The speed at which draft contracts are issued are reliant upon the seller and the sooner the provide their complete protocol forms, the sooner the full contract pack can be issued. As a rule, this takes around 1 to 2 weeks, but can sometimes take much longer – which will slow down how quickly the transaction can get to Exchange contracts.

If there is a delay (longer than 1 to 2 weeks after the sales memo has been released) in the buyer’s solicitor receiving draft contracts this can often be related to the time it takes the seller to complete the legal property information forms and putting together the supporting documents. It could also be that the seller’s solicitor is very busy and is delayed in preparing the draft contract. The best advice is to ask the estate agent to chase the seller and their solicitor to find out when the draft contracts are going to be sent to the buyer’s solicitor – until the buyer’s solicitor receives these documents, they cannot raise formal legal enquiries.

The draft contract is the first contract your solicitor will draw up for your property transaction.

The reason it’s a ‘draft’ is because the sale is not legally binding until the exchange of contracts, which happens during the final stages of the process.

The draft, covers basic information about the prospective sale, such as the price, deposit, and any relevant details from the title deeds It’s different from the final contract because there are many more hurdles which could shape the eventual agreement.