CML news & views

Problems in completing a property transaction once a deal has been struck between buyer and seller cause a “significant level of dissatisfaction,” the Carsberg review of residential property has concluded.

The review was highly critical of attempts to improve the buying and selling process through the introduction of home information packs (HIPs). Packs provide “the worst of all worlds,” the review said, omitting much of the most useful information but still imposing significant costs on transactions.

Few buyers are interested in HIPs, while a substantial number of conveyancers ignore them, choosing to re-commission searches on receiving instructions from buyers. “Regrettably, the reduction in content – and therefore usefulness – does not appear to have been matched by a commensurate reduction in the price of a HIP, which stands at £350 or so,” the review said. It also concluded that:

• more than 20% of buyers and sellers had experienced a “serious problem” with an estate agent;
• the way in which stamp duty is levied on property transactions “makes its distorting effects particularly great;”
• landlords and letting and managing agents should be regulated to deliver better consumer protection, more efficient markets and better value for money; and
• developers and builders selling property directly to the public should be regulated.