Estate agents and conveyancers ‘must learn to trust each other’
Influential property industry body DPMSG says there is too much double checking during the transactions process.
Estate agents and conveyancers must learn to trust each other if property transactions are to be speeded up, it has been claimed.
That’s the finding of a new report commissioned by influential industry body the Digital Property Market Steering Group (DPMSG), which warns that there’s too much double checking and duplication in the homebuying process.
At least eight different professionals are involved in the sale of a house, and 130 documents are produced in a “heavily paper-based” process, its report says.
And the group calls for digitisation of property transactions: “While immediate benefits include fewer manual errors, the real value lies in enabling transformative innovations such as AI and fully automated systems”.
Agents and conveyancers should work “in parallel” to avoid delays. In other words, work at the same time, rather than wait for the other party to complete their part of the process.
Up front
By collecting more information up front the process could be speeded up as well, the report recommends. But this would require incentives and new guidelines to make it happen, the report says.
The property buying and selling process in England and Wales is widely acknowledged as a complex process.”
“The property buying and selling process in England and Wales is widely acknowledged as a complex process, with each individual transaction from listing to sale typically involving at least eight parties, from across the public and private sector,” it adds.
“Actors involved in a typical transaction include owners, buyers, local authorities, estate agents, conveyancers, search providers, mortgage lenders, and often many more. Transactions are heavily paper-based processes with 130 documents being generated for the average transaction.”
Read the report here
