Levelling up demands more upfront information for homebuyers

Included in the Government’s new Levelling Up White Paper are plans to make the homebuying and selling process more straightforward.

According to the White Paper, around a third of all housing transactions fall through, costing people hundreds of millions of pounds. The Government says much of this could be avoided by having more upfront information available during the conveyancing process, and it will legislate if this doesn’t happen.

The Government has pledged to improve the “expensive, time-consuming and stressful” process of buying and selling a home.

The White Paper states: “The UK Government and the industry will work together to ensure the critical material information buyers need to know – like tenure type, lease length and any service charges – are available digitally wherever possible from trusted and authenticated sources, and provided only once. If necessary, the UK Government will legislate.”

This concern echoes those raised in the legal profession, and the Law Society is already testing a new transaction form, which will detail more information at the point the property is listed for sale.

Anything that makes the conveyancing process more straightforward and transparent for buyers and sellers, so they have all the information they need from the start, has to be welcome news.

We’re reminded of the old Home Information Packs, or HIPs, which were scrapped because they were deemed “expensive and unnecessary”. However, now we are in a digital age, this information can be stored online and easily accessed for those who need it most.

For legal advice on buying or selling a property, contact Iain Mason, Head of Legal at Optimum Professional Services, email [email protected].