Solicitors are SO slow
Things like this annoy me. I'm a solicitor in conveyancing and most people don't actually realise half of what it entails. It isn't just a case of getting your searches in and ordering your mortgage money in advance and bingo all sorted.
You have a complete title check to do, enquiries to raise on said title which include a lot of queries to do with the title you may not feel are relevant or understand but unfortunately are required by law to be clarified. Especially when there is a mortgage lender involved. We aren't just acting on your behalf, we are acting for your lender too and they have very strict requirements.
You aren't buying a pencil, it's the biggest transaction of most people's lives and we have to ensure that the property is mortgable from a title standpoint and also that you won't have any issues selling in the future.
Mortgage offers also take weeks to come in a lot of the time and quite often require amending due to mistakes, they aren't instant when your lender says they'll give you a mortgage.
If there is a management company involved with a flat it practically triples the paperwork involved.
@LoniceraJaponica Coal mining searches are usually one of the first searches to come back along with the environmental. It's usually local and water searches which are the slowest. Locals can take weeks dependant on the Council.
Add that to a caseload of over 150 files per solicitor and the job is actually a hell of a lot more stressful and demanding than people realise. My colleagues work through the weekend and stay in the office till 8pm just to get things through.
In answer to your question OP. Yes it's possible, but unlikely. Especially in a chain. If there were no chain, you were buying cash and wanted to waive searches I'd say it's perfectly doable. But on average 8-12 weeks is the norm.
Most solicitors I know these days do everything through email, except signed documents which are required by law to be hard copy originals.