The Chief Executive of Connells Group has said that her company is not going to wait for the Government to begin tackling the home buying and selling process and instead will lead a unique industry-wide initiative to speed up the process and reduce fall-throughs.

The announcement was made by Helen Charlsworth (main image) during her speech at The Negotiator Conference on Friday, her first public appearance since joining the company in July 2024.

“Both the Government’s two consultations and industry bodies are rightly focussed on making moving home better, but change won’t happen in isolation – we can’t sit back and wait for policy,” she said.

“Given our structure and reach across the home buying and selling journey, Connells Group has access to unique insight and data about the challenges and impact of the existing system.

“So we plan to use this data to improve all our processes for one and all – and play a leading role with industry bodies and Government to influence the future of the process but we can’t do it alone – we all need to work together to find solutions to genuinely benefit our customers that make commercial sense via strategic partnerships and collaboration.”

Branch trial

Charlesworth also said that during a trial at 29-branch estate agency Peter Allan in South Wales of the firm’s new approach, the changes it made delivered promising results.

This included a 17% reduction in time from listing to completion, a 12% drop in fall-throughs, a 30-day reduction in the time taken from offer to completion, and a 43% reduction in the number of fall-throughs.
But across the company’s wider portfolio of estate agency branches, like the rest of the industry, the picture remains challenging.

While the mean number of days it takes to find a buyer is 59, the conveyancing process takes a further 105 days.

Charlesworth said that her company had been working with its conveyancing partner LMS to improve home buying and selling, including ensuring all parties had accurate and accessible data about a property, eradicating duplication and the creation of a more connected network.

Connells Group, along with rival LSL, jointly bought LMS in 2011 although LSL sold its 49% stake for £12 million four years ago. Its ‘sole purpose, Charlesworth said, is to simplify the home building and selling process.

“The process across the UK remains slow and fragmented and for the sales industry’s customers, remains pretty torturous,” she said. “And it costs customers, solicitors and agents time, money and unfortunately sometimes reputations.

“There has been a 60% increase since 2007 in the time it takes to get from offer to completion and one in three transactions fail costing customers £400 million a year.”