Arbitrage’s ten-step guide to buying property in London: finance and compliance, search, offer, exchange, completion and stamp duty, written for the buyer.
By Aldo Attanasio d’Aponte – September 9, 2026
The London buying process in ten steps
Buying a property in London is not complicated, but it is sequential, and most of the delay and stress I see comes from buyers doing the steps in the wrong order. Finance arranged after the offer, a solicitor instructed after the offer is accepted, a survey commissioned after the price has been agreed. Below is the order we work in at Arbitrage, from the first conversation to the day after completion. It is written for a buyer in prime central London but it applies to any purchase in England.
Step 1: Assemble the team before the search
Before you look at a single property, instruct a solicitor, arrange your finance and, if you intend to use one, appoint a buying agent. The solicitor should be a specialist in London residential conveyancing, ideally one who knows leasehold and the estates that own much of the centre. If you are borrowing, obtain an agreement in principle from your lender or, for larger sums, open the conversation with your private bank; a buyer with an offer letter from a bank is a different proposition to a seller than one who “will sort out the mortgage”.
I would put it more strongly. A purchase is one line on a wider balance sheet, and how it is financed, in which name and through which structure should be settled with your bank and tax adviser now, not renegotiated in the week before exchange.
Step 2: Prepare your compliance file
Every party in a UK transaction is obliged to verify who you are and where the money comes from: the estate agent before your offer is taken seriously, the solicitor on instruction, the lender on application. Assemble certified copies of your passport, proof of address, bank statements showing the funds and a clear explanation of their origin (sale of a business, sale of a property, inheritance, investment proceeds). International buyers should do this with particular care, because a delay in evidencing funds is the most common reason an overseas buyer loses a property to a domestic one.
Step 3: Define the brief
Most buyers arrive with a district and a number. Turn that into something sharper. What is the property for, how long will you hold it, who will use it, will you do works, what is the one thing you will not compromise on, and what is the true budget once stamp duty and costs are added? A precise brief shortens the search and, more importantly, stops you buying something that is nearly right.
Step 4: Search the whole market
The portals show a fraction of what is for sale in prime London and almost none of what is about to be. The best properties are offered privately, to buyers the selling agent trusts to perform, before or instead of being advertised. In our own acquisitions, 78% have been secured off-market. A buyer working alone should register with every relevant agency and make themselves known as serious and ready; a buyer with representation should expect to see properties that never appear online.
Being first through the door matters. A property seen before the open-market launch can be negotiated without competition; the same property seen at the launch weekend has ten other buyers in it.
Step 5: Make the offer
Offers in England are made to the seller’s agent and are not binding on either side. What makes an offer succeed is not only the number but the evidence behind it and the credibility of the buyer. We support every offer with comparable sales, a note on lease and condition, confirmation of finance and a proposed timetable, in writing. A well-argued offer below asking is taken seriously; an unsupported low offer is not, particularly in prime central London where most sellers can afford to wait. Our average purchase price is 12% below asking, and that figure is earned with evidence, not with bravado.
Step 6: Offer accepted, and now the real work
Acceptance changes nothing legally. Until contracts are exchanged the seller can accept a higher offer from someone else, and the buyer can walk away, without penalty. The period between acceptance and exchange, usually four to ten weeks, is where transactions are won or lost.
Your solicitor now investigates title, reviews the lease if there is one, raises enquiries with the seller’s solicitor and orders local authority and other searches. If you are borrowing, the lender instructs a valuation. And you should commission a survey: a homebuyer report for a modern flat in good order, a full building survey for a period house or anything unmodernised, and a specialist mechanical and electrical report for a property with a pool, lift or complex plant. Surveyors are paid to find fault and they will. The question is whether what they find changes the price, and a defect discovered now is a negotiation; the same defect discovered after exchange is your problem.
Someone must chase all of this. Solicitors, surveyors, managing agents and lenders each move at their own pace, and a purchase that nobody is driving drifts. That is a large part of what we do in this stage.
Step 7: Exchange contracts
When enquiries are answered, the survey is digested, the mortgage offer is issued and both sides have agreed a completion date, the solicitors exchange contracts. You pay a deposit, normally 10% of the price, and from that moment the transaction is legally binding on both sides. Withdrawal after exchange means losing the deposit and possibly more. Completion is usually set for one to four weeks later, though the two can happen on the same day where both parties are ready.
For a new-build bought off-plan the pattern differs: exchange may take place a year or more before completion, with staged payments in between.
Step 8: Between exchange and completion
Little can go wrong now and there is little to do except prepare. Arrange buildings insurance from exchange (you carry the risk from that date on a freehold), organise removals, utilities and broadband, and for a second home arrange management and access for the first weeks. If works are planned, this is when the architect and builder should be lined up, not after you have the keys.
Step 9: Completion
On the completion date your solicitor sends the balance of the purchase price to the seller’s solicitor, the seller’s solicitor confirms receipt, and the keys are released, usually by the agent around midday. The property is yours.
Step 10: After completion
Two obligations remain, and your solicitor handles both. Stamp duty land tax must be paid, and the return filed, within 14 days of completion. The transfer must be registered at HM Land Registry, which gives you the state-guaranteed title. Check that both have been done. Then, for most buyers, the property needs setting up: utilities in your name, council tax registered, insurance confirmed, and for a leasehold flat the managing agent notified so that service charge demands come to you.
Rates and figures correct at the time of writing; confirm the current position before relying on them.
How Arbitrage can help
We have run this process for buyers in prime central London since 2006, more than 500 times for private clients, and only ever from the buyer’s side of the table. We search the whole market, negotiate the price and drive the transaction from offer to completion, coordinating with your bank, tax advisers and solicitors so that nothing is done twice or in the wrong order. Our fee is a success fee on exchange, agreed in writing up front, with no retainer.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to buy a property in London?
From accepted offer to completion, allow three to four months for a typical purchase. Cash buyers with an experienced solicitor and a clean title can exchange within a few weeks; leasehold flats in complex buildings and chains take longer.
When do I pay the deposit?
On exchange of contracts, normally 10% of the purchase price. Before exchange you pay nothing to the seller, though you will have paid for your survey, searches and legal work in progress.
Can the seller pull out after accepting my offer?
Yes, without penalty, at any time before exchange of contracts. The best protection is speed and credibility: a buyer who is fully prepared and moves quickly gives the seller little reason to look elsewhere.
What is the difference between a valuation and a survey?
A valuation is done for the lender to confirm the property is adequate security for the loan. A survey is done for you to establish the condition of the building. They are not substitutes, and a buyer who relies on the valuation alone is uninsured against the roof.
When is stamp duty paid?
Within 14 days of completion. Your solicitor will calculate it, collect the money from you before completion and file the return. Confirm afterwards that the return was filed and the tax paid.