The Government is to digitise the ‘cumbersome’ and slow-moving home buying and selling process and put key information about properties at ‘people’s finger tips’, significantly reducing the time it takes to complete property transactions, Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook has announced.
Measures include digitising existing paper-based documents such as highways information and building control data and setting up a common electronic protocol for accessing, sharing and verifying data, something the Residential Logbook Association and others have been pushing successive governments to embrace for many years.
Pennycook claims that under a fully-digitalised home buying and selling process, the information key parties need – from mortgage companies to surveyors – will be “within reach immediately, with the necessary identity checks carried out [just] once”.
The Minister says the average ‘offer to completion’ time of nearly five months is too slow, and is the most common frustration cited by those moving home.
No suprises
The solve this, the Government wants to see clear information made available much earlier on in property transactions so that there are no surprises late on in the transaction which might cause a fall through, a problem that is often costly and frustrating for vendors, buyers, conveyancers and agents and sees 300,000 sales collapse every year.
Given that much of the groundwork for this initiative has already been completed via a liaison committee with the property industry, the Home Buyers and Sellers Group – the Government clearly hopes to move fast and says a 12-week project to set up the system will first be completed, followed by several 10-month pilots with selected councils. Also, it will finalise existing work that has aimed to standardise digital identity verification.
“We are streamlining the cumbersome home buying process so that it is fit for the twenty-first century, helping homebuyers save money, gain time and reduce stress while also cutting the number of house sales that fall through,” says housing minister Matthew Pennycook.
Just a few weeks ago Zoopla completed a survey that found nearly two thirds of those moving home found moving home more stressful than they expected with only 11% finding the process ‘smooth’, with Ric Dawson CEO of the Alto Software Group commenting that: “This sense of frustration, and often real loss, aren’t limited to buyers and sellers – agents have a tricky time navigating their role as the middleman, often judging the role of communicating between all parties whilst trying to close the transaction as quickly as possible.
“We know through working with agents that early access to housing transaction data is the key to a smoother process.”
Ahead of this announcement, Pennycook took over the chairing of the Digital Property Market Steering Group. The group consists of organisations that represent the various professions involved in the buying and selling process and has been – and will be – the driving digitalisation of the home buying and selling system.
Credit: The Negotiator
Get an indication of what your property is worth for sale and rental
Use our online calculator to get an idea of how much you could borrow
Work out how much Stamp Duty you’ll need to pay on your new home
Check out the homes we have available for sale in Cambridgeshire