UK MPs push for mandatory upfront info in home‑buying

A cross‑party group of MPs, led by committee chair Florence Eshalomi, has written to housing minister Matthew Pennycook urging reforms to England and Wales’s home‑buying and selling process. The Commons housing, communities and local government committee recommends that sellers and their representatives provide a set of legal and transactional information – such as seller ID verification, standard searches and a property condition assessment – at the moment a property is first marketed, using “suitably authoritative providers” like chartered surveyors.

The committee also calls for conditional sale contracts that bind parties once specified conditions are met, with financial penalties for non‑completion, and proposes a code of practice with mandatory qualifications for estate agents overseen by an independent regulator. Data cited show the average time from instructing a conveyancer to completion rose to 120 days for buyers and 160 days for sellers in 2024, far longer than in 2007. The MPs point to Scotland’s home‑report system as a model and note the previous home‑information packs were scrapped in 2010. They have asked for a response by the summer recess on 17 July.