Search Turnaround SLAs: What Conveyancers Should Actually Expect

You order a search. The confirmation says "5 to 10 working days". Ten days later you're chasing, the buyer's solicitor is chasing you, and nobody can tell you where the thing actually is.

That range isn't an SLA. It's a hedge. A real service level agreement tells you what to expect from a specific council, this week, and what happens when reality drifts off course.

Here's how to read one properly, and what to ask before you trust it.

What does a realistic search turnaround SLA look like?

A realistic SLA splits the work in two: the part your provider controls and the part the council controls. A well-run personal search firm returns its own element in 24 to 72 hours. The official council wait runs anywhere from 2 working days to 6 weeks, set entirely by the authority.

The mistake is treating those two things as one number. When a provider quotes you a single blanket range, they're blending a part they can commit to with a part nobody can promise — and hiding both behind a figure that protects them rather than informs you.

A good SLA is honest about the split. It says: we'll have our side done in two days, the council is currently running at about a week, so you're looking at roughly Thursday next week. That's a commitment you can actually plan a chain around.

Why is a vague turnaround range a red flag?

A vague range usually means the provider isn't tracking actual council times. "5 to 10 working days" is a number that's true often enough to defend and useless every single time. It tells you nothing about the council your property sits in, and that's the only council that matters to your file.

There are over 300 local authorities in England and Wales, each setting its own pace, with its own staffing, its own backlog and its own quirks. A figure that's meant to cover all of them at once can't be accurate for any of them.

So when you see a blanket range, ask yourself what it's standing in for. In my experience it's standing in for missing data. The firms that genuinely track turnaround don't need to hedge — they can name the council and give you a date. The ones that quote you a corridor of ten days are telling you, without meaning to, that they don't know.

A good provider commits to a per-area expected date. A vague one commits to a range wide enough to never be wrong. Only one of those is any use on a tight chain.

What should you ask a provider about turnaround?

Ask three things: how the expected date is set, whether it comes from tracked per-council data, and when they'll tell you if it slips. The answers separate a provider managing turnaround from one quietly hoping the council comes through on time.

How do you set the expected date? You want to hear that it's calculated from what's actually happening at that council, not from a published target the council has no obligation to hit. A council can advertise ten working days and run at four, or at twenty-five. The target is marketing. The actual is data.

Is it based on tracked per-council data? A firm recording real returns per authority can tell you that Preston is running at four days this month, or that a particular metropolitan council has slowed since losing staff. That's a meaningful answer. "Our standard turnaround" is not.

When do you tell me it's slipping? This is the one that matters most. You can live with a council being slow. You can't plan around finding out late.

"The solicitors I worked with weren't unreasonable about time. They understood councils vary. What they couldn't stand was not knowing. If something was going to be late, they wanted to hear it early, with a reason and a new date. The firms that called before they were asked kept the work. The ones that waited to be chased lost it."

— Valerie Bennett, Personal Search Veteran · June 2026

Controllable time versus council time — what's the difference?

The difference is who you can hold to account. A provider's own time is controllable: order intake, address matching, building the request correctly, checking the response, sending the report. The council wait is uncontrollable, set by the authority with no duty to meet any deadline.

A good SLA only commits firmly to the controllable part. Any firm promising you a hard date on the council element is either lucky, padding the number heavily, or about to disappoint you. What they should commit to is their own 24-to-72-hour window and an honest, data-led estimate for the council on top.

This is also where most avoidable delay hides. A request sent in the wrong format, missing the detail a particular council insists on, gets rejected or sits ignored — and the clock resets. That's controllable time lost, and it's the kind of slip a sharp provider never makes twice. When you read an SLA, you're really asking: does this firm control what it can control, and is it straight with me about what it can't?

The SLA worth signing

A good SLA is short on promises and long on honesty. It commits to the part the provider controls, gives you a real per-council estimate for the part it doesn't, and tells you early when something moves.

If you're choosing between providers, the tell is in how they answer the turnaround question. A date and a council name means they have the data. A ten-day range means they don't. You'll feel the difference on every chain that runs tight.

Want the fuller picture? Read personal vs official search for the hub, how long searches take for the timing detail, or see how Valio for solicitors tracks turnaround by council from live data.

Personal vs official search → · How long searches take → · Valio for solicitors →