The Housing Department has launched a plan to cut home payments by one month and save buyers over £700.
Labor has launched a home sale reform consultation that said “will accelerate the shorter housing market by reducing the number of sales failures, losing £1.5 billion in economic costs per year”.
It called the move “the largest restructuring of the home buying system in the country’s history.”
These recommendations will mean that sellers and real estate agents will be asked to provide buyers with information about the property, including the status of the property, the cost of the rental business, and the chain of those waiting to move.
The department added that binding contracts could also be introduced “stop people from leaving the agreement after buyers have worked hard for months to negotiate” to reduce collapsed deals.
It added that the plans could also include side-by-side information about real estate agents and transporters, including their trail and expertise, as well as a new mandatory code of qualifications and practice “raise standards and rebuild trust in the industry.”
The average time from guidance to completion is five months, but the department estimates that these reforms could speed up transactions for about four weeks and save buyers about £710.
The government said the complete roadmap of these changes will be released in the New Year as part of its broader housing strategy, which revolves around the construction of 1.5 million new homes for the next election.
The Ministry of Housing’s recommendations include:
- Sellers and real estate agents must publish information about searches and investigations before posting the property to be listed. This will enable buyers to see the property’s physical condition, characteristics and flood risk online
- The complete list covered by the proposed mandatory upfront information – term, council tax band, EPC rating, property type, legal and transaction information such as title information and seller ID verification, lease term, building safety data, standard search, standard search, property age and type of property status assessment
- The buyer and seller will have the option to sign a binding contract to end the practices of the parties exiting the agreement in the process
- More use of digital tools – including digital attribute logs, digital ID verification and standardized data sharing
- Mandatory qualifications and legacy, code of practice for making and managing agents
“Our reforms will repair broken systems so hardworking people can focus on the next chapter of their lives.”
But conservatives say the plans are similar to home information packages, which were proposed by the Labour Authority in England and Wales in 2007 and were then scrapped by the coalition government in 2010, calling them “expensive and unnecessary”.
“While we welcome the digitization of steps and speed up the process, this has the potential to reshape the home information package that failed the Labour government in the end, which reduces the number of homes sold and repeats the cost among buyers and sellers,” said Paul Holmes, a conservative shadow housing minister.
However, the homebuying industry widely welcomes many government plans.
Nationwide Group Mortgages Henry Jordan said: “Buying a home is often complex and stressful, which is why a simplified and simplified home buying process is needed to benefit consumers, brokers and lenders.
“But to effectively address this, we have to collaborate. That’s why we look forward to working closely with the government and the wider industry to modernize the home buying process so that buyers can be identified earlier and help reduce any unnecessary costs.”
Ben Thompson, deputy chief executive of the Mortgage Advisory Bureau, added: “These changes should reduce the number of transactions dropped, saving borrowers and our industry, including time and money.
“We specifically support actions towards standardized data and digitization, which can help make the transfer and mortgage processes more tight.
“We hope that the government will continue to work closely with lenders, brokers and legal professionals to make these reforms successful.”
But SPF private client CEO Mark Harris noted: “While we fully support measures to speed up the process of buying a house, these suggestions are largely overwhelming because they do not address the main issues.
“Lenders can produce mortgages in a short time frame, but this can really slow down the home buying and selling process, for example, local searches with severe delays in some areas.
“Building the 1.5 million new homes we need, speeding up the planning process, inspiring buyers and reforming stamp duty are key measures needed by the government to focus on really making a difference.”
