Government proposes sensible homebuying reforms?

jez9999

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82046716#Comment_82046716

Utter nonsense. There are plenty of horror stories from people who've had to deal with people pulling out just before exchange, paying for movers and losing money because of this and just the general stress of the whole thing. Whatever.

oldernonethewiser

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82046721#Comment_82046721

How many horror stories as a percentage of sales?

House buying & selling is stressful but as stated this may be a solution in search of a problem.

Brie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82046687#Comment_82046687

The first home we put on offer on got pulled off the market. The EA said it was the third time the resident couple had started the process to sell wanting to buy something else. In the end he concluded they just did it because they'd get nice outings from the exercise as the EA was willing to drive them round to view other places.

Personally I preferred the situation in Canada (or Ontario at least) where you could be sued for breach of contract if you (buyer or seller) pulls out after an offer has been made.

Brie

Can't help but congratulations on becoming home owners once it's happened!!

MattMattMattUK

Abolishing SDLT for primary homes would be the best thing they could do for the general public who want to move house, but no chance of that.

daveyjp

You can propose anything. Up front info merely makes it easier to decide not to consider a property, it does not make it simpler once a bid is made as all the usual due diligence will be required by mortgage lenders and solicitors with lots of cases to work on - which is where most of the delays originate.

Buyers with funds available and sellers with solicitors focussed on the transaction can do a property deal in a few weeks - it happens with properties sold at auction all the time.

user1977

Up front info merely makes it easier to decide not to consider a property, it does not make it simpler once a bid is made as all the usual due diligence will be required by mortgage lenders and solicitors with lots of cases to work on - which is where most of the delays originate.

The due diligence still has to be done, yes, but having a seller's survey upfront means you save the weeks/months in the examples we see here of waiting for surveys to be done, potentially re-haggling the price, and perhaps the whole thing falling through.

RelievedSheff

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82046721#Comment_82046721

And there are plenty of stories where people have bought houses under the current system with very little fuss.

Part of the success is managing expectations. House buying isn't an instant gratification process which is where most people fall down and get disappointed.

Bigphil1474

The problem with the current system is that every buyer has to get their own searches and survey so potentially the same house gets surveyed multiple times. Solicitors want their money even if a sale falls through as well. Literally everything falls on the buyer who could be out of pocket by £1000's and still not end up with a house. Sounds sensible policies. The system ain't broke? Blimey.

I'm not a big fan of AI, but there's Ai and there's Ai. The Health and Safety Executive use AI for deciding which type of work place accidents to investigate, we use Co-pilot in our workplace. It can help in some situations.

Grumpy_chap

Any proposals by the Government are nothing more than speculation until the new PM is in post and Government objectives and priorities advised.