The government has released its agenda for reforms to the home buying and selling process, which it says will cut delays, reduce and digitalise paperwork, and stop sales collapsing.
The reforms are centred around a major shift to digital processes, including digital property logbooks and sales packs to allow trusted information to be shared securely between professionals and accessed by buyers and sellers in real-time.
The government will also back digital identity checks, electronic signatures and AI-assisted conveyancing to eliminate duplication, reduce fraud risk and accelerate transactions.
“Together, these changes will create a modern, end-to-end system where people can track and progress their move more easily,” the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said in a statement announcing the reforms.
Sellers and estate agents will have to provide key information upfront in sales packs at the point of listing. This will set out a home’s condition, leasehold costs and chain status.
Binding conditional contracts will make a transaction legally binding much earlier – as soon as when the offer is accepted. They will be designed to secure each party’s commitment to progress and complete the transaction by setting out clear terms both sides agree to meet. If a party breaks these terms by withdrawing without valid reason or failing to meet their obligations, they face a financial penalty.
This “fundamental change to the process” will require further development to ensure effective delivery, with the government pledging to work with industry as it develops the legislation to set fair penalty levels, define clear exception clauses, and establish dispute resolution processes.
A new code of practice will raise standards for estate agents, alongside proposals for mandatory qualifications for the sector.
The changes will cut transaction times by around four weeks, the government says, and save first-time buyers an average of £650.
Prime minister Keir Starmer said: “Getting the keys to a home you can call your own is one of the biggest events in anyone’s life. But right now, the system that should provide support instead turns it into a battle, leaving people in limbo and putting that opportunity out of reach.
“We’re turning the page. Our reforms will bring this outdated process into the modern age, saving people time and money, and giving them the certainty they deserve.
“This is about building a stronger, fairer Britain, one that works for the next generation and makes the dream of home ownership a reality for many more hard-working people.”
Housing secretary Steve Reed said: “Buying or selling a home should be one of life’s great moments and not a drawn-out nightmare of delays, hidden costs, and failed deals.
“These changes will make the system faster, fairer, and more secure – giving families and first-time buyers the certainty they need all while saving them time and money.
Sheila Kumar, CEO of the Council of Licensed Conveyancers, said the organisation “strongly supports” the reforms as they will deliver better outcomes for consumers and professionals alike.
She added: “The CLC has a long history of championing innovation and modernisation in the legal services market, particularly where it improves the consumer experience, and we stand ready to play our part, working with licensed conveyancers to deliver these changes.
“It is now vital that all parts of the home buying and selling market – from estate agents and lenders to conveyancers, surveyors, managing agents and removal companies – work together to implement these reforms swiftly and effectively in the public interest.
“Most importantly, digitalised upfront information that can be shared with trust – especially when combined with reservation agreements – will greatly improve confidence in transactions and allow buyer and seller to agree a date for completion much earlier in the process than at present.
“This ‘speed to confidence’ is the great prize of the industry’s efforts over many years, and we are delighted that the government has recognised its importance through this roadmap. It has the potential to make home buying and selling simpler, faster and more certain, while helping to remove a major barrier to the efficient use of the nation’s housing stock.”
A full roadmap will be implemented to deliver the reforms, with the code of practice for estate agents implemented later this year, and a consultation on estate agent qualifications and expanded digital tools from 2027.
By the end of this parliament, comprehensive legislation will be introduced to require sales packs, binding contracts and digital systems that support the efficient sharing of trusted digital property information.
The phased approach will give the sector time to adapt while delivering improvements as quickly as possible, the government said.
Property industry and legal sector commentators were quick to welcome the reforms, with a unanimously positive reaction.
Paula Higgins, CEO of HomeOwners Alliance said: “Buying and selling a home remains one of life’s most stressful experiences, despite being the biggest financial transaction most people will ever make. These reforms have the potential to bring the process into the 21st century, but consumers have waited long enough for meaningful change.
“Providing more information upfront, raising standards and embracing digital solutions should reduce delays, fall-throughs, unnecessary costs and frustration. HomeOwners Alliance welcomes the government’s ambition, but ministers must now turn that ambition into action. We look forward to seeing a clear and detailed timetable for implementation, with firm milestones to ensure buyers and sellers feel the benefits as quickly as possible.”
CILEX president Sara Fowler said: “CILEX welcomes the government’s plans to reform the home buying and selling process and the clear recognition of the central role that conveyancing plays in delivering faster, more reliable transactions. The emphasis on upfront sales packs, digital property data and improved information sharing reflects key recommendations made across the sector to reduce duplication, streamline legal processes and enable conveyancing lawyers to progress matters more efficiently.
“We support measures to expand digital identity checks, electronic signatures and secure data sharing, which will help reduce delays, manage risk and deliver a better service to clients.”
Henry Jordan, Nationwide’s group director of mortgages, said: “Buying a home can often be a slow, complex and stressful process, so we welcome the government’s proposals. They are a major milestone in the efforts to simplify and streamline the homebuying process.
“Speeding up homebuying isn’t just about convenience – it’s about helping more people complete their purchases with less frustration and fewer surprises along the way. Giving buyers key information upfront, at the point a property is listed, has the potential to transform the process – reducing unnecessary delays and giving people greater confidence to move quickly.”
Nigel Walley is chair of the Residential Logbook Association (RLBA), which has long championed the role of regulated residential logbooks in residential property data. He said: “This is groundbreaking for homeowners.
“This is the first official UK government policy to specifically call for the roll-out of logbooks in the UK. Having every property transaction result in the creation of a logbook, created by conveyancers, will speed up national roll out and help support mandation of logbooks in other policy areas.”
Mike Ward, executive chair at Armalytix, said: “The government’s drive for home moving reform is the right approach and the MHCLG report is making it happen. Whilst the shift to digital has helped, pretty much every party in the home moving process is frustrated with it. But improvements to the process, from binding offers to earlier data gathering to shared AML and more, are starting to become reality. As these combine to speed the whole moving process, home movers and property professionals alike will see a real difference.”
Elizabeth Jarvis, divisional director of legal and search, Landmark Information Group, said: “For conveyancers, the biggest challenge is often that key information arrives too late. When issues relating to title, planning, leasehold arrangements or property condition only emerge after an offer has been accepted, delays become almost inevitable.
“The government’s focus on upfront information and digital property packs has the potential to change that. By bringing together more of the information needed to support a transaction at the outset, conveyancers can identify issues earlier, reduce unnecessary enquiries and help transactions progress more smoothly.
“If implemented effectively, these reforms could help shift the process from one that is often reactive to one that is far more prepared and predictable.”
Claire Van der Zant, CEO of Novus Strategy, said: “The industry has been very vocal in its demands for mandation and this is the most impactful example yet of government intervention that will drive the change everyone has been asking for. What it will mean is the complete reorganisation of the customer journey for those on both sides of each transaction from day one. It will be unrecognisable in the most exciting way.
“The four-week acceleration in completion times promises to be transformational but, if anything, the reforms could have an even bigger impact than that.”
This is a breaking news story and will be updated.
19 responses
Yeah right. With all the messy over complicated new builds and greedy management companies, nothing will change. Will even get worse And on normal transactions, the public need to remember they are buying a house, not a car. Patience is important.
Some cars are more expensive than houses, the transaction is the same, you have a seller and a buyer……. Why over complicate it?
Rather silly comment. Cars and houses are fundamentally different. A car is a mass-produced item with a straightforward registration link. A house involves buying a specific piece of the earth that has a unique history of ownership, boundary rights, and legal restrictions spanning decades or even centuries. The main reason the process is so different is the sheer scale of the financial risk. For most people, a home is their largest lifetime asset. buyers need to be protected from hidden debts, boundary disputes, and structural issues attached to the land. due diligence has to be incredibly rigorous to prevent catastrophic financial loss. So I repeat, patience is the key. Its new builds that need the biggest overhaul but that will never happen. Too many grubby hands in the pot.
??? When you buy a car, you are just buying the vehicle itself. When you buy a house, you are actually buying the land, the structures on it, the airspace above it, and the ground beneath it, while navigating rights of way, planning laws, and local authority regulations that don’t apply to movable goods. So your comment is somewhat ignorant. And in my opinion anyone who spends that much money on a car … well, id better stop there!!
Well it’s been a whole decade since HIPs were repealed – we clearly have a short term memory! I think it’s time to jump of this carousel…
So many questions and nuances to unpick. For example how does one provide chain details upfront? If a house has gone on market the chain won’t be known. It won’t change the issues with management packs, leasehold and BSA issues, satisfying increasingly risk adverse lenders, missing deeds lost by land registry, land registry delays. The technology being proposed will add costs and will not speed up the process.
And this is progress? I see no magic wand here, to speed the process up. Quite the opposite. And it’s the home movers who will suffer.
Like it or not, and if this is happening conveyancers need to be front and center of the changes. Therefore the formation, this week, of the Conveyancing Improvement Collective, could not have been more timely. If you are interested to find out more: improveconveyancing.org
When will the powers that be start treating Conveyancers with the respect they deserve? Is this a way to treat professionals who give their heart and soul to providing an excellent service to their clients every day? Are Lawyers with their years of training to be dispensed with in favour of AI and digital advancement? Tying clients in earlier so there is no escape from title defects and problem properties? I keep wondering why no one can see the agenda being pushed by those with vested interests and the desire to dilute the conveyancing process to mere widget production. We are a profession safeguarding possibly the largest financial transaction our clients will undertake in their lives. They need protection, not entrapment by reservation agreements. In reality this may mean clients dont tie in until very much later because no one is going to tie in until they are absolutely certain about the legal aspects of what they are purchasing. And why should they? As for digitisation we all know the risks of cybercrime and the avarice deployed by those delivering digital services to the conveyancing profession knows no bounds. The cost of case management systems increasing by nearly 100% every 3 years, digital id products being not really fit for purpose. I could go on. Meanwhile who suffers? The poor clients of course. This is going to increase significantly the cost to the public in the future.The myth of speed being peddled by those selling digital products will be forgotten as we drown in a sea of incompetence being fuelled by AI ready firms. I am truly saddened by this announcement and live in hope that the powers that be will stop treating conveyancing as a cash cow to be milked by the digitisation brigade. Just look at what is happening in Australia? We and our clients deserve better.
Fully agree with all your comments – I have been doing this job for the past 30 years, seen many changes, some good, some not but if this is the route that we are going to go down then I think it is time that I retired. I can see disaster written all over it. You cannot replace experience with AI, especially when it comes to unregistered land.
Agree with everything you say.
I agree Rose. There is a major conflict here between the people that are peddling their products to the government, without the government actually consulting conveyancers who do this painful job day in day out. So short sighted.
Some great comments here which I agree with and they sum up my views on the article. For a start, what constitutes a valid reason for withdrawing? As well as legal issues there may be life circumstances involved – I really don’t think anyone is going around offering on properties with the intention of pulling out!
Plus, I agree that speed is not the be all and end all, care needs to be taken, patience is key, and with patience comes calm. If we can all calm down, we can entice new conveyancers to the profession (or at least not lose any more!), build the numbers back up and allow everyone the proper space to do their jobs. On a side note I’ve often wondered how local authorities etc. get away with saying an application will take minimum 8-10 weeks (e.g. planning) to even be considered, and people just accept that, but in conveyancing we could never, it’s all rush rush rush!
Whilst I share many of the concerns being raised about the practical implementation of these proposals, I am cautiously optimistic that this could be the catalyst for a genuine reordering of the home moving process.
One of the biggest opportunities is the prospect of conveyancers being instructed at the point a property is marketed, rather than after a buyer has been found. If sellers appoint their conveyancer early to prepare the sales pack, and a buyer appoints their conveyancer to review it before offering on the property, it places conveyancers at the beginning of the process where they can add the greatest value.
From a conveyancing perspective, this could also help reduce the industry’s reliance on estate agent referral arrangements. If consumers engage their lawyer at the outset to prepare the property for sale, rather than being introduced after a sale is agreed, it creates greater opportunity for firms to compete on expertise, service and reputation rather than referral networks.
I should confess that I was a supporter of Home Information Packs. In my view, the principle behind HIPs was sound. Their downfall was not the concept itself, but the gradual dilution of the packs. Once searches and the Home Condition Report were removed, much of the value was lost and the packs ceased to provide the comprehensive upfront information needed to materially improve transaction certainty.
The current proposals appear to recognise that successful reform requires meaningful upfront information, not simply more forms. Whilst I’m not convinced that they will make transactions faster (all the same steps need to be carried out – we’ll just be doing them in a different order), if implemented properly, with genuine commitment to early instruction and comprehensive sales packs , I think these changes could reduce fall-throughs and frustration for consumers and professionals alike. The challenge, as always, will be in the delivery.
I am recently getting into fee earning after a long time working in Conveyancing and I must say it is more long winded now that it has ever been!!!!
Of course any process that can assist making the house buying process swifter, more efficient and quicker for all parties is welcomed, however, what I do not understand is why everything seems to be put at the Lawyers door. We deal with title and legal issues, that is what Lawyers train to do whatever their speciality. It seems now that we are expected to do more and more which also contributes and slows the process.
This digital system may well assist in speeding up the process, however, with that said, the delays also come down to the fact that we have lost a lot of qualified and experienced staff since COVID as that period was just awful and the way we were treated by a lot of people was diabolical! The digital process will not help the fact that civilisation has become impatient, some people coming into this profession are not properly trained or being trained correctly. This can sometimes mean documentation is drafted correctly and needs rectification. This is not then corrected because indemnity insurance has taken that over (in some circumstances it is an easier option) but we used to correct title issues not cover them over.
People agree completion dates before all parties in the chain are ready, and if this date cannot be achieved then this leads to frustration and disappointment for clients which is what we try and avoid. This then creates more pressure and makes the process more stressful for all concerned and also more longwinded because this wastes valuable time when as those matters are prioritised and then you find out that someone in the chain is not ready,
Paperwork is not always completed correctly, enquiries are sometimes not always answered sufficiently, or pointless enquiries are raised. We have more and more work to do and less and less people and AI cannot deal with issues that Lawyers have to consider when encountering or resolving problems that may arise with titles.
Managing agents, local authorities and others get more time to deal with providing information than anyone and this seems to be accepted but Lawyers up and down the country could have an email in their inbox for say, 20 minutes, which they may have waited 3-4 weeks for and then get chased as they are expected to have dealt with it immediately and be ready to proceed.
As a profession, we are put on more and more and being pressured with unrealistic timescales because everyone is in a rush. I agree with these comments, going digital will not resolve all the “factors” that we face with delays to the Conveyancing process. The Government want these digital packs of information which is a great idea, but the cost is never free, it is more often than not another cost to the client and/or the Lawyers.
The Conveyancing profession, and I include both SRA and CLC in this, does not stand up for itself. Unlike insurance companies, lenders and banks which are all powerful institutions with money and clout, the conveyancing profession remains fragmentised, with many small to medium companies and a few larger companies. Until the profession binds together, under one flag, invests in the profession and presents a united front to Government then it will continue to be pushed about. Consider:-
1. AML – this should not be the job of the conveyancing profession. It should be done by the lender or by an appointed governing body. It is an extremely onorous obligation, forced on the profession by Government, without consent and without financial remuneration.
2. ID – Same.
Clients should present to their conveyancing firm with a digital AML/ID pass pre-approved. It is not the job of the conveyancing profession to do the Government’s job.
3. Stamp Duty – same. The conveyancing profession is not a tax advice and collection service.
4. Lenders – same. For years lenders have placed the burden of mortgage advice and securing the mortgage on the buyer’s conveyancer. Often without adequate financial recompense – and they are the first to sue if things go wrong. Lender requirements have become more and more complex and onorous.
The government, lenders and estate agents all make far more money, with less stress, than conveyancers ever have. Because they have the power and financial clout. Rob Hailstone with his BOLD group has the right idea but I consider it should go further than this with a solid Union, which conveyancers pay into (yes I know and I’m not suggesting I’ll start one – but someone should).
Until then successive governments will continue to foist ridiculous, unworkable ideas onto the conveyancing profession. Lenders will continue to up their onorous requirements and sue if mistakes are made. Estate agents will continue to send clients to ‘factory style’ conveyancers, whilst raking in referral fees.
Maybe it is time to stop complaining and sit up and think about the future of the conveyancing profession.
Agree with all comments but also fees for conveyancing should be at least 1 % of property sale or at least 3 x agents fee considering work. When the legal profession have the red tape admin removed from them and a sensible amount of cases with proper fees this will then speed up the process. The tech does nothing but add costs and delays.
We are already embracing technology to assist with our work. I welcome the proposed changes in particular earlier contract commitments. It’s heartbreaking to witness a chain collapse due to someone changing their mind therefore a former commitment from offer stage can only be a welcome addition.
“Having every property transaction result in the creation of a logbook, created by conveyancers”
Great, yet another effing thing for solicitors and conveyancers to do, without being paid properly for it!
If government truly wants to speed transactions up they should reintroduce scale fees and ban referral fees, which will bring an end to the conveyancing factories. The public may then have a chance to get services from qualified lawyers who have enough time to dedicate to each matter to get the transactions completed promptly.
The Council for Licensed Conveyancers is of course happy to pretend that things can be fixed with technology changes, it allows it to conveniently ignore the fact that the largest businesses that it regulates are the primary sources of delays in any chain!