Home Buying & Selling Group
Shaun Adams is delighted that he has been asked to join the Home Buying & Selling group, a group working with the UK Government to overhaul the process of moving home for sellers, buyers, landlords and tenants. The group are introducing new standards in how to improve the process of moving home to make it smoother, swifter and more secure. The group has representatives from estate & letting agents, surveyors, lawyers, mortgage lenders and brokers, insurance professionals, search and data providers, removal companies, community administrators, technology providers and property portals.
Kate Faulkner OBE Chair of the Home Buying and Selling Group said “Shaun has so much enthusiasm and desire for change in the process, he had to be in our organisation”
Kate is one of the UK’s leading property experts. She is passionate that most of the problems in the residential property market can be solved if the media, industry and government worked together to educate consumers on how to carry out property projects. Kate regularly features on BBC TV and radio including You and Yours and Moneybox. She has also appeared on ITV’s This Morning and co-hosted LBC’s Property Hour. Kate works closely with journalists all over the country to help ensure their work is accurate and up to date.
Shaun recognised the process of moving home has so many problems. Shaun visited agents in the US and Australia to study how they could make the process simpler. He wanted to make improvements himself. In his own business at Cooper Adams estate agents Shaun has introduced measures such as a buyer being financially qualified prior to viewings. Also to give a potential buyer and their solicitor all the property information up front at offer stage, potentially shaving months off the process time. As well as legally locking in a sale as soon as an offer is accepted stopping either side walking away on a whim for trivial reasons.
The HBSG is the industry led collaboration group working with representatives across government, regulators, and trade bodies to find ways to improve the process for home movers when buying and selling their property. The group has led a number of initiatives and tested improvements to the process with DLUHC (Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities), HMLR - HM Land Registry, and across industry with the work of the HBSG referenced twice in the Levelling Up White Paper.
The group has produced a paper on how to improve buying and selling in England.
The group's two main aims are to reduce fall throughs which can be 25-30% and to speed up transaction times - many take four months.
The wish list is
- All estate agents to be qualified and licensed - At Cooper Adams we are in full support of this.
- Buyers to be formally checked for affordability before viewings - We are rolling this out.
- More upfront information for potential buyers - a Buyers Information Pack or a Property Logbook - We provide this on all properties.
- Buyer and Seller know exactly the total cost to move - We advise the buyer and seller on this.
- Buyer and Seller to formally instruct solicitors in advance of viewings commencing - We recommend this wholeheartedly.
- Reduce the amount of sales falling through - Our Buyer Information Packs and Reservation Agreements achieve this.
- Speed up the process between agreeing a sale and moving in - Our Buyer Information Packs (all the information in advance) achieve this.
- Avoid data duplication by securely sharing ID and source of purchaser funds with estate agents/lenders and solicitors - We are awaiting the government to release this.
- Sellers to provide a gas and electrical safety certificate - We now recommend this.
- Make Reservation Agreements mandatory - We already do this on most sales.
- Introduce leasehold reforms - The Government need to press on with this.
- On move in day always give the new owners their keys by 1pm (lenders need to draw down funds 24/48 hours before 9am on moving day) - The Government can force the lenders and lawyers to implement this.
About the Home Buying Selling Group:
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/1052708/Levelling_up_the_UK_white_paper.pdf
For more information, please see the HB&SG website or our LinkedIn page
https://homebuyingandsellinggroup.co.uk
https://www.linkedin.com/company/home-buying-selling-group/