The government has released its agenda for changes to the home buying and selling process, with “a major shift” to digitalisation at their heart, and reduced duplication through AI-assisted conveyancing.
The reforms will cut delays, reduce and digitalise paperwork and stop sales collapsing, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said, centred around 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,” MHCLG said.
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.
The full reforms have been set out in a 12-chapter roadmap with five objectives: faster and more reliable transactions, reduced fall-throughs and risks, high professional standards, better informed consumers, and trust and confidence in the system.
The timeline for implementation will begin ‘now’ with non-statutory guidance and working with the industry to explore opportunities, and be complete by the end of this parliament with “comprehensive legislation” that will enable digital sales packs and logbooks to become “a standard feature of all property transactions.”
The phased approach will give the sector time to adapt while delivering improvements as quickly as possible, the government said.
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.”
Systems in the Netherlands, Norway, and Finland have already shown that similar reforms can deliver “real benefits for buyers, sellers and the industry alike”, the government said.
“The Netherlands uses a live tracking system for buyers and sellers to check their transaction status helping to achieve a final completion time of 20 days on average, whilst Norway’s efforts to streamline and digitalise the system has estimated savings of up to £1.4 billion over 10 years.
“This package will inject fresh momentum into the housing market and help people keep more money in their pockets by cutting the hidden costs and delays in buying a home to ease cost of living pressures and support a fairer housing market that works for ordinary families.”
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.”
Stuart Haire, chief executive of Skipton Group, said: “This is a welcome step for buyers and sellers, and an important move towards a more modern and reliable housing market.
“As a group that helps people both buy and finance their homes, we see every day how delays, rising costs and failed transactions affect people trying to move forward with their lives. Better upfront information, earlier certainty and smarter use of data should help cut delays, reduce wasted costs, and give buyers and sellers a smoother route to completion.”
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 continue to be updated by Today’s Conveyancer with all the latest news about home buying and selling reform. If you’d like your comments to be considered for inclusion in our coverage, send reaction to press@todaysconveyancer.co.uk
7 responses
Positive news, hopefully.
Dozens of questions remain, including, issues with:
• Managing agents and management packs
• Lender requirement
• Reservation/Binding Agreements
• HMLR delays
• The lifespan of searches
• Who pays for what and when
• When will the conveyancer be instructed
And let’s see the full ‘roadmap’ please.
As always, the devil will be in the detail. However, conveyancers (all conveyancers) need to be front and centre of these changes, and will do my very best to make sure that they are. 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.
On the very day the Labour government descends into open civil war, the Prime Minister chooses to announce a “homebuying shake‑up”. One might almost say the timing is unremarkable. When a government is fighting itself, it reaches for distractions, and so last night’s breaking news was exactly that. But for those of us who have lived through the constitutional vandalism of previous Labour administrations, the pattern is familiar. It was a Labour government that abolished the independence of the Lord Chancellor. It is a Labour government that now seeks to limit the right to jury trial, and today, it is a Labour government that proposes to vandalise conveyancing.
Having read the detailed “roadmap” proposals overnight, it’s clear that the consultation was a charade. The decisions were made long ago, under pressure from a law tech sector whose lobbying power now dwarfs the voices of the very professionals who safeguard the public interest.
For small and medium‑sized law firms, the backbone of ethical conveyancing, this roadmap is not reform. It is an existential threat. Conveyancing is to be re‑engineered by the government to serve the commercial ambitions of rapacious law tech businesses.
This is the road to conveyancing hell, and its genesis reveals just how cynical a government can be when dazzled by technological fanatics and deaf to the profession it claims to support.
Conveyancers have long been expected to absorb every new burden. We have done so because the public relies on us.
However, there comes a point when a profession must say enough is enough.
If these proposals proceed, the future of homebuying will not be shaped by evidence or professional expertise. It will be shaped by the loudest lobbyists in the room, and the public will ultimately pay the price.
The fight for our professional independence starts today.
1. The Government’s proposed home buying reforms appear to be built on two assumptions:
• More upfront information will significantly reduce delays and fall-throughs.
• Earlier binding agreements will make transactions more certain.
I am unconvinced, given the wider complexities in the system that these changes do not address.
2. I am particularly concerned about the proposal for earlier binding agreements.
2.1 The principle of “subject to contract” is a cornerstone of residential conveyancing in England and Wales. It fundamentally protects buyers while title investigations are carried out and risks are identified.
2.1 Earlier binding agreements risk buyers being pressured into contractual obligations before their conveyancer has had a proper opportunity to investigate the property and advise on the risks.
2.2 That represents a significant and unprecedented transfer of risk from the transaction process onto buyers.
3. Today’s announcement feels like a missed opportunity to address the root causes of conveyancing delays.
Words cannot begin to express what a disaster this will be for our clients and for conveyancers. Other “stakeholders” will, I’m sure, post record profits. The government has clearly chosen its side.
Aah too difficult – Why would a sensible well advised buyer proceed with a binding contract prepared by the seller’s agent?
This vague wishful thinking acknowledges scars from the last attempt to legislate – with umpteen amendments before crashing but ignores reality. Government has heard the experts and don’t understand or need a fudge -where is the end to end plan and legal architecture?
Thank goodness, like Mr Starmer, I am baout to retire.
Have they even spoken to anybody who knows the first thing about conveyancing. What a disaster this promises to be. How is anyone going to be able to buy a house in this country in the future?
The government appears to be starting in the middle proposing a solution that may only work for freehold 1:1 not chains and anything involving a leasehold, shared ownership, or estate management company.
I am receiving too many calls from people who cannot sell their homes – even if it is not BSA affected, service charges are incredibly high (and lenders won’t lend if the service charges are more than 1% of the value of the value of the property). We have district network heating systems added to this. Shared ownership properties which are out there in the hundreds of thousands needs to be addressed – it is neither ‘shared’ and it is no longer ‘affordable’ housing.
Estate agents are not going to be able to sell where sellers are disclosing that “whoops” I don’t qualify for Leaseholder Protections under the BSA, or disclose anything that to an untrained eye looks like ‘stay away’ when it could possibly be resolved by speaking to a lawyer beforehand. All those on stage at the BLG conference are delusional if they think that buyers will (a) read the packs (b) take legal advice on the packs before submitting an offer. The cost to sellers is also great.
Conveyancers, do yourselves a favour – stop paying referral fees. Hold your heads high knowing that you will be acting in the best interest of the client (the person who actually pays your bill) and not the person/company shuffling the work to you under questionable circumstances.
The estate agents will circle like sharks for them when times get tough – but aren’t things tough enough for conveyancer’s profit margins? See how things move when people are allowed to engage their own conveyancers. And no, the public do not know what “good conveyancing” looks like when the powers that be have made it all about reducing the cost.
More detail is required. So far this has not put any “trust” in my marble jar. Trust has to be earned and not freely given. Reservation agreements are likely to lose people more money, especially when you have those that are ready to litigate. Concerns were raised about potential costs to all of this. Buyers and sellers are not going to want to pay extra to be advised on such agreements but it will be too late. I have already had clients lose money because of such arrangements (with the money going to agents, not conveyancers!)
We cannot rely on such packs just because the ‘data’ is put together, does mean it is correct or can be relied upon. We have had fraudulent EWS1s and sellers who still can’t answer TA6 questions properly – they don’t even know that their legal title has boundary reponsibilities and yet there is often a conflict on the responses on the TA6 form to the legal documentation. Joe Bloggs is not going to spot that on listings.
The government is single handedly going to stagnate the property market – oh wait, their constant meddling already has created ripples with the Renters Rights Act and with Commonhold becoming mandatory they will create a distaste for the leasehold system (even though Commonhold is not the panacea for resolving the issues that are being faced). They need to tackle the developers and the creation of complex legal structures – why are they allowing properties to be built on known flood plains? Why are they not addressing the quality of construction? Start at the beginning with the people who build our homes.
They also seem to have digital amnesia – have they forgotten that the military and NHS were cyber attacked? They are just creating a environment for more exploitation by cyber attackers. Who ends up with the liability? Conveyancers who have professional indemnity insurance. The tech companies need to be held accountable also. OPDA continue to ignore my questions on cyber-security.
Penalising the person who buys or owns a home has knock on effects to the wider economy and productivity. Home owners ending up responsible on top of council tax for paying towards maintenance and repair of roads and sewers (regardless of tenure). The social consequences of people being stuck means a lower birth rate, and older population running out of people to look after them. Not to mention the younger generation who are locked out of buying homes due to incredibly high prices.