FIRST COMMENT
Who and what is the focus of the home moving process? by Professor Stewart Brymer Brymer Legal Ltd
As noted in the 2018 Spring issue of First Comment, the Westminster Government is committed to improving the home moving process in England and Wales. Various industry groups are working collaboratively in the form of the Home Buying and Selling Group (‘HBSG’) towards delivering systems which will enable prospective purchasers to have better information on properties, be they freehold or leasehold. So far, there is not a similar group in Scotland to the HBSG and, to the best of my knowledge, the Scottish Government has not yet engaged in what is a very worthwhile process. Hopefully, that will change soon.
Why is change required? One could pose the question differently, namely: if we were to design a home buying and selling process today, what would it look like? It is suggested that even the most dedicated supporters of the existing home buying and selling systems in the UK would have difficulty in arguing that some form of change is not required. In my opinion, while the present system has served us well over many years, it is now showing signs of stress, and needs an overhaul, so that it is fit for purpose in
today’s consumer-focused society. Put simply, consumers deserve better. If we start with that assumption and keep consumers‘ interests to the fore, then this must inevitably lead to a series of reforms which, together, will amount to a fairly radical overhaul of the present systems. At the core of that change is the central driver towards transparency. Much more can be done to make the current systems more transparent and, quite frankly, less frightening, for the average consumer.
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