Landmark Information Group has launched a property search bundle designed to help agents and conveyancers prepare homes for sale before a buyer is found.
Sales Pack Ready brings together key searches at the point of listing, reflecting the Government’s plans to increase the amount of verified property information available earlier in the homebuying process.
The bundle contains a Personal Local Search, Drainage and Water Search and Homecheck Residential report. Property condition reports with national coverage can also be ordered through Landmark.
It is the first in a planned series of “reform-ready” products intended to support agents, conveyancers, mortgage brokers and lenders as upfront information becomes a greater part of property transactions.
EARLIER INVESTIGATION
Landmark said obtaining searches and condition information when a property is listed could reveal title, environmental, drainage or structural issues before they cause delays later in the sale.
Earlier information could also enable buyers to make better-informed decisions, allow conveyancers to begin investigating potential problems and give lenders greater visibility before underwriting is completed.
However, the pack will not remove every source of delay or guarantee that a transaction completes. Its effectiveness will depend on the information remaining current and being accepted and reused by the professionals involved.
Landmark’s internal data indicates that the average period from agency instruction to completion has reached 123 days. This represents an increase of 18% since 2019 and 64% since 2007.
REFORM ROADMAP
The Government’s homebuying reform roadmap supports greater use of upfront information, digital identity checks, electronic signatures and standardised property data.
Sales Pack Ready also reflects the aims of the industry-led Project 28 Charter, which is targeting property transaction times of 28 days through earlier preparation and improved data sharing.
The bundle forms part of the wider LandmarkConnect strategy to support the secure exchange of trusted information between the different parties involved in a home move.
CONNECTED TRANSACTIONS
Simon Brown (main picture, inset), Chief Executive Officer of Landmark Information Group, says: “The move towards greater upfront property information, through Project 28 and alongside Government reforms, will require every part of the market to adapt how transactions are prepared and how information is shared.
“Sales Pack Ready is the first in a series of solutions we are developing specifically around the Home Buying and Selling reform roadmap.
“It represents an important step in helping the industry move towards transactions that are better informed, more connected and more certain from the outset.”
Brown added that Landmark would continue developing technology and information services intended to help property professionals respond to the reforms while improving existing transactions.
