Reflections on the potential for Brexit and changes to the house-buying process

Richard Pickles, from CA Affiliate member, Conveyancing Data Services gives his views on the latest issues affecting the housing market.

I was hoping it wouldn’t happen but there are definite signs of a slowdown in the market. I’m guessing that this is due to the impending ‘Brexit’ referendum and certainly this is now being blamed by some stuff I have recently seen in the press from the likes of Foxtons estate agents and others. So we are now having to deal with our second manipulation of the market caused by the government within 3 or 4 months, aren’t we all lucky?

At the most recent Conveyancing Association meeting we heard that the Government has launched another new initiative to look at the whole property buying and selling process. This time it will be headed up by a bright Oxbridge lad working as an Economic Advisor for the Department for Business Innovation & Skills (or BIS if you’re trendy). We also heard, at the same meeting, HM Land Registry using the Chain Matrix as proof that they have always been at the forefront of technological change in the industry!

It seems that the only thing we can count on in our industry is that successive Governments (of whatever colour) will want to have a fiddle about with the home buying process and that no one will leave us to get on and let market forces drive efficiencies through ‘naturally’. My view is that the only way to speed up the whole process, in what is a pretty mature and already very competitive market, is to fundamentally change the system from being due-diligence based to being indemnity/insurance based. Can anyone see that happening? Thought not, no one to blame then.