Breakthrough on faster house sales with new digital form
An industry group charged with trying to make house buying simpler and quicker says it’s made a breakthrough on ‘upfront’ information given to purchasers.
The Home Buying and Selling Group describes itself as an informal group of industry representatives working to find better ways of conducting transactions for consumers; its findings and suggestions feed into the long-running activities of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to make the process faster, more transparent and less prone to fall-throughs.
Now the Home Buying and Selling Group says it’s come up with what it calls the “one source of truth” about every property that would go on sale – a definitive list of information to be provided upfront to would-be buyers.
The would be a so-called Buying and Selling Property Information form, or BASPI.
The BASPI would be completed at the point of marketing a property, could be written ahead of time and – according to the Home Buying and Selling Group – would be accessible to all parties to avoid duplication.
Industry consultant Kate Faulkner, who chairs the Home Buying and Selling Group, says:
“This is a major step forward in trying to make life better for those moving home. Far too often sales fall through after an offer is accepted due to a lack of information provided to the buyer and part of the reason for moving home taking 20 weeks is that we don’t collate enough information upfront.
“The BASPI together with the pledge recommending sellers instruct legal companies on day one of marketing can go a long way to improving the home moving process for consumers and also for the daily lives of those in the industry.”
The BASPI is split into two sections: Section A covering Material Facts required under the Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations, and Section B covering the remainder of the Conveyancing Due Diligence.
The Home Buying and Selling Group says it’s now agreed what goes in the BASPI and says it’s now up to PropTech and CRM companies to take the next step – that is, “add the required questions into their technology which will allow home movers to fill in all the necessary information, removing the current duplication of information in the current forms.”
Once completed, the BASPI will provide the material facts disclosure to potential buyers before an offer is made to give them all the required upfront information about a property.
The plan is for it to also be accessible to lenders, and can be sent to all parties with the memorandum of sale together with the conveyancing due diligence section, and made available to the valuer prior to them making their valuation.
Faulkner’s team says the practical uses for the BASPI include allowing agents to complete their material facts disclosure, solicitors to complete the TA6 Property Information form, lenders to complete their lending policy checks, and valuers to complete their pre-valuation template to prevent additional enquiries and post-valuation queries.
The House Buying and Selling Group says it’s now calling on all stakeholders within the property purchase process to work with PropTech and CRM system companies to ensure they add the BASPI capabilities to their systems so the right questions are asked, the right data is collected and it is fully digitised.
Kindly shared by Estate Agent Today
Main photo courtesy of Pixabay
