Currently, one in three home sales fall through, costing vendors and purchasers about £400m per year, while sales can take about five months, according to the government. Moreover, information such as building controls and highways information is mainly paper-based or recorded in non-machine-readable formats. Where it is stored electronically, there are not established protocols for accessing, sharing and verifying the data, the government said. With a fully digitalised system, however, it claims information and identity checks would be immediate; for example, in Norway transactions complete in about one month.
The government announced this week it is drawing up plans for digital identity verification services including in the property sector. It has launched a 12-week project to identify a set of rules on sharing data between conveyancers, lenders and other parties involved in a transaction. The Land Registry will also lead ten-month pilots with a number of councils to identify the best approach to opening up more of their data and making it digital.
The proposed reforms will be complemented by leasehold reforms—secondary legislation for the ‘right to manage’ measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 was laid in Parliament this week and is due to come into force on 3 March.
Housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook said: ‘We are streamlining the cumbersome home buying process so that it is fit for the 21st century, helping homebuyers save money, gain time and reduce stress while also cutting the number of house sales that fall through.’
Law Society vice president Mark Evans said: ‘While not a silver bullet, because there are many other aspects of the home moving process that need improvement, digitalisation could be transformative in this work over time.’
