House Sales (Hansard, 30 November 2001)

§ Ms Keeble

Surveys and searches are intended to tell prospective home buyers about the condition of the property they are buying and about registered title,1160W charges, planning high ways and other matters directly affecting the property. Nearly all prospective home buyers have searches carried out, but only a minority commission a professional survey. Most of the remainder rely on a valuation inspection carried out on behalf of a lender. This is often a false economy since a valuation inspection is not a condition survey.

Searches and survey information are of key importance to home buying decisions and yet, under the present home buying and selling process, they become available only after terms have been agreed between buyer and seller. This is a major cause of uncertainty, delay and transaction failure. Our research showed that 28 per cent. of transactions failed after terms had been agreed, and that in 43 per cent. of those cases the reason was problems revealed by either an independent survey or a lender's valuation inspection. This failure rate costs consumers in the region of £350 million each year in wasted expenditure.

Our package of measures to improve the home buying and selling process will address this problem. Home sellers will be required to make key information available in the form of a "seller's pack" before terms are agreed, rather than the buyer having to uncover the facts later under the current system.

Modernising the process of carrying out searches is also a crucial part of the reform package. The National Land Information Service (NLIS) will provide a fast, one-stop, on-line national searches service.

As soon as parliamentary time allows, we will introduce legislation to make it easier for people buying and selling homes through a seller's pack.