UK Home Buying Reforms 2026 — What the Government Plans to Change, and What It Means for You
On 19 June 2026, the government published its Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap — a plan to overhaul a process that currently takes 120 days on average and sees one in three transactions collapse before completion. The reforms are real, but the timeline matters. Here is what the government plans to change, the expected sequence, and what it means if you are buying or selling now.
Why the system needed fixing
The numbers are striking. Buying a home in England now takes around 120 days on average from offer to completion — around 60% longer than it took in 2007. One in three transactions fall through. When they do, the costs fall on buyers and sellers who have already spent money on surveys, solicitors and searches. Fall-throughs cost consumers approximately £400 million per year. Independent research commissioned by Santander put the wider economic cost at around £1.5 billion annually. (Source: MHCLG, Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, 19 June 2026.)
What the reforms promise to deliver
| Target | Government estimate |
|---|---|
| Cut average transaction time | ~4 weeks faster |
| Reduce fall-throughs | Halved |
| Save first-time buyers | Average £650 |
The main changes for consumers
The roadmap sets out a broad package of reforms. The main changes for consumers can be grouped into five areas.
1. Upfront property information and sales packs
This is the most significant structural change. Under the current system, buyers will often make an offer before receiving much of the detailed information later gathered through searches, surveys and legal due diligence. Issues that could have influenced the decision to buy surface only after time and money have been spent.
The reform: the government plans to require comprehensive property information to be provided upfront, supported by digital sales packs. The exact information that must be included will be set through future legislation and standards. The government says it will work with industry immediately to identify information that can be provided voluntarily now, ahead of any legislation. (Source: MHCLG, Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, 19 June 2026.)
The proposals would place greater responsibility on sellers and property professionals to ensure key information is available earlier in the transaction. The detailed responsibilities of each party will be determined through the implementation process.
2. Binding conditional contracts
Currently, either side can walk away at any point before exchange — typically weeks or months into the process — largely without financial consequence. The reform would make transactions more legally binding from an earlier stage, with penalties for parties that cause transactions to unnecessarily collapse, while retaining flexibility for legitimate withdrawals.
The government plans to define exceptions, penalty fees and arbitration mechanisms before introducing the system. These details have not yet been finalised. The roadmap is clear on sequencing: binding contracts will not come into force until sales packs are embedded first. (Source: MHCLG, Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, 19 June 2026.)
3. Digital property logbooks and data sharing
The reform aims to make digital property logbooks — secure records of property information — a standard part of all transactions, shared between professionals during a sale to reduce repeated information requests. The exact data standards and content requirements will be set through future legislation and standards work.
Combined with single digital identity verification — so buyers and sellers prove their identity once rather than to multiple professionals separately — this is intended to cut the repeated checks that cause delays throughout conveyancing. (Source: MHCLG, Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, 19 June 2026.)
4. AI-assisted conveyancing and streamlined checks
The roadmap backs AI tools to automate routine conveyancing tasks — document classification, data extraction, triage — while preserving human judgement for decisions. The government's AI Growth Lab, whose first focus is the legal services sector including conveyancing, will open applications for Law Tech and conveyancing firms later in summer 2026. Anti-money laundering checks, currently repeated by multiple professionals, will be streamlined so information gathered once can be shared securely. (Source: MHCLG, Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, 19 June 2026.)
5. Professionalising estate agents
Estate agents currently operate without mandatory qualifications or a defined minimum standard of conduct. The reform will publish a non-statutory Code of Practice setting out minimum standards later in 2026, consult on mandatory qualifications in 2027, and introduce legislation if the consultation supports it. (Source: MHCLG, Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, 19 June 2026.)
The timeline
| When | What happens |
|---|---|
| Rest of 2026 | Guidance on material information in listings; voluntary sales pack work; Code of Practice for agents; AI Growth Lab applications open; £1.4m for digital data sets |
| 2027–2028 | Advisory Charter for property professionals; consultation on mandatory qualifications; consultation on binding contracts penalty structure; smart data scheme consultation; voluntary data standards accreditation |
| When parliamentary time allows | Legislation for mandatory sales packs; legislation for binding conditional contracts (only after sales packs embedded); legislation for digital logbooks; regulatory framework for secure data sharing |
The HIPs question
The government is aware of the obvious comparison. Home Information Packs — an earlier attempt to require upfront property information — were introduced in 2007 and abolished in 2010. They were criticised for increasing costs without improving the transaction, and were paper-based and not developed with industry.
The government's response, published in the roadmap: "Our reforms have been developed in collaboration with industry and will be implemented gradually, building on action government and industry has taken to digitalise home moving." It commits to ensuring upfront information is drawn from trusted data sources and updated as needed — addressing a specific criticism of HIPs. Whether the phased approach succeeds where HIPs did not depends on execution, in particular whether the digital infrastructure to make data trustworthy is in place before legislation requires it. (Source: MHCLG, Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, 19 June 2026.)
What this means if you are buying or selling now
If you are currently in a transaction, nothing announced on 19 June 2026 changes it. The reforms are a roadmap, not an immediate change to the law. Your conveyancer, surveyor and estate agent are operating under the same rules they were last month.
If you are planning to buy or sell in 2027–2028, the process will likely begin to change around the edges — more voluntary sales pack information available earlier, the Code of Practice raising agent standards, and digital tools becoming more common.
If you are planning to buy or sell later in the decade, the process could look materially different. The government's intended direction is towards standardised upfront information, wider use of digital property records and earlier binding commitments. However, the timing of mandatory changes will depend on legislation and implementation.
For first-time buyers, the government estimates the reforms could save an average of £650. The wider benefits are expected to come from shorter transactions, reduced duplication and fewer collapsed purchases. Separately, when a transaction does fall through under the current system, buyers can face costs of up to £3,000 from wasted fees. (Source: MHCLG, Home Buying and Selling Reform Roadmap, 19 June 2026.)