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The Government is being urged to take the lead on homebuying reform as conveyancers warn that recruitment issues and lawyer burn-out are contributing to transaction backlogs.
A roundtable organised by the Council for Licensed Conveyancers (CLC) last month highlighted how many firms have continued to work at or near capacity after the Stamp Duty holiday ended last September, with the past two years only confirming that the old way of operating needs to change.
Beth Rudolf, director of delivery at the Conveyancing Association, said the government needed to step in to bring order to the many initiatives around to speed up the home-buying process.
The Home Buying and Selling Group, which represents all the players in the market and advises government, has been trying to deliver it voluntarily but she said forthcoming research “makes it very clear that the barriers to uptake will prevent it from happening unless it is mandated.”
Nicky Heathcote, chair of both Propertymark and the Conveyancing Association, said the group “has done as much as we possibly can now. We have given the answers, we have got everybody else on board. It now needs government to take the lead.”
Mark Montgomery, chief strategy officer at Simplify Group, agreed, he added: “The adoption point is the challenging one. If the Government were to set out a clear vision and say, ‘In three years’ time, this is how we are all going to be working,’ it would create a glide path.”
Other issues covered by the roundtable included fees, lender expectations, upfront information, digitisation and data standards.
Stephen Ward, director of strategy and external relations at the CLC, said: “The undeniable message from the roundtable is that significant reform is coming to the property market.
“There are lots of initiatives and innovations out there that need to be brought together coherently. Once that is done, change could happen quickly.
“We intend to play our part in making it work. The CLC’s role is to ensure that those it regulates have the skills and structures available to take advantage of this new world to the benefit of clients and of legal service providers.”
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But that's the problem. The Home Buying and Selling Group does NOT represent all the players in the market. This group represents vested interests not necessarily acting in the public interest.
The Law Society should be leading this process.
Maybe the government should stop "filling in the potholes" and come up with a definite plan to re-structure the housing market. By preference perhaps lower the stamp duty across the board and, bearing in mind the government don't own and provide social housing anymore so to speak, stop interfering and allow supply & demand dictate the market.
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