Trading Standards ask agents for views on ‘upfront portal information’

Absolutely dreadful idea. I can fully understand the need to disclose sensitive information, (eg tenure, damp guarantees and JKN infestation etc) to those who show a positive interest in a property after a viewing, but putting it all on a website for everyone to see is a ridiculous and totally un-necessary invasion of privacy. Do NTSELAT have any respect at all for peoples privacy ????

• Christian Woodhouse
• 20 April 2021 23:29 PM

Why would someone go through the rigmarole of viewing a property if they could see from the outset that the property wasn’t suitable for them?
At the moment you’re hoping that any buyer gets emotionally attached and buys the property regardless of the issues.
All this information will be disclosed and highlighted by the conveyancer so why cause unnecessary delays and fall through’s by waiting for this information weeks down the line.
Get it upfront, disclosed all the facts and allow people to make educated buying decisions at the correct time in the process.
Consumers will start to expect this as the generations pass.
It’s bizarre how your biggest purchase is governed by caveat emptor, any other purchase and the seller is the one on the hook for anything untoward.

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Yet more and more rules & regulations (and Laws) are piled on - seemingly endlessly.

Why aren't they working with the Home Buying and Selling group?

This needs to be driven by a Customer driven approach that is looking at what a BUYER needs and then how a SELLER can provide it easily/cheaply/quickly.

All anyone needs to do is point the client in the direction of a set of standard Protocol forms that they can complete at their leisure when going to the market and, if they feel confident in their marketing price and strategy, get their searches ordered too.
Why does the industry want to spend so long discussing something that home movers are already doing for themselves. THE SOLUTIONS EXIST!! Stop trying to re-invent the wheel. Dare I say JFDI ?

I like the NTSELAT team, they always respond to contact promptly and have a pretty shrewd handle on things, their only problem is that they need to be about 50 times larger to marshall their sector, and being based in Powys is always a big ask as not in the London mix.

Every estate agent and every conveyancer has the clear option to be part of the solution, or remain part of the problem. Which will it be for you? It’s time to wake up and act, if the process is ever going to improve. Stop waiting for someone else to go first and be a market leader.
We are fighting backward thinkers every day to try and support the wishes of intelligent people moving home, it is getting exhausting, but we will continue to support their wishes and drive home all the benefits because that is why I created our business.

Why would any agent not support this? If you’ve completed the survey referenced it only discusses basic information that has a material affect on property value, so any agent worth their salt would have gathered this information anyway or they would take have been able to accurately establish marketing price at the start. And displaying this to buyers saves wasted time with buyers who are it comfortable with those answers. There was nothing implied in the survey that we haven’t done as standard for years.

Leasehold and shared ownership properties especially very important.
Lease length, ground rent and increasing terms, current service charge, and whether the building has Right to Manage or a Residents Management Company as a bare minimum. Would save home buyers a huge amount of stress, time wasted and expense.