BSA consults on home buying process
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The Building Societies Association has chaired a thought leadership discussion with representatives from the legal and conveyancing professions, estate agents, surveyors and consumer bodies to explore how the home buying process can be improved for consumers.
The BSA has published a summary incorporating initial thoughts on where industry and government should go from here.
It says the change in government provides fresh opportunities and impetus to get reform right.
The BSA says it is keen to work with government, the full range of service providers and the professionals involved in buying and selling homes to determine how future reform can succeed.
Paul Broadhead, head of mortgage policy at the BSA, says: “Consumers need to be put back at the heart of the home buying and selling process. The new government has acted swiftly since coming to office suspending HIPs within its first few weeks. Work must continue to ensure customers receive better value and an improved experience.
“A key component in reforming the process remains providing the right information to the right person at the right time. “
Christopher Hamer, the Property Ombudsman, says: “It is clear that a lack of consumer understanding and poor information on a wide range of issues from roles, terms of business and the process overall place consumers in a weak position.”
They say any reform must be industry led but real reform cannot be delivered by industry alone. The government has a key role to play in ensuring there is a level playing field and if new regulation is required, they should not shy away from it.
David Dalby, director of Residential Professional Groups at RICS, says raising professional standards and consumer education are two sides of the same coin. Greater transparency is needed across the process. Industry, with help from government, has an important role in achieving this.
Paul Marsh, the immediate past president of the Law Society, adds: “Government intervention is required through effective and proportionate regulation of the key sectors involved in the process.”
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