Online conveyancing is residential conveyancing handled entirely over the internet, with no need to visit a solicitor’s office. The case file, ID verification, document signing, payments and updates all happen through a secure online portal and app. Fletcher Longstaff handles every type of residential transaction this way across England and Wales, from first homes and remortgages to chain sales and new build purchases.
What online conveyancing actually means
A few years ago, conveyancing meant printed forms, posted contracts, witnessed signatures in person and trips to your solicitor’s office to drop off ID. Most of that is gone. Modern residential conveyancing is genuinely digital end to end. Photo ID is verified through your phone camera. Contracts and statements are signed electronically. Searches come back as PDFs. Your case file lives in a portal you can open at 2am from your sofa.
What hasn’t changed is the law. Online conveyancing is the same legal work as traditional conveyancing, done by the same regulated professionals under the same rules. The Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) regulates us, and the work meets the same standards your mortgage lender expects whether you walked into a high street office or instructed us from your phone. The difference is in how it’s delivered.
How our process works
When you instruct us, you get login details for our case tracking portal and our InTouch app. Everything happens through these:
- ID verification through your phone in under 5 minutes
- All forms completed online with smart fields that won’t let you submit something incomplete
- Electronic signing for contracts, statements and the transfer deed
- Real-time case updates as each milestone is reached, including searches returned, enquiries raised, contracts received and exchange confirmed
- Direct email contact with your dedicated case handler, who you can also call if you prefer
- Secure payment portal for your deposit and fees, with anti-fraud checks on every transfer
You’re assigned one case handler for the whole transaction. Not a team of strangers, not a different person each time you call. The same name from instruction to completion.
What about complex cases?
A common worry is that online conveyancing is fine for simple transactions but falls apart on anything tricky. It doesn’t. We handle:
- Leasehold flats with management packs, service charges, ground rent and lease extension queries
- New build purchases with reservation agreements, snagging, Help to Buy and CIL liabilities
- Properties with shared ownership, restrictive covenants or right to buy
- Chain transactions where timing across multiple parties matters
- Properties in unregistered land, with private water supplies, septic tanks or boundary disputes
- Transfers of equity following divorce, inheritance or buying out a partner
The digital tools speed up the predictable parts of a transaction, which leaves more of your case handler’s time for the parts that need human judgement.
Fixed fees and no completion, no fee
You get a fixed quote up front. The price you see at quote stage is the price you pay on completion. The quote breaks down our legal fee, the search costs, Land Registry fees, anti-fraud checks, and any lender or leasehold add-ons relevant to your property. No hidden charges, no “additional work” fees added later.
If your sale or purchase falls through, you don’t pay our legal fee. You’ll still owe for any searches we’ve ordered through third parties (because we’ve already paid for those on your behalf) but the legal fee itself is waived.
How online conveyancing speeds things up
A typical residential purchase in England and Wales takes 12 to 16 weeks from offer to completion. Our average is faster, mainly because the friction points in traditional conveyancing are exactly what digital tools fix:
- No waiting for forms to arrive by post and be returned
- No appointments needed to sign documents
- No couriering of identity documents back and forth
- Enquiries between solicitors handled through case management systems that integrate with other firms
- Search results delivered electronically the moment they’re returned by the local authority
- Same-day responses where the traditional model meant 2-3 day post turnaround
The biggest delays in conveyancing are usually waiting for someone else (the local authority, the management company, the seller’s solicitor). Those won’t go away with any conveyancer. But the parts that depend on your conveyancer being responsive and organised do speed up when the whole operation runs digitally.
Is it secure?
A genuine question worth taking seriously. Property fraud has risen sharply over the last decade, and large sums move during completion. Our security measures:
- All client funds held in a regulated client account with full CLC protection
- Biometric ID verification at the start of the case to confirm you are who you say you are
- End-to-end encryption on all messages and documents
- Staff trained in fraud detection, with specific protocols if bank details change mid-case (we will never accept new bank details by email alone)
If you receive an email from anyone claiming our bank details have changed, ring us before you do anything. Our number is at the top of every page. Bank details should never change mid-case, and if they appear to, that’s a fraud red flag every time.
Who we are
Fletcher Longstaff is a residential conveyancing firm based in Lincoln, regulated by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC). Our CLC number is verified at the bottom of every page on this site. We’re on the conveyancing panel for every major UK mortgage lender, plus most of the smaller building societies and specialist lenders. We handle transactions across England and Wales, including Welsh Land Transaction Tax for properties west of the border.
We’re rated 5 stars on Trustpilot by over 1,200 clients, won the 2026 Clio Modern Law Awards Client Care category (0-100 employees), and were named “Best for Property Law” at the 2025 Business Awards UK. Our team is 100% UK-based.
Frequently asked questions
Is online conveyancing as good as a local solicitor?
For residential conveyancing, yes. The work is the same legally regulated process either way. Local solicitors sometimes claim local knowledge gives them an edge, but the things that genuinely require local knowledge (local authority search results, boundary issues, council planning history) come back as documents that any qualified conveyancer can interpret. What matters more is whether your conveyancer is responsive, on your lender’s panel, and properly resourced. None of those are about geography.
Do I have to meet my conveyancer in person?
No. Everything from identity verification to contract signing is handled online. If you’d like to speak to your case handler by phone, you can. Many clients complete entirely through email. Others prefer regular calls. We work to your preference.
How do I sign contracts without being in the office?
We use legally binding electronic signatures (e-signatures), which have been valid in England and Wales for property transactions since 2020. You sign through a secure link sent to your phone or computer, typically by typing your name and confirming with a code. The signed document is timestamped and stored in your case file. It’s faster and more secure than the old wet ink method, and it has the same legal effect.
What if I want to talk to someone, not just email?
You can call your case handler directly. Their phone number is in your portal from day one. We also offer free booked calls twice daily during the working week if you want a scheduled update rather than catching them ad hoc.
Can you handle leasehold flats?
Yes. Leasehold conveyancing involves reviewing the lease, raising enquiries about service charges, ground rent, management company arrangements, lease length and any restrictive covenants. We handle this exactly the same online as we would in person, often faster because management packs come through digitally and the enquiries process moves quicker through case management software.
What about Welsh properties?
We’re qualified to handle conveyancing in both England and Wales, including Welsh Land Transaction Tax calculations and any bilingual documents required for properties in Welsh-speaking areas.
Are you on my mortgage lender’s panel?
Probably yes. We’re on the panel for every major UK lender (Halifax, Nationwide, NatWest, Santander, Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds, TSB, Virgin Money), plus most of the bigger building societies and specialist lenders. If you’re not sure, send us your lender’s name when you get a quote and we’ll confirm before you instruct.
How long does online conveyancing take?
The same 12 to 16 weeks as any residential conveyancing, with some transactions completing faster. The main timeline drivers are factors outside your conveyancer’s control: chain length, local authority search turnaround times, mortgage offer issuance and any leasehold management pack delays. Where your conveyancer affects timing, online conveyancing is usually quicker because the response and document handling parts move at digital speed rather than postal speed.
How do I get a quote?
Use our online quote tool, which gives you a fixed quote with full cost breakdown in under 2 minutes. You provide the property address, sale price (or purchase price), and your mortgage lender. The quote covers everything: our legal fee, searches, Land Registry fees, anti-fraud checks and any lender or leasehold add-ons. No phone call required, no email follow-up unless you want one.
Ready to start?
Get an instant online conveyancing quote, no email or phone number required to see the price. If you want to proceed, you can instruct us through the same form.
