Accepting an Offer on Your House: What Happens Next?

Accepting an offer feels like a milestone -- and it is. But in England and Wales, the period between accepting an offer and exchanging contracts is where the real work happens, and where most sales that collapse actually fall apart. According to industry data from Propertymark, roughly one in three agreed sales fail to reach exchange.

Understanding what happens at each stage, what you need to provide, and where the common delays occur puts you in control. This guide walks through the full process from the seller's perspective, covering the legal steps, the practical actions, and the things you can do to keep the sale on track.

The immediate steps after accepting an offer

Once you verbally agree to an offer, several things happen in quick succession. Here is the typical sequence during the first week.

1. Your estate agent confirms the offer in writing

Your estate agent will confirm the agreed price and terms to both you and the buyer. They will take the property off the market (or mark it as "sold subject to contract", often abbreviated to SSTC) depending on your preference. Most agents recommend taking the listing off the market to signal commitment, though some sellers prefer to leave it live in case the buyer withdraws.

2. The memorandum of sale is issued

Your estate agent sends a memorandum of sale to you, the buyer, and both parties' solicitors. This document records the agreed sale price, the property address, and the contact details for everyone involved. It is not a contract and carries no legal force, but it formally opens the conveyancing process and gives both solicitors the information they need to make contact with each other.

3. You instruct a solicitor (if you have not already)

If you have not already instructed a solicitor or licensed conveyancer, now is the time. Your solicitor will handle the legal side of the sale, from preparing the draft contract to managing enquiries and coordinating exchange. Our guide on how to instruct a solicitor for selling explains exactly what this involves, including the documents you need and what to look for in a firm.

Ideally, you should have instructed your solicitor before listing the property. Sellers who do this can have their contract pack ready to send within days of accepting an offer, rather than waiting weeks for the solicitor to carry out AML checks, obtain title documents, and prepare the paperwork from scratch.

What your solicitor does after the offer is accepted

Once instructed and in receipt of the memorandum of sale, your solicitor begins a series of tasks that form the foundation of the conveyancing process.

Obtaining and reviewing title documents

Your solicitor obtains official copies of your title register and title plan from HM Land Registry (currently £7 per document). They review these for any issues that could delay the sale, such as outdated restrictions, charges from old mortgages that were never removed, or discrepancies between the title plan and the physical boundaries of the property.

Preparing the draft contract pack

The draft contract pack is the bundle of documents your solicitor sends to the buyer's solicitor. It typically includes:

• The draft contract itself, based on the Law Society's Standard Conditions of Sale
• Official copies of the title register and title plan
• The TA6 Property Information Form -- a detailed questionnaire about the property covering boundaries, disputes, services, planning, and environmental matters
• The TA10 Fittings and Contents Form -- listing what is included in the sale, excluded, or available for separate negotiation
• The TA7 Leasehold Information Form (if the property is leasehold)
• Supporting documents such as building regulation completion certificates, planning consents, guarantees, and warranties

The speed at which this pack is sent to the buyer's solicitor has a direct impact on the overall timeline. If your solicitor has to chase you for weeks to complete the TA6 form or gather missing certificates, those weeks are added to the total sale time.

What the buyer is doing at the same time

While your solicitor is preparing the contract pack, the buyer is progressing their own side of the transaction. Understanding what they are doing helps you anticipate where delays might come from.

Mortgage application and valuation

If the buyer is purchasing with a mortgage, they will submit a full mortgage application to their lender (assuming they already have an agreement in principle). The lender will instruct a surveyor to carry out a mortgage valuation -- a basic inspection to confirm the property is worth the amount being lent. This typically takes 1 to 3 weeks.

If the valuation comes back lower than the agreed price (known as a down-valuation), the buyer may ask you to reduce the sale price to match. This is one of the more common reasons house sales fall through, particularly in markets where prices are softening.

Survey

Many buyers commission a more detailed survey beyond the basic mortgage valuation. This might be a RICS HomeBuyer Report or a full structural (building) survey, depending on the age and condition of the property. Surveys can flag issues such as subsidence, damp, roof defects, or Japanese knotweed, any of which may prompt the buyer to renegotiate or withdraw.

Buyer's solicitor raises enquiries

Once the buyer's solicitor receives your contract pack, they review it and raise conveyancing enquiries -- questions about the property based on the information you have provided, the title documents, and the search results. This is where thorough preparation pays off. If your TA6 is complete and well-evidenced, there will be fewer enquiries and the process moves faster. If sections are left blank or answers are vague, expect multiple rounds of follow-up questions that can drag on for weeks.

Property searches: who orders them and how long they take

Property searches are one of the most common sources of delay in the conveyancing process. Traditionally, the buyer's solicitor orders these after the offer is accepted, but increasingly sellers are ordering them upfront to remove this bottleneck.

The local authority search is the biggest variable. Some London boroughs and rural councils take 4 to 6 weeks, while others return results in under a week. For a detailed look at what each search covers and how long it takes, see our guide on how long conveyancing takes.

If you ordered searches as part of your upfront preparation, these results can be shared with the buyer's solicitor immediately, potentially removing weeks from the process. While some buyer solicitors and lenders may insist on ordering their own searches, having a complete set ready demonstrates transparency and can satisfy many requirements.

A typical timeline from offer to exchange

The following timeline shows what happens at each stage of a typical sale, assuming the seller instructs a solicitor after accepting the offer (the most common scenario). Sellers who prepare upfront can compress the early stages significantly.

For a full breakdown of what happens after exchange, see our guide on what happens between exchange and completion.

How to keep the sale on track

The period between accepting an offer and exchanging contracts is when most sales are at risk. Here are the practical steps you can take to reduce delays and minimise the chance of a fall-through.

Respond to enquiries quickly

When the buyer's solicitor raises enquiries, your solicitor will forward them to you. Some questions can be answered by your solicitor directly, but many require information only you have -- details about works carried out on the property, boundary agreements with neighbours, or the history of a planning application. Aim to respond within 24 to 48 hours. Every day you leave an enquiry unanswered is a day added to the timeline.

Complete your TA6 form thoroughly

The TA6 Property Information Form is the single most common source of follow-up enquiries. Sections left blank, answered with "not known" when you do know, or filled in vaguely will trigger questions from the buyer's solicitor. Taking the time to answer every section fully and honestly -- attaching supporting documents where possible -- prevents this. Pine guides sellers through the TA6 form with plain-English explanations and prompts to gather the right evidence for each section.

Chase your buyer (politely)

You cannot control the buyer's side of the transaction, but you can stay informed. Ask your estate agent for regular updates on the buyer's mortgage application, survey, and solicitor progress. If the buyer's solicitor is slow to raise enquiries or the mortgage offer is delayed, a gentle chase through your agent can help keep things moving. Most estate agents will do this proactively, but it is worth confirming.

Keep your solicitor informed

If anything changes on your side -- a new planning application from a neighbour, a repair you are carrying out, or a change in your own onward plans -- let your solicitor know immediately. Surprises discovered late in the process are far more damaging than issues disclosed early.

What can go wrong (and how to handle it)

Not every sale runs smoothly. Understanding the most common problems helps you prepare for them and react quickly if they arise. Our guide on why house sales fall through covers these in full detail, but here is a summary of the issues most relevant to sellers at this stage.

Down-valuation

If the buyer's mortgage lender values the property below the agreed price, the lender will only offer a mortgage based on the lower figure. The buyer must then find the difference from their own funds, ask you to reduce the price, or withdraw. You are not obliged to reduce, but refusing may cost you the sale. In many cases, meeting in the middle is the pragmatic solution.

Survey issues

A survey revealing significant defects can prompt the buyer to renegotiate or pull out. The best defence is transparency: if you know about an issue, disclose it on the TA6 form upfront. Buyers are far more likely to proceed if they knew about a problem before making their offer than if they discover it in a survey and feel misled.

Chain problems

If you or the buyer are part of a chain, a delay or collapse anywhere in that chain can affect your sale. According to Zoopla, the average property chain in England and Wales involves 3 to 4 linked transactions, and each additional link increases both the timeline and the risk of collapse. You cannot eliminate chain risk, but you can minimise it by keeping your own side moving as quickly as possible and staying in close contact with your agent about the status of every link.

Buyer changes their mind

Because accepting an offer is not legally binding, buyers can and do withdraw for any reason before exchange. Common triggers include finding another property, personal circumstances changing, or simply losing confidence in the purchase. The longer the period between accepted offer and exchange, the greater the risk this happens -- which is why speed matters. Sellers who have their paperwork ready and respond promptly to enquiries give the buyer less time and less reason to walk away.

Exchange of contracts: what it means for you

Exchange of contracts is the moment the sale becomes legally binding. Both solicitors exchange signed copies of the contract over the phone using one of the Law Society's agreed formulas, a completion date is fixed, and the buyer pays a deposit (usually 10% of the purchase price) which is held by your solicitor.

After exchange, neither party can withdraw without facing serious financial consequences. If the buyer pulls out, you can keep their deposit and sue for damages. If you pull out, the buyer can recover their deposit and claim damages from you. In practice, exchanges are almost never reversed.

For everything that happens after this point, including moving preparations, the transfer deed, and completion day itself, see our guide on what happens between exchange and completion.

How upfront preparation changes the timeline

The timeline above assumes the seller starts the legal process after accepting an offer, which is the most common approach. But sellers who prepare upfront -- completing the TA6 and TA10 forms, ordering property searches, and instructing a solicitor before listing -- can dramatically compress the process.

Instead of weeks 1 to 4 being spent on AML checks, title reviews, form completion, and contract drafting, the full contract pack can be sent to the buyer's solicitor within days of the offer being accepted. Search results are already available. The buyer's solicitor can raise enquiries immediately, and many of their questions will already be answered by the thoroughness of the upfront paperwork.

This approach, sometimes called "seller-ready" or "upfront information", is the core of what Pine helps sellers do. By guiding you through the TA6 and TA10 forms, ordering searches at competitive rates, and assembling a solicitor-ready pack before your buyer arrives, Pine removes the most common post-offer delays and helps you reach exchange faster.

For a practical guide on starting your legal preparation early, see our guide on how to sell your house fast, which covers every lever you can pull to speed up the overall process.

Sources and further reading

• The Law Society -- Standard Conditions of Sale, Conveyancing Protocol, and property information form guidance (lawsociety.org.uk)
• HM Land Registry -- Title registration and official copy services (gov.uk/government/organisations/land-registry)
• Propertymark -- Market data on fall-through rates and estate agent best practice (propertymark.co.uk)
• RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) -- Survey standards and homebuyer report guidance (rics.org)
• Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) -- Transparency Rules, solicitor regulation, and AML requirements (sra.org.uk)
• Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) -- Regulation of licensed conveyancers and conveyancing standards (clc-uk.org)
• Zoopla -- House Price Index and average sale timeline data (zoopla.co.uk/house-prices)
• HomeOwners Alliance -- Independent consumer guidance on selling a property (hoa.org.uk)

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