The Intermediary – October 2025 - Flipbook - Page 10
RESIDENTIAL
Opinion
Bringing
homebuying into
the 21st Century
T
he Government’s
consultation on
reforming the home
buying and selling
process is a long
overdue opportunity to
modernise one of the most outdated
elements of the housing market.
Mortgage lenders welcome the
ambition to create a system that is
faster, clearer, more transparent and
above all less stressful for consumers.
Buying or selling a home is the
biggest financial commitment most
people will ever make, yet the process
that underpins it has barely changed
in decades. It remains paper-heavy,
painfully slow and prone to collapse.
Around one in three transactions
still fail to complete, costing an
estimated £400m a year in wasted
fees, and leaving people emotionally
and financially bruised. Failed sales
also create inefficiencies throughout
the housing market, from lenders
and conveyancers to surveyors, estate
agents and removal firms.
This is not a lack of good will.
The UK’s homebuying professionals
work hard under immense
pressure. The problem is a lack of
structure, consistency and effective
use of technology. Too oen, vital
information only comes to light
once an offer has been accepted,
triggering last-minute renegotiations
or collapses. Multiple parties use
different systems that don’t talk to
each other. Consumers, meanwhile,
are le in the dark for weeks.
These are symptoms of a process
that has failed to evolve with the
times. As Santander’s recent report
pointed out, the English property
market still operates under rules
rooted in the 1925 Law of Property Act.
That simply isn’t good enough.
Lenders have already invested
heavily in digital transformation,
making mortgage approvals faster and
Consumer stress: The homebuying process is complex, disjointed, and has not evolved with the times
8
The Intermediary | October 2025
KATE DAVIES
is executive director at
the Intermediary Mortgage
Lenders Association (IMLA)
more consistent. But the full benefits
of that investment cannot be realised
until the rest of the chain modernises,
too. The introduction of digital
property logbooks and packs, storing
verified data from trusted sources,
could provide a real boost, by enabling
key information to be shared securely
and consistently across all parties.
This would reduce duplication, speed
up decision-making and give buyers
greater confidence.
Many professionals in the mortgage
world will remember a previous
Government’s enthusiasm for
introducing Home Information Packs
(HIPs) – which would have mandated
the provision of up-front information
about properties at the point of sale.
That scheme met with significant
opposition – not least from the Royal
Institution of Chartered Surveyors
(RICS), which sought a Judicial
Review on the basis that Government
had not consulted on it sufficiently –
and also from the National Association
of Estate Agents, which considered
that the scheme failed to address the
main reasons why sales fell through.
The proposals eventually fell by the
wayside in the next General Election.
While the original proposals for
HIPs had a number of flaws – regarded
by some as being unduly complex
and costly – the underlying principle
of requiring sellers and estate agents
to provide comprehensive upfront
information remains valid. Early
access to accurate data about a
property’s title, tenure, Council Tax
band, Energy Performance Certificate
(EPC) and condition would help
prevent the nasty surprises that
