Ditch mandatory upfront information plan, conveyancers urge

Conveyancing leaders have rejected the idea that it should be mandatory for home sellers to provide upfront information.

The Conveyancing Task Force (CTF) says the move would repeat the mistake of HIPs (Home Information Packs) during the noughties and may make the homebuying process worse.

And the task force, which is made up of conveyancing bodies, also calls for the Regulation of Property Agents (RoPA) to raise estate agent standards.

By implementing RoPA it would help tackle conditional selling, mis-selling and unlawful pressure on consumers, the CTF says.

Mandatory upfront information would not achieve the goals of reform and may worsen consumer outcomes.”

It was responding to a consultation by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government on the future of homebuying.

“The CTF supports the government’s objective of improving speed, certainty, and consumer outcomes. However, the CTF does not support a mandatory upfront information regime,” the task force says.

“Mandatory upfront information would not achieve the goals of reform and may worsen consumer outcomes.”

Voluntary

Instead, the CTF wants to see voluntary early legal instruction, which would reduce unnecessary enquiries and make chains run more smoothly.

The CTF, which includes The Society of Licensed Conveyancers and The Conveyancing Association, as well as The Law Society, also dismisses the idea that digitisation is the answer to all the problems.

“The evidence demonstrates that the homebuying system fails not because of a lack of data,” it says.

Bottlenecks

Lender behaviour and bottlenecks at local authorities and the Land Registry are major causes of delays, according to the CTF.

“None of these issues are resolved by digitisation alone. Digitalisation can play a useful role – but only when accountability, evidence, and legal reality are at the centre of reform.”

The CTF earlier warned that the Government’s planned overhaul of the home buying and selling process was an ‘existential threat’ to small regional law firms.

More on conveyancing

The post Ditch mandatory upfront information plan, conveyancers urge appeared first on The Negotiator.

Author: Gemma