As industry awaits reservation agreements, Propertymark launches initiative to ‘prevent fall-throughs’
NAEA's three-document 'sales protocol' toolkit, which some might call 'HIPs lite', is designed to speed up the process by bringing forward the information needed to speed up a sale's progression.
NAEA Propertymark has moved to pre-empt the government’s mooted introduction of Reservation Agreements by publishing a ‘Sales Protocol’ pack for agents and vendors to use after an instruction has been received.
The three documents include a ‘declaration of offer’ form, a ‘memorandum of sale’ checklist and a property information questionnaire’ all of which should be filled in by agent and vendor.
But unlike the unpopular House Information Packs older agents will remember Labour trying to introduce during the 1990s, or the current government’s proposed reservation agreement, the NAEA documents are not legally binding.
The initiative was unveiled during yesterday’s NAEA Propertymark annual conference and exhibition in London during which Matt Prior of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG), outlined progress so far towards introducing a legally-binding reservation agreement.
Commitment
He said his department was consulting on several different forms of the agreement with consumer and industry groups, including Kate Faulkner’s Home Buying & Selling Group, and that MHCLG felt that £1,000 was the right level for both sides to pay in order to show their commitment to a sale.
Prior said once the ideal form of the agreement had been nailed down, it would be trialled in several regions later this year, and then a decision made by ministers, at the earliest, next year.
He said MHCLG was aware that a balance needed to be struck between the need to stop buyers and sellers pulling out of deals without good reason, and preserving the ability of ‘serious buyers and serious sellers’ to negotiate freely.
“Lauren Scott, President, NAEA Propertymark, says: “This is a long overdue change to the home buying and selling process.
“The new Sales Protocol will provide greater certainty and confidence to buyers and sellers, and ultimately provide them with a better consumer experience.”
Read more about reservation agreements.
This just shows the disconnect that exists in the real estate space in the UK, and why we are going to have more dinosaur situations very soon. Committees are staring at their navels while people like Riccardo Iaunaicc-Dawson who is 27 years old, has with his co-founder Craig Massey a man of my age – coded their way using proptech to a place where properties exchange in 168 hours – 7 days.
I was at the NAEA conference in London yesterday and someone kindly said they could talk me through the new bits of paper that the NAEA are dreaming up and the RoPA group.
I just said do you realise right now within two miles of this building their are dozens of bright people solving all the problems, using mathematics, data, machine learning artificial intelligence, IoT, blockchain applications, the days of talk talk of the last century are being replaced by a technological revolution which is outstripping trade organisations, quasi institutions that help the real estate industry, and outstripping the Victorian pace at which the Brexit bound parliament can enact property legislation.
Time for less dinosaurs, less ivory towers, less we know better because we are the property professionals and more – How do we make ourselves relevant to the needs of our clients and customers. How can technology be our friend, how can we digitally transform our businesses into fit for purpose vehicles that will make profit and help the industry move forward. Time to hang around the new kids on the block, who I meet daily in my work, as I take the time to find out what is really going on.