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First-Time Buyer’s Conveyancing Checklist
The Home Panel
thehomepanel.co.uk
A FREE CONVEYANCING CHECKLIST
The first-time buyer’s conveyancing checklist.
Every stage of buying your first UK home. Tick things off as you go. Nothing missed, nothing forgotten.
01
Before you offer
Get your house in order before you fall in love with a property.
- Mortgage Agreement in Principle (AIP) secured with a broker or lender
- Deposit in an accessible account, not locked up in an ISA with a 30-day notice
- Three months of clean bank statements (no unexplained large transfers)
- ID ready: passport or driving licence + proof of address from the last three months
- Source-of-funds paperwork if deposit came from a gift, inheritance, or savings built up over years
- Full moving budget: deposit + SDLT + legal fees + survey + removals + contingency
02
When your offer is accepted
The clock starts. Fast is how you win.
- Instruct a conveyancer the same day (not the following week)
- Order an independent survey, your lender's valuation is NOT a survey
- Confirm the property is freehold or leasehold in writing
- Ask the estate agent for the Memorandum of Sale in writing
- Keep the AIP fresh, re-run it if your financial situation changes
- Put your own property on the market (if selling) the same week
03
First two weeks with your conveyancer
The prep phase, what's happening in the background.
- ID verification completed (through Credas or similar provider)
- Source-of-funds evidence uploaded and accepted
- Property information form and fittings & contents form received from seller
- Local authority, water, drainage searches ordered
- Title register and title plan received from HM Land Registry
- Lease document requested (if leasehold)
04
Leasehold, extra checks
Skip if you're buying freehold. Critical if you're not.
- Lease length confirmed, anything below 80 years is a red flag
- Ground rent: is it zero (new leases) or does it double periodically? (Ask for the rent review clause)
- Service charge: last three years of accounts + what they cover + any reserve fund contributions
- Who manages the building? Freeholder, managing agent, or RTM company?
- Any Section 20 notices for major works in the last three years (roof, lift, windows)?
- LPE1 form (Leasehold Property Enquiries) ordered by your solicitor
05
Before exchange of contracts
Everyone's ready. Both sides legally commit.
- Mortgage offer issued in writing (not just AIP)
- Report on title received from your solicitor and read
- Survey report read and any findings raised with seller
- Pre-contract enquiries all answered to your solicitor's satisfaction
- Completion date agreed with seller (and your onward chain, if any)
- Building insurance arranged to start on exchange day (you need it from exchange, not completion)
- Deposit (usually 10%) cleared into your solicitor's client account
06
Between exchange and completion
Usually 1 to 2 weeks, sometimes same-day.
- Final searches refreshed (bankruptcy, Land Registry priority)
- Completion statement from your solicitor, the exact amount you need to transfer
- Arrange removals
- Set up utilities / Council Tax at the new address
- Redirect mail with Royal Mail (3 months minimum, ideally 6)
- Take meter readings at your old property on the day you leave
07
Completion day
Keys day.
- Funds from your solicitor hit the seller's solicitor (usually late morning)
- Keys released to you once funds confirmed (usually 1 to 3pm)
- Walk through the property, fixtures, fittings, cleanliness match the contract
- Take meter readings at the new property the moment you arrive
- Photograph the property on arrival (condition evidence)
- Confirm completion has been registered by your solicitor
08
After completion
A few final loose ends in the first month.
- SDLT return filed by your solicitor within 14 days (automatic)
- Title transfer registered with HM Land Registry (can take weeks, that's normal)
- Update HMRC, DVLA, bank, employer, subscriptions with your new address
- If leasehold, notify the freeholder/managing agent of the transfer
- Keep all completion paperwork, title deeds, SDLT certificate, lease documents