What Happens After Your Offer Is Accepted — and Why Most Buyers Get the Next Step Wrong
The First 48 Hours: Two Things That Cannot Wait
The moment your offer is accepted, two things need to happen. Not this week. Not once you feel more certain the deal will go ahead. Now.
1. Instruct a solicitor
Your solicitor or licensed conveyancer handles the legal side of the purchase — reviewing the contract, carrying out property searches, raising enquiries with the seller’s solicitor, and managing the transfer of ownership. The sooner they are instructed, the sooner the legal process starts.
If you are buying a leasehold property, make sure your solicitor has specific experience with leasehold transactions. There is additional legal work involved — reviewing the lease, obtaining management information from the managing agent, and investigating the service charge history — that not all conveyancers handle with equal speed or competence.
Your estate agent will almost certainly recommend a solicitor. You are not obliged to use them. The Law Society’s Find a Solicitor tool allows you to search for regulated conveyancers in your area.
2. Formalise your mortgage application
Contact your mortgage broker to convert your agreement in principle into a full mortgage application. The lender will arrange a valuation of the property — which is for their benefit, not yours, and is not a substitute for your own independent survey (more on this below). Get the full application moving immediately. Delays at the mortgage stage push everything else back.
The Survey: The Step Most Buyers Get Wrong
The lender’s mortgage valuation and your independent survey are two completely separate exercises. The mortgage valuation is carried out for the lender. Their valuer’s job is to confirm the property is worth at least what you are paying for it — adequate security for the loan. They are not assessing the building’s condition on your behalf, and in many cases the valuation is now a desktop exercise with no physical inspection at all.
Research from Legal & General Surveying Services published in January 2025 found that 24% of buyers who did not commission an independent survey believed the lender’s valuation was sufficient protection. It is not, and lenders have never claimed it is.
Which survey do you need?
RICS Level 2 Homebuyer Survey: A thorough, non-intrusive visual assessment of all accessible parts of the property, with condition ratings across every major element. The right choice for conventional properties in reasonable condition built from the 1930s onwards. Find out more about the Level 2 survey.
RICS Level 3 Building Survey: A more detailed assessment covering construction, materials, and condition in greater depth. The right choice for Victorian and Edwardian properties, anything that has been extended or significantly altered, or any property where you have structural concerns. Find out more about the Level 3 survey.
If you are unsure which level is right for your property, call and ask before you book. A good surveyor will tell you honestly.
What to do with the report
When the survey arrives, read it in full. Then call the surveyor and talk through the findings directly. The condition ratings in the report are a starting point. The surveyor who carried out the inspection can tell you what the amber-rated items mean for a property of that age and type, what the likely cost implications are, and what requires further specialist investigation.
Significant defects give you grounds to renegotiate the price, request the seller carries out remediation, commission specialist follow-up investigations, or withdraw from the purchase before exchange. You are not committed to anything until exchange of contracts.
Property Searches: What They Are and Why They Matter
Your solicitor commissions a set of searches against public records databases. These reveal information about the property and surrounding area that would not be visible from any physical inspection of the building.
Local authority search: Checks the council’s records for planning history, building regulation approvals, enforcement notices, tree preservation orders, road adoption status, and local land charges. This is where you find out whether that rear extension has formal building regulation sign-off.
Drainage and water search: Confirms how the property drains and whether any public sewer runs beneath or close to the property boundaries. Building over a public sewer without consent is a serious issue that affects development options and sometimes mortgage lending.
Environmental search: Checks for flood risk, contaminated land, ground stability, and proximity to sources of potential contamination. In parts of London, historical industrial use means contamination risk is a live consideration.
Search results typically take 2 to 6 weeks. Your solicitor cannot exchange contracts until all searches are back and any issues have been resolved.
The Legal Process: What Your Solicitor Is Doing
While the survey and searches are running in parallel, your solicitor is working through the legal title. The seller’s solicitor sends a contract pack containing the draft contract, title documents, a seller’s property information form, and a fittings and contents form. Your solicitor reviews these and raises formal written enquiries about anything that requires clarification.
Common areas of enquiry include planning and building regulation history for any works carried out to the property, boundary matters, any disputes with neighbouring owners, and anything flagged in the title documents.
For leasehold properties, there is considerably more legal work. Your solicitor will review the lease itself, request management information from the managing agent — service charge accounts for at least three years, buildings insurance, details of any planned major works, and the current sinking fund balance — and check for any breaches of the lease conditions. This takes time. Leasehold transactions consistently take longer than freehold, and chasing managing agents for information is one of the most common causes of delay.
The Eight Steps from Offer to Completion
- Offer accepted — instruct a solicitor and formalise your mortgage application within 48 hours.
- Book your independent RICS survey — immediately, in parallel with step 1. Do not wait.
- Lender arranges their valuation — separate from your survey, for the lender’s benefit only.
- Survey report received — read it, speak to the surveyor, act on the findings before spending more on searches.
- Searches instructed and returned — solicitor reviews and raises any further enquiries arising.
- Mortgage offer received — review the conditions with your broker and confirm you are satisfied.
- Exchange of contracts — both parties legally committed. Deposit paid (typically 10%). Completion date agreed.
- Completion — remaining funds transferred, keys released, ownership registered at HM Land Registry.
Steps 2, 3, 4, and 5 run in parallel, not in sequence. The biggest mistake buyers make is treating them as sequential — waiting for the mortgage offer before booking the survey, or waiting for searches before instructing a solicitor. Everything should be moving at once from day one.
Exchange vs Completion: The Distinction That Matters
Exchange of contracts is the point at which both buyer and seller are legally bound. The buyer pays a deposit — typically 10% of the purchase price — and a completion date is set. After exchange, pulling out means losing the deposit entirely. If the seller pulls out after exchange, they can be sued for the buyer’s losses.
Completion is the final step. The remaining purchase funds are transferred. Once confirmed, the keys are released. The solicitor then registers the transfer of ownership at HM Land Registry.
The gap between exchange and completion is agreed between the parties — it can be the same day or several weeks apart. In a chain, all parties exchange and complete simultaneously, which is why chains require coordination across multiple solicitors and can be held up by any single link.
What Can Go Wrong — and What to Do About It
The survey finds significant problems
This is not a reason to panic. Survey findings give you information and options. For Category 3 defects — structural movement, serious damp, drainage failure, major roof problems — you can renegotiate the price based on estimated remediation costs, request the seller carries out specific works before completion, commission specialist investigations and make your decision based on their findings, or withdraw before exchange of contracts. The key is using the information early. A buyer who books their survey immediately after offer acceptance has maximum time to respond to findings. A buyer who books it three weeks into the process is making decisions in a compressed timeframe with more money already spent.
The searches reveal an issue
Search results occasionally flag enforcement notices for unapproved works, public sewers running under the property, or environmental contamination flags. Your solicitor will advise on the implications. Some issues are resolved through indemnity insurance. Others require direct resolution before exchange. Very few are terminal to the transaction, but they do take time to address.
The mortgage valuation comes in below the agreed price
Lenders occasionally down-value properties — where their valuation comes back below the agreed purchase price, meaning they will only lend against the lower figure. This creates a gap between what the lender will advance and what you have agreed to pay. Your options are to make up the difference from savings, renegotiate the purchase price, or appeal the valuation with supporting comparable evidence. Your broker will advise on the realistic options for your specific situation.
The chain breaks
In a chain, any buyer or seller pulling out can collapse multiple transactions. What you can control is your own readiness. Buyers who have their survey done, their solicitor actively progressing enquiries, and their mortgage offer in place are in the strongest position to respond quickly to chain problems. Being the most-prepared link in the chain is the only meaningful protection available.
Price is the wrong filter. The meaningful differences between surveyors are not reflected in a fee comparison. Here is what actually matters:
Questions Worth Asking Before You Commit
Most buyers do not ask these. They should.
- Has the property been on the market before? Did a previous sale fall through and why?
- Is there a chain? How long is it and what is the current status at each link?
- Has the seller completed the property information form fully, including any disputes or notices?
- Have all alterations, extensions, and loft conversions been built under formal building regulation approval?
- For leasehold: what is the current annual service charge and has it increased significantly in the last three years?
- For leasehold: are there any planned major works and what is the current sinking fund balance?
- For leasehold: how many years are left on the lease, and has the seller considered extending before the sale?
Your solicitor will ask many of these formally through the enquiries process. Asking them yourself — through the agent or directly at a viewing — often gets faster and more candid answers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens immediately after your offer is accepted on a house?
How long does it take from offer accepted to completion in the UK?
Is the mortgage valuation the same as a house survey?
What is the difference between exchange and completion when buying a house?
Can I pull out after my offer has been accepted?
When should I book a survey when buying a house?
What are property searches when buying a house?
What happens if the survey finds problems with the house I want to buy?
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