Plans to cut homebuying by a month and save buyers over £700 have been launched by the housing department.  

Labour has launched a Home Buying and Selling Reform consultation, which it says “will speed up the sluggish housing market by halving the number of failed sales, costing the economy £1.5 billion a year”. 

It calls the move “the biggest shakeup to the homebuying system in this country’s history”. 

The proposals will mean sellers and estate agents will be required to provide buyers with information about a property upfront, including the condition of the home, leasehold costs, and chains of people waiting to move.  

The department adds that binding contracts could also be introduced “to stop people walking away from agreements after buyers painstakingly spend months in negotiations,” in a bid to cut collapsed transactions. 

It adds that the plans may also include side-by-side information on estate agents and conveyancers – including their track record and expertise, alongside new mandatory qualifications and code of practice “to drive up standards and rebuild trust in the industry”. 

The average time from instruction to completion is over five months, but the department estimates these reforms could speed up transactions by around four weeks and save buyers around £710. 

The government said a full roadmap of these changes would be published in the new year, which is part of its broader housing strategy that centres around build 1.5 million new homes by the next election.

The housing department’s proposals include: 

• Sellers and estate agents must publish information from searches and surveys before a property listing is published. This will enable buyers to see the physical condition, characteristics, and flood risk of the property online

• The full list of proposed mandatory upfront information covers — tenure, council tax band, EPC rating, property type, legal and transactional information such as title information and seller ID verification, leasehold terms, building safety data, standard searches, property condition assessments tailored to property age and type, service charges, planning consents, flood risk data, chain status, and clear floor plans

• Buyers and sellers will have the option to sign binding contracts that would end the practice of parties pulling out of agreements months into the process 

• Greater use of digital tools – including digital property logbooks, digital ID verification, and standardised data sharing     

• Mandatory qualifications and a code of practice for estate, letting and managing agents 

Housing Secretary Steve Reed (pictured) says: “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.” 

But the Conservatives say the plans are similar to Home Information Packs, introduced by the last Labour administration in England and Wales in 2007, before being scrapped by the coalition government in 2010, which called them “expensive and unnecessary”. 

Conservative shadow housing minister Paul Holmes argues: “While we welcome steps to digitise and speed up the process, this risks reinventing the last Labour government’s failed Home Information Packs — which reduced the number of homes put on sale, and duplicated costs across buyers and sellers.” 

But the homebuying industry broadly welcomed many of the government’s plans. 

Nationwide group director of mortgages Henry Jordan says: “Buying a home is often complex and stressful, which is why the homebuying process needs to be simplified and streamlined for the benefit of consumers, brokers and lenders.  

“But to tackle this issue effectively, we must collaborate. That is why we look forward to working closely with government and the wider industry to modernise the homebuying process, so that buyers are given certainty earlier and to help reduce any unnecessary costs.” 

Mortgage Advice Bureau deputy chief executive Ben Thompson adds: “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.” 

But SPF Private Clients chief executive Mark Harris points out: “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.”