Can I Change Solicitor During a House Purchase?

Yes, you can change your conveyancing solicitor at any point during a house purchase or sale. There is no legal or contractual rule preventing you from switching once instructions have started. If you are reading this because your current solicitor has gone quiet, missed a promised deadline, or left you chasing updates for weeks on end, you are dealing with one of the most common frustrations in the property buying process. This guide sets out the practical reality of switching: the costs you are likely to face, how long the change takes, the step-by-step process to follow, and the point in your transaction where switching stops being sensible and starts being genuinely risky.

Your right to change solicitor exists throughout the conveyancing process, but how straightforward it is depends entirely on timing. Before exchange of contracts, switching is disruptive and will usually cost you somewhere between £500 and £1,500 in duplicated fees and lost time, but it is manageable and thousands of buyers do it every year without derailing their purchase. After exchange, you are bound by a legally binding contract with a fixed completion date, and switching solicitor at that stage carries a real risk of breaching the contract. The same right to switch applies whether you are buying or selling, though if you are selling you also need to think about how a change affects your buyer and anyone else in the chain, since your delay becomes their delay too.

Most people do not switch conveyancing solicitor on a whim. It typically follows weeks of frustration where the transaction seems to have stalled and nobody can explain why. Understanding which of these reasons applies to your situation helps you decide whether switching will actually solve the problem, or whether the same issue might resurface with a new firm if you do not address it directly first.

• Poor communication: Emails go unanswered for a week or more, phone calls are not returned, and you are left guessing at what stage your file has reached.
• Lack of progress updates: Weeks pass with searches, enquiries, or mortgage offer sign-off apparently stuck, with no proactive contact from your solicitor to explain the hold-up.
• Unexpected fee increases: Your solicitor asks for an additional £200 to £500 partway through, often citing complications that were not flagged at the outset.
• Loss of trust or confidence: Mistakes on paperwork, missed deadlines, or contradictory advice leave you unsure whether your interests are being properly protected.
• Firm closure or intervention: Around 30 to 40 conveyancing firms close or face regulatory intervention from the Solicitors Regulation Authority or Council for Licensed Conveyancers each year, sometimes with little warning to clients.

If more than one of these applies, especially firm closure, switching is often unavoidable rather than a choice.

Switching solicitor part-way through a purchase is disruptive and rarely free, so it is worth exhausting reasonable options with your current firm first. Most conveyancing firms have an internal complaints process that can resolve delays or communication problems within days rather than weeks, and using it costs you nothing extra. Only move to actually instructing a new solicitor if these steps genuinely fail to produce a response.

Escalate within the firm

Ask to speak to a senior partner, team leader, or the firm's complaints handler rather than continuing to chase the same case handler. Larger firms in particular often have a more experienced conveyancer who can review a stalled file and unstick it within a day or two.

Put your complaint in writing

Email rather than phone, so you create a paper trail with dates and specific concerns. Set out exactly what has gone wrong, what you expect to happen, and by when. This written record also matters later if you do need to escalate formally.

Set a clear deadline for response

Give the firm a specific, reasonable deadline, typically 3 to 5 working days, and say clearly what you will do if that deadline passes without a substantive response.

Contact the Legal Ombudsman if the firm does not resolve it

If your complaint is not resolved to your satisfaction within eight weeks, you can refer the matter to the Legal Ombudsman, the independent body that investigates complaints about solicitors and licensed conveyancers in England and Wales. You can also report serious concerns, such as suspected dishonesty or firm closure, to the Solicitors Regulation Authority or the Council for Licensed Conveyancers directly.

Cost is usually the deciding factor in whether switching makes sense. Your old solicitor is entitled to charge for work already completed, even if you are unhappy with the service, and your new solicitor will charge their full quoted fee for taking on the file rather than a reduced rate. On top of that, some searches and checks may need to be repeated because the new firm cannot simply rely on the previous solicitor's file.

• Fees owed to your old solicitor: Typically £300 to £800, depending on how much work was completed before you switched, covering time spent on searches, enquiries, and paperwork already done.
• New solicitor's fees: You pay the full quoted fee, usually £800 to £1,800, because the new firm is starting essentially from scratch on your file, reviewing everything the previous solicitor did.
• Duplicated disbursements: £250 to £400 if local authority searches, environmental checks, or other third-party reports need reordering, either because they have expired or because the new firm's process requires different providers.
• Total potential extra cost: £500 to £1,500 or more on top of what you had already budgeted for conveyancing fees, which is a significant hit if your budget was already tight.

If you instructed your original solicitor on a no sale no fee conveyancing deal, be aware that most of these arrangements only waive fees if the transaction itself collapses, not if you choose to leave voluntarily. You are also unlikely to get a refund on conveyancing disbursements already paid, such as search fees, even if you never complete the purchase with that firm.

Switching solicitor almost always adds weeks to your transaction, which matters if you are in a chain where other buyers and sellers are waiting on you. Understanding the realistic timeline helps you weigh the delay against the frustration of staying with a solicitor who is not performing.

• File transfer: 1 to 2 weeks, depending entirely on how cooperative your old solicitor is about releasing your file and paperwork. Some firms are prompt, others drag their feet, particularly if fees are outstanding.
• New solicitor review: A further 1 to 2 weeks while your new solicitor reads through the file, checks the title, and reviews any searches or enquiries already raised, since they cannot simply rely on the previous firm's work.
• Total realistic delay: 2 to 4 weeks in most cases, though this can stretch longer if your old solicitor is slow to release the file or if searches have expired and need repeating.

If you are part of a chain, this delay does not just affect you. Everyone else waiting to exchange or complete is affected too, which can create tension with your seller, buyer, or estate agent. Check our guide on how long does conveyancing take for a full breakdown of typical transaction timescales, so you can judge whether an extra month is a price worth paying.

Once you have decided switching is the right move, following a clear sequence keeps the process as smooth as possible and avoids adding unnecessary delay on top of what is already an unwelcome disruption.

1. Find and instruct a new solicitor: Before signing anything, check whether they sit on your mortgage lender's approved panel, since instructing a firm that is not on the panel adds further delay while your lender approves them separately. It is worth comparing whether a licensed conveyancer or solicitor suits your situation better, since both can handle a straightforward switch.
2. Sign a letter of authority: This document authorises your new solicitor to request your file and information directly from your old firm. Without it, your old solicitor cannot legally release your paperwork.
3. New solicitor requests the file: Your new firm writes to your old solicitor requesting the complete file, including searches, title information, and correspondence to date.
4. Settle any outstanding fees: Most firms will not release your file until fees for work already completed are paid in full, so budget for this cost before starting the switch.
5. New solicitor reviews the file: Expect this to take 1 to 2 weeks as they check the title, verify searches are still valid, and pick up outstanding enquiries from where your old solicitor left off.
6. Notify everyone involved: Tell your estate agent, mortgage lender, and the other party's solicitor immediately, since delays in communicating the change tend to cause confusion and further slow the transaction.

Throughout this process, keep copies of every email and document exchanged with both firms. If disputes arise later over fees or responsibility for delays, having your own paper trail protects you. Once your new solicitor is confirmed and up to speed, compare conveyancing quotes and check reviews through Money Saving Advisors to make sure you are not repeating the same mistakes with your next choice.

Everything changes once you reach exchange of contracts and completion day. Up to this point, switching solicitor is disruptive but recoverable. After exchange, you are bound by a legally binding contract with a fixed completion date, and the calculation shifts from inconvenience to genuine financial risk.

Exchange fixes both parties to complete on an agreed date, usually one to four weeks later. Bringing in a new solicitor at this stage means they have almost no time to get up to speed before completion is due, and any resulting delay is treated as a breach of contract, not a reasonable excuse.

• Losing your deposit: If you fail to complete on the agreed date, you risk losing your deposit, typically 10% of the purchase price, directly to the seller.
• Being sued for damages: The seller can pursue you for further financial losses caused by the delay, on top of the deposit, if completion is significantly late or does not happen at all.
• Limited practical benefit: A new solicitor cannot meaningfully speed up a process that is already contractually time-bound, so switching rarely solves anything at this stage.

The only real exception is your existing firm collapsing entirely, such as through insolvency or regulatory intervention, where you have no choice but to instruct a new solicitor urgently to protect completion.

Your mortgage lender has its own requirements about who can act on their behalf during your purchase, and this catches out plenty of buyers who switch solicitor without checking first.

Lenders maintain an approved panel of solicitors and licensed conveyancers they trust to handle their legal interests in a mortgage transaction. If your shortlist of best conveyancing solicitors includes a firm that is not on your lender's panel, the lender must separately approve them, or you will need to pay for the lender to instruct their own separate solicitor to protect their interest, adding both cost and delay. Checking panel membership takes minutes: call your lender directly or use their online panel checker before you sign anything with a new firm. It is one of the simplest ways to avoid an otherwise straightforward switch turning into a much longer delay.

Switching solicitor is your right at any stage before exchange, but it is rarely free and rarely fast. Weigh the £500 to £1,500 in likely extra cost and the 2 to 4 week delay against how much your current frustration is actually costing you, and try the escalation steps above before committing to a full switch. If you do decide to move, compare conveyancing quotes and check reviews through Money Saving Advisors to find a solicitor who will not leave you back in the same position months later.