The government said it hopes to halve the number of failed transactions, and to shave about four weeks off the average sale by improving information-sharing, transparency and security.
Housing secretary Steve Reed said: ‘Buying a home should be a dream, not a nightmare.’
Under the government’s ‘Home buying and selling reform’ consultation, published this week, vendors and estate agents would be required to publish upfront information from searches and surveys before listing. This would include leasehold terms, building safety data, flood risk data and planning consents.
More use would be made of digital tools, with the introduction of ID verification, digital property log books and standardised data sharing.
A code of practice and mandatory qualifications would be introduced for estate agents, and information on estate agents and conveyancers ‘including their track record and expertise’ would be made available.
Stephen Ward, director of strategy, Council for Licensed Conveyancers, said: ‘Property log books are a great tool that have been shown to greatly smooth and speed up the buying and selling process’.
Welcoming the proposals, Law Society vice-president Mark Evans said the conveyancing process could seem ‘slow and complicated.
‘It can also be confusing as to who should be doing what, and there is the risk of duplication of effort’.
Mark Chick, director of the Association of Leasehold Enfranchisement Practitioners, welcomed a proposal to improve the provision of leasehold sales information and protect sellers from unreasonable fees for requesting this information. However, he hoped ‘lessons from the past’ would be learned, referring to Home Improvement Packs—introduced in 2007 and discontinued three years later due to concerns the extra marketing costs deterred vendors.
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