You pay your deposit ( or balance less booking deposit ) and sign contracts. Your solicitor then sends signed contracts to vendors solicitor with deposit. Vendor is then to sign and once he/she signs, a valid contract is in place and not before then, and one part contract is sent back to your solicitor. YOur solicitor has no control over when or if the vendor signs- so if there is a delay, you should contact the auctioneer. Once there is a valid contract, your solicitor will raise requisitions on title- a very long list of queries on title,which the vendor will answer through his/her solicitor.Once all is in order, your solicitor will arrange searches to be done for the closing date and will exchange the balance of purchase monies for the closing documents. In the interim, if you have a mortgage you should ensure that you have everything in place to allow loan cheque to be availalble to your solicitor on closing.