Estate agents have been urged to start preparing for digital home moving reforms now rather than waiting for new requirements to become mandatory.
Industry leaders say firms can already begin adopting upfront information and digital processes that could reduce duplication and transaction times while helping shape how future regulation works in practice.
The warning follows the Government’s home buying and selling reform roadmap, which sets out plans to make sales packs and digital property logbooks standard features of property transactions.
The Government intends to legislate for sales packs before properties are listed when parliamentary time allows, with the packs expected to include searches and a property condition report.
AGENTS CAN ACT NOW
Speaking during a webinar hosted by LMS’s National Property Transaction Network, industry representatives argue that early adoption could give agents and other property professionals commercial as well as compliance benefits.
Maria Harris, Chair of the Open Property Data Association, says: “A huge amount of input into getting these things right is having frontline business and operational people in the room, so that we can shape any proposals around real transactions and what obstacles are actually holding them up.”
The Government’s roadmap says the industry will be encouraged during 2026 to identify information that can voluntarily be provided upfront, allowing firms to adjust before legislation is introduced.
It also plans greater adoption of digital ID, electronic signatures and digital logbooks and packs as part of wider attempts to create faster and more reliable transactions.
SHAPING THE REFORMS
Leon Ifayemi, Director of Coalitions and Research at CFIT, says: “We don’t want a world where change is forced through at the last minute, at far greater cost to everyone involved.”
More than 180 property professionals attended the LMS webinar, which brought together representatives from the Conveyancing Association, CFIT and Open Property Data Association.
Beth Rudolf, Director of Delivery at the Conveyancing Association, adds: “Engage early and come and try things now. This is the government’s opportunity to see the solutions develop to deliver the maximum benefits before they legislate; so get involved and make sure any unintended consequences are sorted before it becomes law.”
Watch the session HERE.
