Moving House Timeline: Offer to Completion
See what normally happens next and where the big costs tend to appear. UK Moving Cost Index
1. Offer accepted
Confirm your solicitor or conveyancer, mortgage arrangements and chain details. Start collecting quotes for surveys and removals.
2. Legal work and mortgage
Your conveyancer handles searches, enquiries and contract paperwork while your lender completes valuation and underwriting. Arrange your survey separately if you want one.
3. Before exchange
Review the survey, enquiries, mortgage offer and final cash requirement. Your conveyancer will tell you when cleared funds are needed.
4. Exchange
Once contracts are exchanged the completion date is normally fixed and the transaction becomes legally binding. This is the point to firm up removals and practical arrangements.
5. Completion and moving day
Purchase money is transferred through the solicitors, keys are released and the move completes. Keep an accessible buffer for last-minute travel, cleaning and moving costs.
Bring the numbers together.
Take what you’ve learned here back to MoveBudget and see what you’ll actually need in the bank.
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