"Buying a home should be a dream, not a nightmare. Our reforms will fix the broken system so hardworking people can focus on the next chapter of their lives"
- Steve Reed - Housing Secretary
The UK government has announced a far-reaching consultation on reforms intended to transform the home buying and selling process, aiming to lower costs, speed up transactions, strengthen consumer protection, and reduce failed sales, in what it
claims is the biggest shake-up to the homebuying system in history.
Under the proposals:
- Sellers and estate agents would be required to publish key property information upfront: condition reports, leasehold costs, chain status, title data, flood risk and related legal and transactional details.
- Buyers and sellers could enter binding contracts earlier in the process to limit last-minute withdrawals.
- Performance data for estate agents and conveyancers would be made public in a side-by-side format to help consumers choose professionals with better track records.
- Mandatory qualifications for estate agents and a new industry code of practice would raise standards and accountability.
- Digital tools would underpin the reforms, including digital property logbooks, ID verification, and standardised data sharing across participants in transactions.
Housing secretary Steve Reed said, “Buying a home should be a dream, not a nightmare. Our reforms will fix the broken system so hardworking people can focus on the next chapter of their lives.” His remarks follow earlier statements from the government that the proposals would help shave around four weeks off the typical five-month transaction period and save first-time buyers on average £710.
Officials suggest the reforms could halve the number of failed transactions, alleviating stress and financial loss caused by deals collapsing late in the process.
Industry response has been generally favourable. Nathan Emerson, CEO at Propertymark, commented: “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.”
Rightmove’s leadership noted that the current average time to move is around seven months and expressed support for reform to modernise the process and reduce uncertainty.
The government says it will publish a full roadmap in the new year, following the consultation period, to guide implementation of the reforms. The extent and timing of changes may differ across the UK, given that property and conveyancing systems vary among nations.
"Buying and selling property has long been viewed by many consumers as complex, stressful, and overly complicated. It is therefore encouraging to see a renewed commitment from the UK Government to review the entire process, with the aim of streamlining and improving both its clarity and efficiency," said Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark.
He added, “At present, the property transaction process still relies heavily on outdated communication methods between key parties such as buyers, sellers, conveyancers, mortgage providers, and estate agents. Any efforts to create a more collaborative and connected ecosystem will ultimately help raise standards, boost productivity, and deliver a more consistent and higher-quality service. This, in turn, could reduce the number of costly and time-consuming fall throughs."
“To ensure any reform is effective, it's essential to gain a full understanding of the existing challenges from the perspectives of everyone involved. There is significant potential to further digitise the process and modernise how information is shared, ensuring that critical details are delivered at the right moments to support better decision-making. Additionally, incorporating regular review and insight into the process would help assess its effectiveness and make future improvements more straightforward to implement."
Beth Rudolf, Director of Delivery at The Conveyancing Association, said, "The Conveyancing Association welcomes these reforms, which we and other industry stakeholders have long campaigned for, in order to deliver a better home-selling and purchase experience for all. By ensuring vital information is provided upfront, consumers and industry alike will benefit from greater certainty, reduced risk of fall-throughs and a faster, less stressful process."
"This is an important step towards the modern, transparent and efficient homebuying system that families and professionals have been calling for. These reforms have both the ability to enable conveyancing lawyers to be proactive and to support estate agents to comply with the law. We would urge a further step to be made via the regulation of property agents, so they know what and how to deliver in this area."
Ben Thompson, Deputy CEO, Mortgage Advice Bureau, said, "MAB cautiously welcomes these proposed reforms to the homebuying process, which have the potential to significantly improve outcomes for home movers. All too often, transactions are delayed or collapse altogether due to a lack of upfront information or unnecessary inefficiencies, causing stress for buyers and putting mortgage offers at risk."
“Improving transparency when a property is first marketed and reducing the average transaction timeline will not only help buyers make more informed decisions, it will also ensure mortgage offers remain valid and aligned with the faster pace of the transaction."
“These changes should reduce the number of deals that fall through, saving borrowers and our industry both time and money. We’re particularly supportive of moves toward standardised data and digitalisation, which can help bring the conveyancing and mortgage processes closer together. We hope the government continues to work closely with lenders, brokers, and legal professionals to make these reforms a success."
“We’re optimistic that the industry can find the means to ensure there is zero cost duplication in any proposed changes, especially as the headline to these changes implies cost savings. Unlike previous efforts, we’re hopeful that whatever is implemented is done so with full industry buy-in and support, and is implemented accordingly - especially as data and technology makes this eminently more possible today compared to over a decade ago.”
Mark Harris, chief executive of mortgage broker SPF Private Clients, says, “While we fully support measures to speed up the process of buying a home, these suggestions are largely underwhelming, as they don’t address the main issues.
“Lenders can produce mortgage offers within very short timeframes, but it’s the conveyancing which can really slow down the home buying and selling process, with local searches in some areas experiencing severe delays, for example.
"Building the 1.5 million new homes we need, speeding up the planning process, incentivising buyers and reforming stamp duty are the key measures the government needs to focus on to really make a difference."
Jeremy Leaf, north London estate agent and a former RICS residential chairman, says, “More efficiency and less waste in home moving must be welcome but not so easy to achieve in practice as these proposals are not new.
“What we don’t want to see above all is a drop or delay in transactions, which would be more costly not just for buyers and sellers but for job and social ability, which is so fundamental to economic growth.
“On the ground, as long-standing chartered surveyors and estate agents, we have found many sellers do not necessarily want to reveal 'warts and all' about their properties, whereas for others, speed is not paramount, so they will need time to adjust.
“Sufficient capacity will be essential too in terms of numbers of suitably qualified and experienced surveyors to take on the additional workload, as a significant number of additional detailed inspections will be required than at present.
“The legal profession will also need to become conversant with the new arrangements asap, for instance, to determine what are 'reasonable' grounds for withdrawal, to avoid gazumping and gazundering, to ensure the smoothest possible delivery after consultation.”
