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People often complain about the slow, stressful, complicated job of moving home. As far as enjoyment is concerned, it seems to be up there with death, divorce and paying one's tax.

Does something need to be done And if so, what

There are a number of IT/technical initiatives underway that I am aware of:

Hoowla

Veyo

In-Touch

Zen Exchange

There may well be more. Are these the answer or should we be looking at changing the actual procedure and/or the law involved, or perhaps both

I suppose that we need to firstly identify the problem areas. Here are some suggestions, as they say, in no particular order:

Slow and complicated mortgage applications

Buyer and sellers being able to change their minds at the last minute

Slow and uncommunicative conveyancers

Unnecessarily adversarial conveyancers

Absent conveyancers

Too much red tape and bureaucracy put on conveyancers

Too many checks required; AML, ID etc

Slow searches

Too many pre-exchange enquiries

Chain reliance

Length of chain and detail rarely available

No pre-sale legal packs available

Agents putting together deals that don't stack up

Overly complicated legal process, Chancel checks, Planning and Building Regulations checks, Fensa etc

Conveyancing being a personal process rather than a set process i.e. what one conveyancer says is correct, another disagrees

Overly complicated, and individual requirements from lenders

There must be more

For my sins, and weather permitting, I am off to Scotland in two weeks' time to see how the process works north of the border. In the meantime, your views and comments would be most appreciated.

Time to get it off your chests!

*Rob Hailstone is Founder of the Bold Legal Group

rh@boldgroup.co.uk www.boldgroup.co.uk

Comments

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    I don't really think that it is complicated. If you focus on what you want, you will be able to figure it out in the buying process. The important thing to think about is what you will be using the property for. If you don't need it, then you shouldn't buy it. But, you can make a lot of money off of some of these properties. http://www.wbpproperty.com/buyers-advocacy

    • 17 March 2015 21:53 PM
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    Another delay is the fact that surveyors get a deeper insight into the value of the property as the vendors have not had them checked out previously so if there is work required the surveyors tend to down-value the property. Although I did not like HIPS as a potential vendor I think a basic survey should be done before putting it to the agent so they do not waste time on fruitless viewings. One property we had about 20 viewings and then 2 surveyors said there was an excessive amount of work required and the vendor refused to drop as he would be in negative equity.

    • 31 January 2015 13:58 PM
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    As if your list wasn't long enough already Rob! But perhaps you could add the little issue of surveys: being done at the wrong time, being inconsistent, creating contentious & adversarial situations, requiring renegotiation, drawing conveyancers' attention to issues late in the day. I could go on...
    It seems the Scottish Home Report 5 year review has a broadly positive tone, with some tweaking needed. Maybe it's time to revisit the process down south

    • 31 January 2015 12:02 PM
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