Why agents shouldn’t wait for the home buying reforms
The government has published a roadmap to reform how homes are bought and sold. It runs over four years, and anything that needs new law will take time. So it’s tempting to file it under “later” and get on with this week’s instructions.
Kate Faulkner thinks that would be a mistake. As chair of the Home Buying and Selling Council, which brings together everyone involved in a property transaction, from lenders to removal firms, she has spent years helping push these reforms forward. Speaking on a live edition of the Kotini Coffee Table, during Toby Martin’s 24-Hour Open House charity webinar, her message to agents was clear: most of what makes a difference can be done now, without waiting for anyone.
A transaction that only works if everyone works together
Buying and selling a home involves a lot of people. Kate points out that a single sale can involve around 15 different parties, and that number grows quickly once a chain forms. The process only runs smoothly if lenders, agents, conveyancers, surveyors and removal firms all work together. Too often, they don’t.
That’s why the Home Buying and Selling Council brings together trade and professional bodies, regulators, redress schemes and government departments, and works with independent, corporate and franchise agencies. Kate is open that it hasn’t been quick. It has taken eight years to get this far.
She’s also clear that change is possible when the industry pulls together. She recalled the reopening of the housing market after the first Covid lockdown in May 2020, when the sector had to agree, almost overnight, how people could safely view and move home. Everyone worked to the same guidance, and it worked.
We changed how you buy and sell a home in 24 hours.
Kate Faulkner, chair, Home Buying and Selling Council
So when someone tells her the roadmap will never happen, she isn’t persuaded.
The missing piece: an educated customer
Kate believes previous attempts to improve home buying and selling fell short for one main reason, and it wasn’t the fault of agents or government.
What we never had, what we never did, was educate the consumer.
Kate Faulkner, chair, Home Buying and Selling Council
Buyers and sellers read completely different advice depending on where they look. Some are told not to bother with searches until their mortgage is sorted. Others are told a builder will do instead of a surveyor. Kate’s view is that both are bad advice, and that the conflicting messages make every sale harder.
Her aim is for every agent and legal firm to receive a customer who understands the process before it starts, in the same way people know what to expect when they book a hotel room or buy a car. To help, the council has produced a short guide to the new way of buying and selling a home. Kate also recommends the government’s own How to Buy, How to Sell and How to Lease guides as trusted sources to share with clients.
Even small conversations make a difference. She gave the example of moving day. The aim is to get everyone moving by 1 o’clock, but often nobody tells the people involved, so it doesn’t happen.
Nobody has the conversation.
Kate Faulkner, chair, Home Buying and Selling Council
Material information comes first
For agents, the first part of the roadmap Kate points to is one many hoped would go away: material information, the facts a buyer needs to know about a property before deciding to buy.
Her advice is to stop treating it as an optional extra and start gathering it properly now. She highlights leasehold properties in particular. She has long told sellers not to put a leasehold property on the market until the legal work is done, because it takes so much pressure off later and helps sales go through quicker.
Get that material information nailed down, especially for leasehold properties.
Kate Faulkner, chair, Home Buying and Selling Council
Kieran Witt, co-founder of Kotini, added that the value isn’t just compliance. Gathering material information properly at the start surfaces the issues that would otherwise cause problems in sales progression. His example was Japanese knotweed. Asking one follow-up question at the start, “do you have a management plan in place?”, gives you time to deal with it before lenders and conveyancers raise it, and reduces the chance of a renegotiation.
Material information also underpins the bigger changes to come. Kate made the point that reservation agreements and binding contracts only work if buyers know what they’re committing to.
You can’t introduce reservation agreements or binding contracts unless you’ve got all the material information up front.
Kate Faulkner, chair, Home Buying and Selling Council
What else is on the roadmap
Kate walked through the timeline as she sees it. The early focus is on foundations: material information, upfront data and a possible code of practice for agents. Later stages include property logbooks and sale packs, and better qualifications for agents, some of which she believes need to be mandatory. She acknowledged that might mean experienced agents going back to school, and offered to do the extra qualifications herself.
On mandation, her argument is practical. A chain can involve dozens of parties, and if only some of them adopt better practice, the transaction moves at the pace of the slowest.
If you don’t mandate, you’ll only go as fast as the slowest.
Kate Faulkner, chair, Home Buying and Selling Council
But she doesn’t accept that agents should wait for mandation, or for the outcome of the next election. Much of the roadmap can be adopted voluntarily now, and the agents who do it early gain an advantage: faster, more certain sales, and cash coming in sooner.
We can get it all done now.
Kate Faulkner, chair, Home Buying and Selling Council
What to do now
When Kieran asked what agents should actually do, Kate’s answer started with something simple.
Read the roadmap. Many people know it exists from the headlines but haven’t read it. Her advice: “first job is get a coffee, sit down” and read it, so you understand the reforms, the timings and the milestones in the transaction. A few years may seem a long way off, but she’s clear you need to start now.
Audit your upfront information. Look at what upfront data you collect and share, and what your team is able to do. If you work in lettings, you already handle condition information every day. Kate’s view is that sales teams should be learning from that.
Talk to your rental experts.
Kate Faulkner, chair, Home Buying and Selling Council
Use the reforms in conversations with clients. When a sale goes wrong and a client is frustrated, Kate suggests acknowledging it, then sharing what’s changing, such as upfront material information, getting legal work done early and reservation agreements. She saw the appetite for this first-hand when she read through hundreds of public comments on news coverage of the roadmap.
Check your technology. CRM and listing tools will need to handle what Kate calls smart property data. Ask your suppliers how they’re preparing, and start looking at which logbook and reservation agreement providers you’d want to work with.
Think about condition information. If condition reports become part of the process, consider who locally you could work with. Kate’s view is that agents should stick to facts and give sellers and buyers the choice over who provides an expert opinion.
Get involved. The council and government are asking for feedback. As Kate put it, “this is not the time to sit back”.
Turn the reforms into local trust
Toby Martin, who hosted the 24-Hour Open House, offered a final idea for agents who want to stand out. Listening to Kate speak with authority, he said, shows how knowledge builds trust, and any agent can do the same in their own area.
He pointed to the money expert Martin Lewis, who earns trust by guiding people through uncertain financial times. And he borrowed a line from speaker Nigel Risner: “work for a cause, not applause.”
His suggestion is to pick an audience, such as first-time buyers or downsizers, and make educating them your cause. Create a free online guide that walks them through the local market and the transaction, from listing to first offer and beyond, with no strings attached. Agents who help people understand the process become the ones they turn to when they’re ready to move.
Where to start
Kate admits the roadmap asks a lot of agents. She’s also confident the industry can deliver it, and keen that agents raise any problems so they can be fixed.
We’ve got your back.
Kate Faulkner, chair, Home Buying and Selling Council
This week, you could:
- Read the roadmap with your team and note the changes that will affect your agency first.
- Review your material information process, starting with leasehold properties.
- Add one follow-up question to your instruction process for a common issue, such as a management plan for Japanese knotweed.
- Share a trusted guide on buying or selling with every new client.
- Book a conversation with your lettings team about how they handle upfront and condition information.
- Ask your CRM provider how they’re preparing for smart property data.
You can hear the full conversation with Kate Faulkner, Kieran Witt and Toby Martin on the Kotini Coffee Table.
