The property industry has responded to the announcement that the government will launch a consultation on wide-ranging reforms to the home buying and selling process in England and Wales.
The government has pledged to address the current system that it believes is too often costly, time-consuming, and prone to collapse – leading to deep frustration, financial setbacks, and emotional strain for both buyers and sellers.
The use of new technologies will be essential for increasing housing market efficiency and reliability. Increased digitisation can improve record-keeping, accuracy, and security, while greater adoption of AI in conveyancing has the potential to speed up processes further.
The government also intends to separately consult on Material Information.
EYE NEWSFLASH: Estate agents face changes as part of government’s major home buying shake-up
Industry reaction:Â
Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark:
“Propertymark welcomes the UK government’s renewed commitment to reforming the home buying and selling process, with a clear focus on digitisation, transparency, and stronger consumer protection – all underpinned by mandatory professional qualifications for property agents.
“Embedding recognised standards is essential to raising professionalism, giving consumers greater confidence, and ensuring consistently higher levels of service.
“Equally, it is vital that reforms are evidence-based and informed by those who understand the realities of the sector on the ground. Agents work with buyers and sellers every day, and their experience will be crucial to ensure changes are practical, proportionate, and effective.”
Rightmove CEO Johan Svanstrom: “Our latest average data shows people are spending seven long and often painful months to move home. We welcome the announcement today aiming to drive forward that much needed change and modernisation. The development of technology means transformation is possible, with the right collaboration and considerate planning.
“The home-moving process involves many fragmented parts, and there’s simply too much uncertainty and costs along the way. Speed, connected data and stakeholder simplicity should be key goals. We believe it’s important to listen to agents as the experts for what practical changes will be most effective, and we look forward to working with the government on this effort to improve the buying and selling process.”
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RICS CEO Justin Young: “RICS have long supported reform of the home buying and selling process, which is too often stressful, costly, and brings uncertainty to buyers and sellers. The Government’s commitment to an industry consultation is a vital step forward, and RICS will brings its expertise to the table. By embedding transparency, professionalism, and innovation into the buying and selling process, we can help build a housing market that works better for everyone.”
Law Society vice-president Mark Evans: “The Law Society is committed to improving the home buying and selling experience for consumers, conveyancers and others involved in the conveyancing process,” he says.
“We know that many feel that the conveyancing process is slow and complicated. It can also be confusing as to who should be doing what, and there is the risk of duplication of effort. Information is often not available as quickly or as easily as it should be. Making the right reforms would help address all of these issues.
“Improving the conveyancing process for buyers and sellers and making it fit for the 21st Century involves making the appropriate changes to the whole system, not just one aspect of it. We are keen to work with our members, government and all those involved in the conveyancing market to make sure the right reforms are enacted.
“We support estate agents being regulated, more transparency in property chains and having conveyancers instructed as early as possible in the home buying and selling process.
“Better joined up technology can help facilitate home buying and selling but such systems must be accessible to all types of firms. A thriving conveyancing market is a diverse market.”
“We will seek views from our members as we consider the government’s proposals carefully.”
Jason Charles, head of events and education at Rightmove:
“The debate around mandatory qualifications for agents has been going for some time, and we support the move to consult on what could be put in place to help agents and home-movers. Back in 2022, we launched an official estate and letting agent qualification for agents on Rightmove to study towards at no extra cost to their Rightmove membership. This was in response to agents asking us to facilitate something that helps them get ahead of any mandatory legislation, and many agents have chosen to put their teams through it as a point of difference when attracting sellers and landlords.”
Nigel Walley, chair of the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA): “We welcome the MHCLG consultation on Home Buying & Selling reform and the proposals to put Digital Property Logbooks at the heart of every property transaction. In a world of open and interoperable data Logbooks will deliver clarity and security to homebuyers and will support Government proposals for complementary tools like Upfront Information Packs.
“Newbuilds make an obvious starting point to roll out Logbooks and we’ve seen this already happening across Europe. The UK already has a sophisticated market of different providers and a self-regulatory process that is providing reassurance to other industry players who are working with RLBA registered Logbook companies. We look forward to working with MHCLG to make these proposals a reality.”
Christian Balshen, director of agency partnerships at Rightmove:
“The expertise and effort of agents in navigating the requirements of all buyers and sellers in a chain can be in vain when it’s let down by an elongated legal process during which new and critical information can come to light. We welcome a consultation that could help to solve this. We worked for the past few years to help agents implement material info guidance, and scrapping the guidance hasn’t been helpful for them. We’ve been working with government to share the experiences of both agents and home-movers on what information might be helpful, and importantly how agents can collect the data in a consistent way or where there are challenges. We’ll continue to talk to agents and share their collective views with government.”
Roxanne Barker, CEO, Fix My Legals: “The home moving process has become utterly joyless. What should be an exciting milestone is instead a clunky, soulless, bureaucratic slog.
“Encouraging or requiring vendors to have legal packs ready at the point of listing would be transformative. It would protect buyers, speed up sales, and finally start dragging the process into the modern era.
“At Fix My Legals, we focus on the part we can influence – bringing empathy, teamwork and communication into a process that is otherwise cold, confusing and painfully slow. But let’s be honest, until there is a joined-up, digital-first system across the whole home moving journey, nothing will really change.
“Our plea to Steve Reed is – don’t tinker at the edges; don’t let this become another pile of consultations and white papers that go nowhere. Be bold and for heaven’s sake, drag the home-moving process into the modern world. Behind every transaction is a person or a family with hopes, stresses and dreams. They deserve better than what we’re giving them today.”
EYE NEWSFLASH: Estate agents face changes as part of government’s major home buying shake-up
Read the orginal article: https://propertyindustryeye.com/property-industry-responds-to-governments-home-buying-reform-plans/
