The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) is aiming to reduce the process of buying a house by four weeks with expected savings of £710 on average for first-time buyers.

Sellers and estate agents will be required to provide more information to buyers from the outset, including the condition of the home, leasehold costs and chains of people waiting to move.

The full list of proposed mandatory upfront information includes: tenure, council tax band, EPC rating, property type, legal and transactional information such as title information and seller ID verification, leasehold terms, building safety data, standard searches, property condition assessments tailored to property age and type, service charges, planning consents, flood risk data, chain status, and clear floor plans.

Binding contracts could also be introduced to stop people from suddenly backing out of negotiations, with the government claiming deal fall-throughs cost the economy £1.5bn a year.

Mandatory qualifications and a ‘Code of Practice’ will also be introduced for estate, letting and managing agents with the use of digital tools also encouraged to enhance transparency.

The reforms have been issued for open consultation that is due to close on 29th December 2025.

“Buying a home should be a dream, not a nightmare,” said housing secretary Steve Reed.

“Our reforms will fix the broken system so hardworking people can focus on the next chapter of their lives.”

The reforms have so far had a mixed response.

Beth Rudolf, director of delivery at The Conveyancing Association, says the trade body welcomes these steps and can see them being successful.

“By ensuring vital information is provided upfront, consumers and industry alike will benefit from greater certainty, reduced risk of fall-throughs and a faster, less stressful process,” said Beth.

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“This is an important step towards the modern, transparent and efficient homebuying system that families and professionals have been calling for.

“These reforms have both the ability to enable conveyancing lawyers to be proactive, and to support estate agents to comply with the law — we would urge a further step to now be made via the regulation of property agents, so they know what, and how, to deliver in this area.”

Others are less impressed.

Mark Harris, CEO at SPF Private Clients, supports the plans in principle but has described the specific reforms as “underwhelming” that fail to target the main issues.

“Lenders can produce mortgage offers within very short timeframes but it’s the conveyancing which can really slow down the home buying and selling process, with local searches in some areas experiencing severe delays, for example,” added Mark.

"Building the 1.5 million new homes we need, speeding up the planning process, incentivising buyers and reforming stamp duty are the key measures the government needs to focus on to really make a difference."

Similarly, north London estate agent and former RICS residential Chair Jeremy Leaf, has seen issues with these plans.

“As long-standing chartered surveyors and estate agents, we have found many sellers do not necessarily want to reveal 'warts and all' about their properties whereas for others speed is not paramount so will need time to adjust,” said Jeremy.

“Sufficient capacity will be essential too in terms of numbers of suitably qualified and experienced surveyors to take on the additional workload as a significant number of additional detailed inspections will be required than at present.

“The legal profession will also need to become conversant with the new arrangements asap, for instance to determine what are 'reasonable' grounds for withdrawal, to avoid gazumping and gazundering to ensure the smoothest possible delivery after consultation.”