Government plans to make home-buying ‘faster and less stressful’
2 min read
The Government is seeking to streamline the house-buying process, alongside new protections for leaseholders and tenants, the Communities Secretary has announced.
Sajid Javid has launched an eight-week consultation, which will look to overhaul the sector, making it “faster and less stressful” to buy a house.
However, Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary dismissed the plans as “feeble” and said they showed the Government was “out of touch and out of ideas.”
John Healey added: “After seven years of failure, ministers still have no plan to fix the housing crisis."
The ‘call for evidence’ will look to prevent sellers accepting higher offers at the last minute – known as "gazumping".
Mr Javid said: "Buying a home is one of life's largest investments, so if it goes wrong it can be costly. That's why we're determined to take action.
"We want to help everyone have a good quality home they can afford, and improving the process of buying and selling is part of delivering that.
"I want to hear from the industry on what more we can do to tackle this issue."
The announcement builds on plans revealed last week to consider new ways to protect leaseholders and tenants from "rogue agents".
It also follows speculation that the Chancellor is considering loosening planning rules in order to tackle the housing crisis.
It has been reported that Philip Hammond will use next month’s budget to announce proposals that would free up land and get developers building.
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