Conveyancers have thrown their weight behind changes which the government claims will transform buying and selling homes.

The plans revolve around increased digitalisation of Land Registry data and how it is accessed during the transaction process.

Beth Rudolf of the Conveyancing Association calls the government proposals “incredibly positive” and says: “We have been heavily involved in pushing forward the digital property data agenda and what greater provision can achieve. We believe this is not just about its use for home buying and selling, but it will provide far greater benefits across the lifecycle of property, enabling parties to have the right view of the property data whenever they transact or need to act, whether that is a remortgage, altering or finding a planning application, for letting purposes, or retrofitting to meet net zero targets.

“There are also some wider benefits that are often discounted but which should be generated by this, including: for the economy in terms of not having people in housing ‘stasis’ for long periods of any year meaning they can get on with their lives, be economically active and contribute to UK GDP; the environment, as it will mean the government can see the quality of the housing stock digitally allowing it to target where its funding/grants/loans should be delivered in order to achieve retrofitting; the NHS, in terms of helping reduce the health issues often caused by people living in poor housing conditions; plus our housing sector, and the conveyancing industry in particular, as it will reduce waste and duplication of tasks which often adds significant amounts of time to the whole buying/selling process.”

And Nathan Emerson, chief executive of Propertymark, comments: “We welcome plans to help speed up the buying and selling process via the proposal of making better use of technology. The housing sector will benefit enormously from digitisation, such commitment will ultimately bring vast consumer value and help streamline systems that have long needed progression.”

The government says it is working hand-in-hand with the property market, supported by HM Land Registry (HMLR), and is shortly beginning a 12-week project to identify the design and implementation of agreed rules on data for the sector, so that it can easily be shared between conveyancers, lenders and other parties involved in a transaction. 

HMLR will also build on its work in digitising property information and lead 10-month pilots with a number of councils to identify the best approach to opening up more of their data and making it digital, whilst the government pushes ahead with plans for digital identity verification services including in the property sector. 

The government says fall throughs – which impact one in three transactions – currently cost people around £400m  a year, on top of the four million working days lost by conveyancers and estate agents alone which is equivalent to £1 billion.  And it claims that information such as building control and highways information is predominantly paper-based or recorded in non-machine-readable formats. On top of this, where data is available electronically, there are no established protocols for accessing, sharing and verifying that data which leads to more delays.  

The government also says that in the next week, secondary legislation for the Right to Manage measures in the Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 will come before Parliament.

It adds: “These changes, which will come into force on 3rd March, will empower more leaseholders to take control of their buildings more easily, giving them power over how their service charges are spent, and removing the requirement for leaseholders to cover the legal fees of their freeholder when making a Right to Manage claim – potentially saving them up to £3,000 for the most costly claims, and reducing the incentive for landlords to obstruct the process.”