Home buying to be made cheaper, faster and less stressful in England
The Government has pledged to make buying a home cheaper, faster and less stressful in England and has launched an eight week call for evidence where it is seeking views from the industry. In wants to hear to hear from everyone with an interest in home buying including estate agents, solicitors and mortgage lenders and particular is aiming to address gazumping and reduce time wasting to increase commitment to a sale. ‘We want to help everyone have a good quality home they can afford, and improving the process of buying and selling is part of delivering that. Buying a home is one of life’s largest investments, so if it goes wrong it can be costly. That’s why we’re determined to take action to make the process cheaper, faster and less stressful,’ said Communities Secretary Sajid Javid. ‘This can help save people money and time so they can focus on what matters, finding their dream home. I want to hear from the industry on what more we can do to tackle this issue.
This announcement will build on recent proposals to cut out abuses of leasehold, protections for renters and a crackdown on unfair managing agents, now we are looking at modernising the home buying process,’ he pointed out. ‘The Housing White Paper set out plans to fix the broken housing market, getting the right homes built in the right places and measures to improve affordability and protections for renters and home purchasers,’ Javid explained. ‘This exercise isn’t about adding extra work for buyers and sellers or seeing a return to Home Information Packs, this call for evidence will look at how we can further improve the home buying experience,’ he added. Javid said that buyers are concerned about gazumping where sellers accept a higher offer from a new buyer and this is set to be outlawed through new measures and he also wants to build trust and confidence in the housing industry. ‘Mistrust between parties is one of the biggest issues faced, we want to look at schemes including lock-in agreements. Although one million homes are bought and sold in England each year, around a quarter of sales fall through and hundreds of millions of pounds are wasted, we want to increase confidence in the housing chain,’ Javid said. He also want to look at how better guidance for buyers and sellers can be provided, possibly by encouraging them to gather more information in advance so homes are sale ready. Another key area will be innovation and how that is affecting the buying process. ‘You can now search for a home online, but the buying process is too slow, costing time and money so we’re looking for innovative digital solutions including making more data available online,’ Javid added.
Tags : INTERNATIONAL