Planned reforms would make house sales legally binding earlier and require more upfront property details to reduce gazumping and failed transactions.
Home buyers and sellers in England and Wales are set to face legally binding sale agreements earlier in the process under government plans aimed at curbing gazumping and making property transactions less likely to collapse late in the day.
The reforms would also require sellers and estate agents to provide more information about a home before buyers commit, including details on the property’s condition and its position in any chain. Ministers say the changes are intended to make a slow and often uncertain system quicker, cheaper and more secure.
The plans, first announced last October, will not take effect immediately. The wider reforms are expected to be introduced at the end of this Parliament in 2029, while a new code of practice for property agents is expected this year.
Gazumping can happen after a buyer and seller have agreed a sale, when the seller accepts a higher offer before the transaction becomes legally binding. In England and Wales, that can leave the original buyer with no legal recourse after spending time and money on surveys, searches or legal work.
Under the proposals, binding conditional contracts could make a transaction legally binding much earlier, potentially once an offer is accepted. The government says a party that withdrew without a valid reason, or failed to meet its obligations, could face a financial penalty.
Those binding contracts would not begin until the planned upfront sales packs are also in place, so buyers would have key information before committing to a purchase. The government estimates that buyers would save about £650 on average.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed said the reforms would make the system “faster, fairer and more secure.” Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said the current process leaves “people in limbo” and that the changes would give buyers and sellers more certainty.
The proposals echo parts of the Home Information Packs introduced under a previous Labour government about two decades ago, which were later scrapped by the coalition government. The latest plans have been broadly welcomed in the housing sector, though some have warned that requiring more paperwork before listing could slow the point at which properties reach the market.
Rightmove says it takes an average of 170 days to complete a property sale across the UK and that more than one in five sales initially fall through. Its chief executive, Johan Svanstrom, said making more information available upfront could improve transparency and reduce failed transactions.
The next practical step is expected to be the property agent code of practice this year, before the larger shift toward earlier binding agreements and mandatory sales packs later in the Parliament.
Comments (0)