New agreements to ‘reduce house sale failures’

The government is planning a new system for buying and selling homes that it hopes will reduce the number of failed transactions.

Currently, house buyers can have an offer accepted for the purchase of a home but then pull out at the last minute causing then pull out at the last minute causing great inconvenience to the seller.

The same problem can happen in reverse, with a seller accepting an offer to buy but then changing their minds further down the line, even though the buyer may have invested a great deal of time and money in the process.

Ministers say they want to trial reservation agreements that would make an offer to buy a home more legally binding.

Housing minister Heather Wheeler told the Council for Licensed Conveyancers’ annual conference that such a new approach would reduce the number of property deals that fail through for one reason or another.

She said that buyers should not be allowed to pull out of transactions without consequences “just because they decided they do not like the avocado bathroom suite”.

She added: “We want to increase people’s commitment by ensuring they get some skin in the game…there is no reason why this cannot become a standard practice. I believe the appetite is there.”

The government will run a field trial later this year. We shall keep clients informed of developments.

Please contact us if you would like legal advice about buying or selling a home.

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