Keyturn

First homes only · one fixed fee · one lawyer

Buying your first home, explained one week at a time

We are conveyancers who only act for first-time buyers. You get one named lawyer, one fixed fee agreed on day one, and a page you can check any evening that says where your purchase is and what it is waiting for.

See the five stages
A hand holding up a set of keys on a small house-shaped key ring in an open doorway.

The five stages

A typical purchase takes twelve to sixteen weeks from an accepted offer. Here is what happens in each stage, who is doing it, and what we need from you.

An empty room with pale wooden floors and a window looking out at a house and trees.

Weeks 1–2

We open the file and ask for the contract

You send ID and the agent's memorandum of sale; we ask the seller's lawyer for the draft contract and the property information forms. You will hear from us within one working day of your offer being accepted.

Waiting on: the seller's lawyer

A spacious empty living room with grey walls, a bay window and a front door.

Weeks 2–6

Searches, and reading everything

Local authority, water, drainage and environmental searches go off on day one. While they come back, we read the title, the lease if there is one, and every answer the seller gave. Anything odd, we ask about.

Waiting on: the council, usually

Three silver keys on a ring lying on a pale surface.

Weeks 6–9

The report on the property, in plain English

One document that tells you what you are buying: boundaries, rights of way, the lease terms, anything the searches found. We go through it with you on a call; nothing is signed until you understand it.

Waiting on: you, to read it

An empty room with grey walls, white skirting and a window, light wood floors.

Weeks 9–12

Mortgage offer, deposit, signing

Your lender sends us the mortgage offer, we check it against the property, you sign the contract and transfer the deposit. Then everyone in the chain agrees a completion date.

Waiting on: the lender, and the chain

An old metal key in a keyhole, its shadow falling on a coloured wall.

Exchange to completion

Exchange, and the day the keys move

Once contracts are exchanged the date is fixed and binding. On completion day the money moves in the morning; we ring you the minute the seller's lawyer confirms, and the agent releases the keys.

Waiting on: nobody, at last

An empty room with light green walls, a wooden floor and one window.

If it goes quiet

Every purchase has a fortnight when nothing seems to happen. These are the honest answers to the questions people ask in that fortnight.

Something is always happening
Your page shows what we are waiting for and since when. If it has been more than five working days, we have already chased, and the page says so.
The usual hold-up is the chain
Someone above or below you is waiting on their own buyer or lender. We cannot speed them up, but we can find out where they are and tell you.
Leasehold flats take longer
The managing agent has to answer a long list of questions and charges for it. Allow three extra weeks.
Do not book the van yet
Not until contracts are exchanged. Until then, any date is a hope, and moving firms charge for changes.
You can ring your lawyer
The same one, every time, on a direct number. If they are with another client, they ring back the same day.
If it falls through
You pay for the work done and the searches bought, never the full fee. On your next purchase, the first stage is free.
An empty room with white walls and a wooden floor, light falling from a window.
A hand holding up a bunch of house keys against a blurred room.

One fee, agreed on day one

Our fee is the same whether the purchase takes ten weeks or twenty. The other costs — searches, the Land Registry, stamp duty if any — are listed on the same page, so the total is never a surprise.

Freehold house or flat£1,150 + VAT

Leasehold flat£1,450 + VAT

Help to buy or shared ownership+ £250

Searchesabout £320, at cost

If it falls throughwork done only

Ask for a quote