer.
Fantastic. 🎉
The estate agent phones with the good news, everybody gets excited and then somebody says:
“Great. We’ll send the Memorandum of Sale.”
Excellent.
What on earth is that?
And more importantly…
What happens now?
For many buyers and sellers, this is the point where moving home suddenly becomes a world of solicitors, searches, surveys, mortgages, enquiries, chains, exchange and completion.
So let’s make it considerably less mysterious.
First things first: your property isn’t legally sold yet
Once an offer has been accepted, the property will normally be described as Sold Subject to Contract — SSTC.
That means a price has been agreed between buyer and seller, but in England and Wales the transaction is generally not legally binding until contracts are exchanged.
There is still work to do.
Quite a lot of it, actually.
And this is where good preparation and good sales progression can make an enormous difference.
What is a Memorandum of Sale?
This is essentially the document that gets everybody introduced.
It will usually confirm details including the property, agreed sale price, buyer and seller and their respective conveyancers.
Once that's issued, the legal process can properly get underway.
Your estate agent doesn't do the conveyancing — that's your solicitor or licensed conveyancer's job — but the agent should remain very much involved in helping the transaction move forward.
We'll come back to that.
Because putting up a SOLD board and disappearing isn't really our idea of sales progression.
The seller's solicitor starts preparing the legal paperwork
The seller's conveyancer will usually obtain the title information and prepare the contract documentation.
The seller will also have forms and information to provide about the property.
And this is where something very unglamorous can save a surprising amount of time:
Paperwork.
Had an extension?
Changed the windows?
Installed a boiler?
Altered the electrics?
Got solar panels?
Live in a leasehold property?
Have a management company?
Made arrangements concerning access or boundaries?
Find the paperwork before somebody asks for it.
Not every property will have every document and missing paperwork doesn't automatically mean disaster.
But discovering an issue early gives everybody far more opportunity to deal with it.
Preparation before marketing can make the transaction after the sale considerably easier.
Choosing your conveyancer matters more than you might think
One decision we'd encourage buyers and sellers not to make purely on price is choosing their solicitor or licensed conveyancer.
Conveyancing can look very similar when you're comparing quotes.
It isn't.
Some firms operate extremely high-volume models, often at very attractive prices. A low fee doesn't automatically mean poor service — and a higher fee certainly doesn't guarantee excellent service — but who will actually handle your transaction, their experience and how accessible they are when something needs dealing with can make an enormous difference to your move.
Ask questions before you instruct.
Who will be responsible for my file?
Will I have a named conveyancer?
What experience do they have?
How many transactions are they personally handling?
Can I speak to them when I need to?
Who covers their work if they're away?
And read the reviews — particularly the ones that talk about communication and what happened when a transaction became complicated, rather than simply how quickly somebody received their initial quote.
Because the cheapest conveyancing quote can become very expensive if months later you're frustrated with the service, the transaction is struggling and you decide you have no alternative but to change firms.
And you don't have to use the estate agent's recommended solicitor
Your estate agent may recommend a solicitor or conveyancing company.
That recommendation may be excellent.
But ask another question:
“Does the agent receive a referral fee if I use them?”
Estate agents can receive referral fees from conveyancing providers, and where applicable these arrangements should be disclosed transparently.
A referral fee doesn't automatically make the recommendation a bad one. There are some excellent professional relationships between estate agents and conveyancers.
But the referral fee shouldn't be the reason you choose the lawyer who will handle one of the biggest financial transactions of your life.
You are entitled to make your own choice.
So speak to the recommended firm. Speak to another one if you want to. Compare more than the headline fee. Look at reviews. Ask about caseload and communication. Find out who will actually handle your transaction.
And ask your estate agent why they're recommending that particular firm.
A good answer should be about service, expertise, communication and confidence in the people doing the work — not simply the existence of a commercial arrangement.
Our view?
We'd rather see somebody instruct a conveyancer who combines excellent customer service with genuine conveyancing expertise than choose solely because a quote was £100 cheaper.
Property transactions don't always run perfectly.
When something unexpected appears in the title, searches, survey, lease or chain, that's when the quality of the people around you really starts to matter.
Choose the professional, not simply the price.
And if you're unsure what questions to ask before instructing somebody, ask us.
We'll explain what we'd look for — and we'll always tell you if a recommendation involves a referral arrangement.
The buyer gets the mortgage moving
If the buyer needs a mortgage, their application progresses with the lender.
The lender may arrange a mortgage valuation.
And here's an important distinction:
A mortgage valuation isn't the same thing as a buyer's survey.
The lender is primarily considering the property in connection with its lending decision.
A buyer may separately choose to commission an appropriate survey for more detailed information about the condition of the property.
They're different things, for different purposes.
Searches begin
The buyer's conveyancer will normally order the relevant searches.
Depending on the property and location, these can provide information relating to matters such as the local authority, water and drainage and environmental issues.
Searches aren't somebody trying to find something wrong with your house.
They're part of the buyer's conveyancer investigating the property their client intends to purchase.
Which brings us neatly to…
Enquiries
Ah.
Enquiries.
A word capable of causing unnecessary panic in sellers everywhere. 😂
The buyer's solicitor reviews the legal documentation, title and search results and raises questions where further information or clarification is required.
Some may be straightforward.
Others may involve third parties — perhaps a management company, freeholder, local authority or another organisation.
An enquiry doesn't necessarily mean something is wrong.
Sometimes the solicitor simply needs evidence or clarification before advising their client.
And this is one reason two apparently similar transactions can move at completely different speeds.
“But my friend's house completed in eight weeks…”
Possibly.
That doesn't mean yours will.
Every transaction has its own moving parts.
One buyer may be cash.
Another may require a mortgage.
One property may be freehold.
Another leasehold.
One seller may have all their documentation ready.
Another may be waiting for information from a third party.
One transaction may have no chain.
Another might have six properties connected together.
So while timescales matter, comparing your move with somebody else's can sometimes create more anxiety than useful information.
We'd rather tell you what is happening in your transaction and what we're waiting for next.
This is where the estate agent should still be working
Finding the buyer is only part of the job.
Once the sale is agreed, somebody needs to understand what's happening throughout the chain.
A good estate agent should be communicating with the people involved, monitoring progress and helping identify where something has stalled.
That might mean establishing whether:
the mortgage is progressing,
the survey has happened,
searches are back,
enquiries are outstanding,
a solicitor is waiting for information,
or another property further down the chain is holding everybody up.
The agent cannot provide legal advice or do the solicitor's work.
But they can communicate, coordinate and progress.
And that distinction matters.
What exactly is a property chain?
Imagine:
You are selling your house to Sarah.
Sarah is selling hers to James.
James is selling his to Priya.
Priya is buying an empty property.
That's a chain.
Your transaction might be progressing beautifully — but if James's buyer suddenly has a mortgage problem, it can affect everybody else.
This is why understanding the whole chain matters.
You're not always waiting for your solicitor.
Sometimes you're waiting for somebody you've never met, three houses away.
Welcome to property. 😂
What is exchange of contracts?
Exchange is the major legal milestone.
Before exchange, the conveyancers will work to ensure their clients are ready to proceed, mortgage arrangements are in place where applicable and the necessary legal work has been dealt with.
The parties then agree a completion date and contracts are exchanged.
At that point, the transaction becomes legally binding.
That is a very different moment from accepting the offer.
Which is why we never treat SSTC as the finish line.
And completion?
This is the day everybody has been waiting for.
The purchase money is transferred through the solicitors and, once the seller's solicitor confirms receipt and authorises release of the keys:
the buyer gets their new home. 🏡
Removal vans move.
Keys change hands.
Kettles disappear into inexplicably labelled boxes.
And somebody inevitably discovers they've packed the phone charger.
But legally and practically, this is the moment the transaction completes.
So how long does all of this take?
The answer nobody likes:
It depends.
We'd much rather say that than give somebody a beautifully reassuring timescale that bears no relationship to their particular transaction.
What we can do is understand where the transaction is, what has happened, what needs to happen next and whether something needs chasing.
Sometimes the update genuinely is:
“Nothing has changed since Tuesday, but this is exactly what we're waiting for.”
That's still an update.
Silence isn't.
Five things that can help your move
You can't control every part of a property transaction.
But you can make your own part easier.
Get paperwork together early. Instruct your conveyancer promptly. Respond to requests as quickly as you reasonably can. Tell the relevant people if something changes. And if you don't understand something:
ask.
There are no prizes for pretending you know what an acronym means.
Property professionals use them every day.
Most people move home only a handful of times in their lives.
We're supposed to explain them.
And this is where i-Link and AVA come in
We've talked a lot about communication throughout this article.
There's a reason for that.
One of the most frustrating parts of moving home can be not knowing what's happening.
Has the mortgage valuation happened?
Are the searches back?
What are enquiries?
Who are we waiting for?
Should I be doing something?
And sometimes the most worrying question of all:
“Why haven't I heard anything?”
It's one of the reasons i-Link was created.
i-Link is designed to help connect the different stages and people involved in a property transaction, making the journey from sale agreed through to completion easier to understand and more transparent.
And alongside that sits AVA — our AI Property Assistant.
AVA is there to help buyers and sellers understand what's happening throughout their move, answer questions and explain the property process in plain English.
So if it's 9 o'clock at night and you've suddenly remembered something you meant to ask us earlier, you don't necessarily have to sit worrying about it until morning.
AVA can help.
But there's an important distinction.
Technology shouldn't replace people. It should make the people better informed.
AVA isn't your solicitor.
She doesn't replace legal advice.
And i-Link isn't designed to remove the professionals from a property transaction.
Quite the opposite.
The aim is to make communication clearer, help people understand where they are in the process and allow the professionals involved in the move to work with better information.
When something needs Amanda, Aiden, your conveyancer, mortgage adviser or another professional, that's where the human comes in.
Because we don't believe the future of estate agency is choosing between brilliant technology and brilliant personal service.
We think you should have both.
A sale needs looking after
This is perhaps the most important part.
Getting an offer is exciting.
But there's still a journey between:
“We accept.”
and:
“Here are your keys.”
That journey involves buyers, sellers, estate agents, conveyancers, lenders, surveyors, search providers and sometimes several other households in a chain.
When everybody understands what's happening, moving home feels considerably less frightening.
And when something does go wrong, early communication gives everyone a better opportunity to solve it.
Moving shouldn't feel like being kept in the dark.
Because a property isn't truly sold when somebody makes an offer.
It's sold when the keys change hands.
Buying or selling and confused about what happens next?
Talk to us.
Whether you're already moving or just trying to understand the process before you begin, we're always happy to explain what happens next in plain English.
No jargon for the sake of jargon.
No making you feel silly for asking.
Just sensible property advice and proper communication.
Amanda & Aiden Wright
Mother & Son · Co-Founders
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Ash & Acre · Family Run Estate Agents
Clarity. Confidence. Trust.
