What does reform to the house-buying system mean for me?

Posted on: 21/10/2025

Category: For you

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

What are the key reforms?

Buying a home could soon be faster and less stressful. Major reforms to the house-buying system aimed at cutting costs, reducing delays and halving failed sales have been proposed by the government. As part of the reforms, sellers and estate agents will be legally required to provide key property information upfront. Binding contracts could also prevent either party withdrawing late in the process.

Potential savings and costs

For first-time buyers, this could mean about £700 saved and reduced completion time by four weeks. However, sellers at chain ends may face £310 in additional upfront costs. Professionals involved with the process have called for the government to provide more information. Previous attempts at mandatory seller information, like home information packs, have been scrapped due to complaints that they discouraged or delayed sales.

Housing affordability is still a barrier for potential buyers, especially first-time buyers. Many wouldn't benefit from the estimated savings, as calculations include failed transaction costs that some may not incur.

How long does conveyancing currently take?

Slow paperwork, broken chains and outbidding have all contributed to the frustrations of house-buyers in recent years. In England, a move will typically take about six months. However, the Scottish system requires more upfront information and binding contracts, which makes the process quicker.

With potential gains of a net saving of £400 as a result of increased costs from selling being outweighed by lower buying expenses, the transparency brought by reforms may help to improve confidence among buyers, especially those in the middle of a chain.

Fewer transactions falling through

The proposals suggest a "long-term" option of binding contracts is intended to halve the number of failed transactions, which currently cost the UK economy an estimated £1.5bn a year. Anyone who breaks the contract could face fines, but no firm details are available on how this would work and what would be considered as justified reasons to leave the contract.

Impact on conveyancing professionals

The reforms may also affect firms offering conveyancing services, such as SME Solicitors, with a new mandatory Code of Practice being proposed. The introduction of side-by-side performance data may also help buyers to choose trusted professionals based on expertise and other clients’ previous experiences.

SME Solicitors has been accredited as part of the Law Society’s Conveyancing Quality Scheme for many years and collects feedback from clients through platforms such as ReviewSolicitors and Google Reviews. We anticipate that, with any added measures of quality and success, SME will remain a widely-recognised and reputable provider of conveyancing services in Worcestershire.

Eoin's insights

Eoin Murphy, Solicitor in our Residential Property department, gives his thoughts on the recent developments:

There are certain pieces of received wisdom in conveyancing. “You’re always responsible for maintaining your left-hand boundary (or is it the right?)”. “Conveyancing always takes ages to complete”. “The more complications and delays there are, the more money lawyers make”. Of those three, only the middle one is correct.

The first point to make is that a streamlined and more efficient conveyancing process is in the best interests of all ‘stakeholders’. The more transactions we can complete, the more clients we are able to assist. As well as this visible benefit, quicker conveyancing would also have an incalculable psychological benefit, in terms of the reduced stress to the clients and, as a consequences, to conveyancers and other professionals involved.

The Government’s consultation suggests a number of ways to reduce turnaround times:

1. Front-load the information supplied by sellers, to include as much information as possible at the earliest stage. This could entail sellers having to obtain their own surveys, searches and other information before a sale can be agreed.
2. Training and regulating estate agents so they are better able to assist on the above.
3. Digitising property information so it is more readily and quickly available.
4. Introducing earlier conditional exchanges of contract, to avoid transactions falling through at late stages.
5. The consultation does also recognise that increased regulations imposed on conveyancers are contributing to delays. Anti-money laundering checks, freehold rent charges and leasehold property generally have all become more complex in the last 15-20 years. Any simplification of these would be welcomed by the industry with open arms.

The right type of questions are being asked here and we’d broadly welcome the proposals. However, the consultation only makes passing reference to mortgage lenders, for whom so much of the ‘red tape’ in conveyancing has been put in place to protect. If the big banks won’t cooperate, these proposals may come flame out as quickly as the old and unloved Home Information Packs.

The consultation also makes limited reference to the delays that can occur when conveyancing firms take on high volumes of work without sufficient resources or supervision. Greater oversight of industry practices and transparency around referral arrangements could help improve service standards across the sector overall.