If you have bought or sold a home in recent years, you will know the feeling. An offer is accepted, everyone is pleased, and then comes the long wait. Searches, surveys, questions, more questions, and a quiet worry that something will fall apart at the last minute.
That worry is well founded. According to the Government’s own figures, it now takes around 120 days on average to get from an accepted offer to completion, which is around 60% longer than it took in 2007. Around one in three transactions fall through, and fall-throughs cost consumers in the region of £400 million a year.
The Government’s Home Buying and Selling Reform roadmap, published in June 2026, sets out a plan to change that. We think it is genuinely good news, for buyers, for sellers and for the professionals who work alongside them.
What is the reform trying to do?
The idea at the heart of it is simple: put the important information on the table at the start, not the end.
Today, most of what a buyer needs to know about a property arrives after they have made an offer, often weeks later. Problems surface late, renegotiations follow, and some sales collapse altogether.
The roadmap describes a future in which a standardised “sales pack” is prepared before a property is listed, including property search results and a property condition report. Buyers would see the important facts before committing. Sellers would know about any issues before setting their price, rather than discovering them halfway through a sale.
Alongside that, the roadmap looks at binding conditional contracts, so that a deal, once agreed, is much harder to walk away from without good reason; better digital property information; and higher standards across the property profession.
Why we welcome it
Fewer surprises
Most sales that fall through do so because of something nobody knew about at the start. Knowing the condition of a home before it goes on the market takes much of that uncertainty away.
A fairer conversation about price
When both sides are working from the same information, there is less room for last-minute renegotiation. Sellers can price realistically, and buyers can make an offer with confidence.
Faster moves
Information that is ready on day one does not have to be chased for weeks. Less waiting means less stress and less risk of a chain breaking.
A clear role for professional advice
The roadmap is explicit that sellers keep overall responsibility for the sales pack, with relevant professionals gathering and verifying the information: conveyancers on legal and title matters, and surveyors on condition-related information. That is a recognition that an independent, qualified view of a building’s condition matters.
What changes, and when?
It is worth being clear, because there is a lot of loose talk about this.
Nothing is compulsory yet. During 2026 the work is preparatory: guidance on property listings, identifying what sales-pack information sellers can provide voluntarily, a non-statutory Code of Practice for property agents, and support for training across the sector.
Legislation to require sales packs, including a property condition report, is planned “when parliamentary time allows”, with binding contracts following once sales packs are established. The Government has also said it will publish guidance before any legislation, and that an impact assessment will come first.
The professional standard is still being written too. RICS has begun developing a standard for an Upfront Property Condition Assessment, and we will work to it once it is published.
So there is no deadline to worry about. There is, however, an opportunity.
You don’t have to wait
Nothing stops a seller from doing this today. Commissioning a survey before you list gives you exactly what the reform is aiming for: a clear, independent picture of your home’s condition, before a buyer’s surveyor finds it for you.
That means you can fix small issues before they become bargaining points, set an asking price you can stand behind, and answer buyers’ questions straight away. For buyers, a seller who can show a recent independent report is a seller who has nothing to hide.
A RICS Home Survey Level 1 is designed for exactly this kind of clear, straightforward condition report. For older or altered homes, a Level 2 or Level 3 survey gives more detail.
We have been surveying homes since 2007, and the reform points towards something we have always believed: the earlier everyone knows what they are dealing with, the better the outcome for all involved.
If you are thinking of selling, or buying, and would like to talk through which survey suits your property, get in touch with our team.
Source: Home Buying and Selling Reform roadmap, GOV.UK, updated 19 June 2026.
