Home buying process to be modernised

Millions of homebuyers and sellers are set to benefit from major government reforms designed to make property transactions faster, cheaper, and more efficient. Announced today, the new measures will digitalise the home buying and selling process, cutting delays and reducing the number of transactions that fall through.

Currently, buying or selling a home takes an average of five months, with one in three transactions failing before completion. This costs buyers and sellers around £400 million a year and wastes four million working days for conveyancers and estate agents. By modernising the process, the government aims to prevent unnecessary financial loss and stress for homebuyers, ensuring a smoother, more reliable system.

At the heart of these changes is a push for digitalisation, removing the need for paper-based property information and in-person identity verification. This will make key property data instantly accessible to trusted professionals, such as lenders, conveyancers, and surveyors. The reforms will also introduce digital ID verification services to reduce the burden on buyers and speed up transactions.

Housing and Planning Minister Matthew Pennycook said we are streamlining the cumbersome home buying process so that it is fit for the twenty-first century, helping homebuyers save money, gain time and reduce stress while also cutting the number of house sales that fall through. He added that our modernisation of the system sits alongside further reforms to improve the lives of leasehold homeowners across the country, allowing them to more easily and cheaply take control of the buildings they live in and clamp down on unreasonable or extortionate charges

The reforms also include significant changes for leaseholders, with new Right to Manage measures coming into effect on 3rd March. These will make it easier for leaseholders to take control of their buildings, giving them more power over how service charges are spent. Importantly, leaseholders will no longer have to cover their freeholder’s legal fees when making a Right to Manage claim—potentially saving them up to £3,000 per claim and preventing landlords from using costly legal battles to delay or block the process.

To implement these changes, the government is launching a 12-week project to develop new data-sharing protocols across the property sector, ensuring that information can be accessed quickly and efficiently. HM Land Registry will lead 10-month pilot schemes with local councils to open up more property data and transition to fully digital records.

These reforms build on international success stories such as Norway, where property transactions take around one month to complete. By adopting similar digitalisation strategies, the UK aims to cut delays, lower costs, and create a more efficient housing market that benefits both buyers and sellers.

The government has already introduced several initiatives to boost the housing sector, including a £68 million investment to unlock brownfield housing developments, £47 million to support local councils with stalled projects, and £700 million in funding for SME housebuilders. These measures, alongside the latest digitalisation reforms, form part of a wider strategy to grow the economy, improve living standards, and ensure fairer homeownership for millions of people.