How long does it take to sell a house in London

Getting an offer accepted used to feel like the hard part. These days, that is just the warm-up. Here is how long it really takes to sell a house in London in 2026, why it drags on, and how to speed things up.

Remember when you thought getting an offer accepted was the hard part? Oh, you sweet summer child.

The real challenge begins after the sale is agreed, when you vanish into the mysterious Bermuda Triangle known as conveyancing. New research from Rightmove shows just how long that wait has become. If you are buying or selling in London, you could be waiting around 174 days, almost six months, before you finally get the keys.

In that time, you could binge every series on Netflix, learn conversational Italian, grow your own tomatoes, and probably watch those tomatoes ripen before your solicitor replies. Let us explain what is going on, and more importantly, what you can do about it.

How Long Does It Take to Sell a House in London?

London is not just famous for Big Ben, sky-high coffee prices and tube delays. It is now officially Britain's slowest place to complete a property sale.

On average, it takes 174 days from agreeing a sale to actually moving in. Meanwhile, in the North East, buyers are already unpacking while Londoners are still waiting for "just one more document". Transactions there complete around 33 days quicker, which proves that somewhere in Britain, people are genuinely allowed to enjoy moving house.

Scotland is quietly winning

Then there is Scotland. While the rest of Britain chases paperwork, Scotland casually gets the job done in an average of just 98 days. How? Their system includes more upfront information, Home Reports and earlier legal certainty. As a result, buyers and sellers know where they stand much sooner. It is almost as if having everything organised from the start makes life easier. Revolutionary stuff.

Britain's property olympics

If house moves were an Olympic event, Clackmannanshire in Scotland would be on the podium, with transactions averaging just 76 days. Meanwhile, over in Slough, people wait around 229 days to complete. By that point, your mortgage broker has started checking in just to make sure you are still alive. Outside Scotland, North East Derbyshire earns a well-deserved medal at around 120 days.

Source: Rightmove research, 2026. Figures are averages from agreed sale to completion.

The Selling Timeline, Stage by Stage

Here is the bit that will make you put the kettle on. Finding a buyer is not actually the biggest hurdle anymore. In fact, the legal process afterwards takes more than twice as long.

Across Britain, Rightmove says sellers typically spend 62 days finding a buyer, then a further 154 days grinding through the legal process. That adds up to 216 days from listing to moving in. Seven months. You could train for a marathon, binge every season of a reality show, or very nearly grow a baby in less time.

So where does all that time actually go? Here is the journey broken down.

Notice where the time really goes. The stage between "sale agreed" and "exchange" is the long one. That is the conveyancing black hole, and it is where most of the waiting, chasing and inbox-refreshing happens.

Why Is Selling a House in London So Slow?

London faces a perfect storm of delays. It is not one single thing, but several piling up at once. Understanding them helps you dodge the ones you can control.

1. Overworked conveyancers

Conveyancers are busier than ever, and there simply are not enough of them to move every case quickly. As a result, files can sit waiting for attention. Nationally, completion times have grown by around 36 days since 2019, despite all the shiny new technology that was meant to speed things up.

2. Long property chains

A chain is only as fast as its slowest link. In London, chains are often long and fragile. Therefore, one nervous first-time buyer or one slow solicitor near the bottom can hold up everyone above them. When a chain wobbles, everyone waits.

3. More leasehold flats

London has far more flats than most of the country, and most flats are leasehold. Leasehold sales need extra paperwork from freeholders and managing agents, who are rarely in a hurry. More on that misery in a moment.

4. Higher values, more checks

London homes cost more, so lenders, surveyors and solicitors apply more scrutiny. Bigger mortgages mean stricter checks. Consequently, each step takes a little longer than it might elsewhere.

Why Do Flats and Leasehold Properties Take Longer?

Think you have it bad? If you are selling a flat, our thoughts are with you.

Flats currently take around 169 days to complete, compared with about 149 days for terraced and semi-detached homes. That gap is almost entirely down to leasehold paperwork, which has become Britain's least popular extreme sport.

Here is why leasehold slows everything down:

• The management pack. Sellers must request a pack of information from the freeholder or managing agent. These can take weeks to arrive and often cost a few hundred pounds.
• Service charge and ground rent details. Buyers' solicitors need statements, budgets and accounts, and they will raise questions on anything unclear.
• Extra enquiries. Lease length, major works, building safety and permissions all trigger more back-and-forth between solicitors.
• Slow third parties. Managing agents are not part of your sale and rarely treat it as urgent, so you are stuck waiting on their timetable.

Why Do These Delays Actually Matter?

Apart from causing perfectly reasonable adults to check their inbox every six minutes? Quite a lot, actually. The longer a transaction drags on, the more can go wrong.

Here is what long delays can trigger:

• Mortgage offers expiring. Most offers last three to six months. If completion slips past that, you may need to reapply, and rates may have changed.
• Chains collapsing. Rightmove found that around 23% of agreed sales initially fall through. The longer things drag, the higher that risk climbs.
• Rebooking removals. Slipped dates mean rebooking movers, often at short notice and a higher price.
• School and life plans wobbling. School places, work relocations and rental notice periods all depend on a completion date that keeps moving.

In short, time is the enemy of a property sale. The longer a deal stays open, the greater the chance that someone changes their mind, something expires, or a fresh problem pops up like a supermarket trolley with one dodgy wheel.

Is There Any Good News?

Thankfully, yes. Change is coming, even if it is not coming fast.

The government is planning reforms to modernise the home-buying process. The headline change is mandatory sales packs, sometimes called upfront information. These would give buyers key details much earlier, rather than dripping them out over months. In theory, this brings England and Wales a little closer to Scotland's faster, more upfront system.

Rightmove also believes better technology, improved information sharing and more transparency could shave weeks, or even months, off transaction times. Its own chief executive has called the current 154-day completion wait simply far too long.

None of this will help your sale next week. However, the direction of travel is finally the right one. Which means, eventually, less time emailing "just chasing for an update" and more time deciding where the sofa should go.

How Can You Speed Up Your House Sale?

Sadly, nobody has invented a FastPass for conveyancing just yet. However, there are genuine ways to save yourself weeks. Most delays come from waiting on paperwork and people, so getting ahead of both is the trick.

If you are selling

• Appoint your conveyancer early. Instruct them as soon as you go on the market, not after you accept an offer. This alone can save weeks.
• Get your paperwork ready first. Gather your title documents, EPC, guarantees, planning and building certificates before a buyer appears.
• Request the leasehold pack immediately. If it is a flat, order the management pack the day you accept an offer.
• Pick a proactive agent. A good agent chases the chain and the solicitors so you do not have to.

If you are buying

• Sort your mortgage first. Have your agreement in principle ready, ideally before you offer.
• Instruct a solicitor straight away. Do not wait a fortnight to choose one. Momentum matters.
• Reply fast. Whenever a form or question lands in your inbox, turn it around quickly. Every day you sit on it is a day added to your move.
• Stay reachable. A quick answer to your solicitor beats a perfect one that arrives a week later.

Frequently Asked Questions

Here are the questions buyers and sellers ask most. First, the timings. After that, the things that go wrong and how to avoid them.

Questions about timing

Questions about delays and problems

Questions about speeding things up