Property lawyers have tonight rejected claims by the government that it will be able to speed up the home buying and selling process by digitalising data shared during property sales to tackle hold-ups in transactions and streamline the transaction process.
The proposed changes, announced this morning, aim to modernise the “cumbersome” process by allowing information that is often paper-based or not machine readable to be shared more easily.
The government is launching a 12-week project to decide on the “design and implementation of agreed rules on data” so that it can easily be shared between conveyancers, lenders and other parties involved in a transaction.
“We are streamlining the cumbersome homebuying process so that it is fit for the twenty-first century, helping homebuyers save money, gain time and reduce stress while also cutting the number of house sales that fall through,” housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook said.
Plans to digitise the property market, designed to help speed up the moving process, have been welcomed by Rightmove, which said it takes five months on average from an offer being accepted to moving into a property.
“Digitising the property market is key to helping speed up the moving process. If the plans set out today can further the access to information and an improved transaction process, it’s also critical to drive industry-wide adoption of tech solutions and collaboration to make it a success,” Rightmove CEO Johan Svanstrom said.
Propertymark has also voiced its support for the government’s’ proposals.
“[We] welcome plans to help speed up the buying and selling process via the proposal of making better use of technology,” Nathan Emerson, CEO of Propertymark said. “The housing sector will benefit enormously from digitisation, such commitment will ultimately bring vast consumer value and help streamline systems that have long needed progression.”
However, the government’s announcement on Sunday raises more questions than it answers, according to the Property Lawyers Alliance (PLA), the group previously known as Property Lawyers Action Group (PLAG), which says ironically it is parliament that is responsible for homebuying delays.
According to the PLA, this is because of:
• Crippling AML red tape
• A dysfunctional Legal Services Act
• A badly drawn Building Safety Act
• Underfunding of local authorities
• Unnecessary liabilities for home buyers concerning contaminated
land
• Poor regulation of developers
• Hideously complex stamp duty on second homes
• The corruption of home buying by the payment of referral fees
• A dysfunctional Land Registry
Stephen Larcombe, chair of PLA said: “Lawyers have been around for a very long time. As the rule of law developed from the ‘property clauses’ of Magna Carta, property law principles evolved, and lawyers developed their craft. Moreover, they practised with a deep sense of professionalism that sense of practising law as part of a strong, independent legal profession, for a higher purpose.
“The challenge for property lawyers is to practise law professionally but in a ‘modern manner’. What does that look like in 2025? Surely not a passive acceptance by lawyers of the rampant hype from the law-tech sector so practising law is reduced to mere algorithms.”
Larcombe went on to say: “The Law Society was challenged last year at the Special General Meeting (SGM) to justify why it had taken various steps without a mandate from its members. Part of the requisition for the SGM called for the resignation of the Law Society President and CEO because it had joined the Home Buying & Selling Council (HBSC) without a mandate from its members. The Open Property Data Association (OPDA) is also a prominent member of the HBSC. All three appear to be working closely with the Housing Ministry as members of the Digital Property Steering Group.
“In the light of recent cyber-attacks in the UK by cyber-criminals why would property lawyers, let alone the public, support the creation of a digital infrastructure in the form proposed by the government allegedly to ‘speed up’ conveyancing?”
Larcombe added: “Jurisprudence is evolving all the time and needs the skills of professionals to ensure that it is not corrupted by greed. How does the Law Society convince the public of the necessity of using lawyers to protect them in an increasingly dysfunctional property market? For solicitors, they want their professional bodies to take the lead. Most property lawyers will not just sit back and see their role diminished or marginalised by stealth.
“There is little point in being part of a group of highly trained professionals if the public is unaware of what lawyers do for them. So, the Law Society must change its direction. More importantly, it must now listen to its members working at the conveyancing coalface. A false narrative has been created to justify the dumbing down of property law.
“As one lawyer put it succinctly to PLA: “These proposed changes are cosmetic and simply provide answers to the
wrong questions.”
The Law Society has been approached for comment.
