What happens after you accept a cash offer?
Once you accept a cash offer, the legal process — conveyancing — takes over. With House Buyers Wales it typically runs 7 to 28 days because there’s no mortgage, no chain and no survey to renegotiate. Here’s exactly what happens, week by week, so there are no surprises.
We’re David and Jason. We’ve cash-bought hundreds of properties across South Wales, so this is the timeline as it really plays out, not the textbook version.
Day 1: solicitors instructed
As soon as you say yes, both sides instruct solicitors. You’ll need to provide ID (anti-money-laundering rules), confirm a few details about the property, and sign the solicitor’s terms. With us, the legal fees are covered — including yours — so you don’t get a bill when your sale completes to us.
Your solicitor orders the searches and sends out the contract pack.
Week 1-2: searches and enquiries
This is the part that sets the pace. Your solicitor applies for the local authority search (planning, roads, local issues), and where relevant the mining search (important across the South Wales valleys) and drainage search. Councils in South Wales typically return searches in about 1-4 weeks — we can expedite this process if you need faster completion.
Alongside that, the buyer’s solicitor raises enquiries — standard questions about the property. Because there’s no mortgage lender involved, there’s no separate valuation or lender conditions to satisfy.
Week 2-3: replies and the report on title
Your solicitor answers the enquiries and the buyer’s solicitor reviews everything — the title, the searches, the replies — and prepares a short report. If the title is clean and registered, this moves quickly. The usual hold-ups are things like unregistered land, a missing planning certificate, or a shared-access question — all solvable, just occasionally a week or two extra.
Week 3-4: exchange and completion
When both solicitors are satisfied, you exchange contracts — the legally binding moment — and set a completion date. Often exchange and completion happen on the same day or a few days apart. On completion day, the money is transferred to your solicitor, then to you, and the keys change hands. That’s it — sale completed.
What can make it faster or slower?
- Faster: a clean, registered title and a property that isn’t in probate — we’ve completed in 5 days this way.
- Slower: waiting on the Grant of Probate (the wait is the Government Probate Registry office, not us — we hold the offer ready), unregistered land needing Land Registry work, or a slow council search.
The key point: nothing here depends on a buyer’s mortgage being approved or a chain holding together — the two things that derail most open-market sales.
Want a free offer?
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Or call 02920 001331 to speak to David or Jason, not a commission salesperson.
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